By Mark Rico
Sports Editor
Conway – It was supposed to be an even match-up with a pair of teams with identical records on homecoming night getting ready for a playoff push with three conference games remaining.
And then it quickly wasn’t.
Conway senior quarterback Ben Weese passed for four touchdowns and then ran for a score in leading the Wampus Cats to a 48-12 victory over Fort Smith Northside in a 7A Central battle on Friday night.
A week after an impressive road win at Cabot, the Wampus Cat offense would score on three of their first four offensive possessions of the contest and the rout was on.
“Coach has really been pushing us to start hot and finish hot.” Weese said. “Our offense is really clicking because we have learned that we can play with anybody on the field with us. When you have the guys we have it’s real easy to have a lot of trust in each other and the guys up front blocking for me have been amazing.”
Conway spread the ball around to a prolific offense – in which Manny Smith, Jamarion “Boogie” Carr, West Boudreaux and Bryce Bohanon – each caught TD passes in the win.
Weese contributed a short 2-yard touchdown run of his own as the Wampus Cats (4-2, 2-1) poured it on from the opening gun with the senior quarterback completing 18-of-28 passes for 297 yards, Bohanon catching four passes for 85 yards and Boudreaux finishing with four catches for 77 yards.
“Ben has been a leader for us all year long,” Conway Coach Keith Fimple said. “The last couple of games he has been focused. He did a great job.”
Carr, a sophomore, was electrifying as well, running for 128 yards on 12 carries to go along with his scoring reception.
After Conway kicker Adrian Mejia connected on a 36-yard field goal on the Cats’ opening possession for a 3-0 lead, Weese would misfire on 4th-and-9 from the Northside 29 to stall their second drive of the game.
But that would be the only misstep on a night where the Wampus Cats put on an offensive show.
Smith added an 11-yard scoring run with 1:53 left in the first quarter and Weese scored on a 2-yard run with 5:19 left in the half to send Conway off to a 17-0 advantage.
“Getting off to a fast start is something we talked about all week because we kinda went through one last week where we lost momentum (in a 52-49 win at Cabot).” Fimple said.”So that’s what we concentrated on all week.”
Already leading 17-0, Ashton Walker picked off an errant pass from interception and subsequent 72 yards return set up Smith’s touchdown reception for a 24-0 halftime cushion.
Carr grabbed a 15-yard TD pass in the third quarter to make it 31-0.
The Grizzlies (3-3, 1-2) finally got on the board in the third quarter as Ty Massey scored on a 1-yard run after sprinting 71 yards down the sidelines only a play before.
Avonte Tucker caught a 47-yard TD pass from Dreyden Norwood on the Grizzlies next possession for their only other touchdown of the night.
Conway will next travel to Little Rock to face Central next Friday, October 23.
Faulkner County Focus Sports 