Fort Smith Grizzlies surge past Heritage
Posted on Wednesday, October 1, 2008
BY SAM STEINBERG Sports Writer sams @ nwanews. com Unfortunately for Rogers Heritage, a close first half Sept. 26 at Gates Stadium turned the other way in a hurry. Down 25-20 at halftime, the Fort Smith Northside Grizzlies scored three touchdowns in the first five minutes of the third quarter to take a commanding lead en route to a 59-38 win on homecoming for the War Eagles. After two scores by running back Semaj Edwards and a twoyard run by quarterback Dax Dupire, Northside's defense was able to find an answer to the War Eagles'passing attack and forced Heritage (3-1, 0-1 ) to punt on its first two possessions in the half.
"We came out in the second half and said that this is for real and that these (Heritage players ) are good," Northside coach Darrell Henry said. "They came out in the second half and understood what they had to do and did it."
Dupire finished with four rushing touchdowns and threw three touchdowns. He completed 29 of 40 passes for 418 and rushed for 97 yards.
"He has played well the past three games," Henry said. "He has gotten better and better. He really did a good job tonight."
Northside's Chuck Carter got the second half started with 61 kickoff return to Heritage's 20 yard-line. The Grizzlies (3-1, 1-0 7 A West ). Edwards later punched his way across the goal line on a 2-yard run to take a 28-25 lead that the Grizzlies would never relinquish.
"They scored three times and boom," said Heritage coach Perry Escalante. "They put us on our heels and we never recovered. Our offense stalled there and you can't do that … We played pretty well in the first half but that third quarter broke our back."
The first half was a passing shootout with the teams combining to score 45 points. Both quarterbacks were accurate in the half as Reed Brown completed 23 of 30 passes for 335 yards and four touchdowns while Dupire was 18 of 25 for 273 yards with two touchdowns passes, one rushing touchdown and an interception.
Brown finished 31 of 53 passing for 429 yards with four touchdowns and an interception.
Heritage took a 25-20 lead going into the second half when Grant Driver turned a mid-range throw from Brown into a 21-yard touchdown reception with 57 seconds left in the first half.
Travis Entwisle jump started the excitement at Gates Stadium by intercepting Dupire early in the first quarter. On the ensuing drive, the War Eagles marched 76 yards and Entwisle capped the trek by catching a 6-yard pass from Brown in the front corner of the end zone.
After the first touchdown by Entwisle, the Grizzlies answered when a wide-open Andres McKinney caught a Dupire pass in the middle of the field and ran across the goal line for a 47-yard completion with 0: 46 left in the first. That touchdown set the gunslinging tone for the second quarter. GRIZZLIES 59. HERITAGE 38 FS Northside 7 13 20 17 - 59 Heritage 6 19 0 14 - 38 FIRST QUARTER RHHS- Travis Entwisle 6 PASS from Reed Brown (kick failed ), 1: 59. FSN - Andres McKinney 47 PASS from Dax Dupire (Zach Morehart kick ), 0: 46 SECOND QUARTER RHHS- Entwisle 63 PAsS from Brown (Hayden Severs kick ), 11: 45. FSN - Arthur Poole 41 PASS from Dupire (kicked blocked ), 10: 21. FSN- Dupire 6 RUN (Morehart kick ), 5: 51. RHHS - Jordan Snoderly 15 PASS from BROWN (Severs kick ), 3: 00. RHHS- Grant Drive 21 PASS from Brown (pass failed ) 0: 57. THIRD QUARTER FSN - Semaj Edwards 2 RUN (Edwards PASS from Dupire ), 10: 14. FSN - Dupire 45 RUN (Morehart kick ), 9: 06. FSN - Edwards 9 PASS from Dupire (Morehart kick ), 7: 01. FOURTH QUARTER FSN - Dupire 5 RUN (Morehart kick ), 11: 51. FSN - Morehart 20 FG, 8: 43 FSN - Dupire 1 RUN (Morehart kick ), 5: 53.. RHHS- Brandon Austin 25 RUN (kick failed ), 4: 34. RHHS- Brandon Austin 10 yard run (Snoderly kick ), 0: 16.
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