Delta Digital News Service

Friday, August 25, 2023

By Brayden Morse | Sports Editor

JONESBORO, Ark. – As the Brookland Bearcats dominated the Westside Warriors right from the get-go, with the help of explosive plays, they were able to shutout the Warriors 39-0.

On the Bearcats’ first drive of the game, sophomore quarterback #11 Hayden Elder scored a 70-yard rushing touchdown. The Warriors were then held to a three-and-out, resulting in Elder connecting with sophomore wide receiver #16 Garrett Mays on a 68-yard pass to put Brookland in the red zone.

Junior running back #28 Malachi Stinett rushed for an eight-yard touchdown to give the Bearcats a 12-0 lead along with their first two drives resulting in scores.

Westside’s head coach Bobby Engle had positive remarks despite the loss, along with wanting better awareness from his players.

“The stuff we saw tonight that went wrong, we can fix. We came out flat and stayed flat. Got our butts handed to us,” Engle said.

“The stuff we saw tonight that went wrong, we can fix. We came out flat and stayed flat. Got our butts handed to us.”

– Westside HS Head Coach Bobby Engle

With ticks remaining in the first quarter, junior wide receiver/running back #6 Sinquan Spratt improvised finding an open lane halfway across the field scoring a 68-yard rushing touchdown increasing Brookland’s lead to 18-0.

The Warriors offense unfolded in the first half, with multiple false start penalties and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that set them in poor field position.

“You cannot be undisciplined and get unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. I do not even know how many penalties we had, but we had way too many. We have to get that stuff fixed,” Engle said.

The Bearcat defense opened the second quarter by recovering a fumble straight at the 50-yard line to set the offense up with another opportunity to score. On the next drive, Elder scored his second touchdown of the game with a 10-yard rush on a read-option play to give Brookland a 24-0 lead.

Westside’s offensive struggles continued with back-to-back three-and-outs. While the Warriors struggled for points, the Bearcats scored two more touchdowns before halftime.

Spratt scored a 40-yard rushing touchdown, as well as contributing to the next drive with a 29-yard rush to put Brookland at Westside’s four-yard line. Elder then threw a four-yard passing touchdown to junior wide receiver #18 Barrett Cunningham, increasing the lead to 39-0 at halftime.

Brookland head coach Mark Hindsley has previously stated that a lot of the offense starts in the backfield, and that was evident in their performance.

There were a total of five touchdowns scored in the first half alone by the duo of Spratt and Elder, along with a touchdown run by Stinnett.

The second half was quiet with nobody scoring and lots of rushing plays to drain the clock out.

Hindsley’s offensive plan of run and play-action worked the entirety of the first half.

Engle plans to stick with the same offensive scheme despite the shutout.

“We do not change our system because it is what we run. We just have to do a better job executing,” he said.

In week two, Brookland will travel to Gosnell in a non-conference game, while Westside will travel to Hoxie in a non-conference game as they seek to avenge themselves in non-conference play.

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Note: Featured image courtesy of Terrance Armstard.