Springdale Har-Ber quarterback Grant Allen threw five touchdown passes in six games as a sophomore.

Friday night at Fort Smith Southside, he equalled that total in just over a half. The junior's six passing scores and rushing touchdown in the first quarter against the Mavericks led the Wildcats to a 48-35 Week 1 win at Jim Rowland Stadium.

Allen set career-highs in nearly every offensive category in the win, including completions, passing yards, touchdown passes and rushing yards. By halftime he'd thrown for a career-best 237 yards and four scores. When all was said and done, he finished 19-of-27 for 379 yards and accounted for each Har-Ber touchdown.

"I was feeling pretty confident," Allen said. "We came in with a good gameplan, and we have some athletes on the perimeter. All I have to do is get the ball to them, and they do the rest. It was a great night offensively, and we were all pretty confident.

"We put in a lot of work in the summer, 7-on-7, offseason and I think tonight it really showed," Allen continued. "We've got a wide variety of guys at receiver. They do a great job, they're very athletic and great playmakers."

Receiver wasn't necessarily a serious concern entering the season, but questions loomed regarding potential playmakers at the position following the graduation of Trey Smith this spring. Friday, seven Wildcats caught a pass, and Allen's six passing scores founds the hands of five different receivers.

Brock Pounders led Har-Ber with six catches for 178 yards and a 33-yard score. Bryton Cook housed two Allen passes, one a 53-yarder on fourth down midway through the second quarter. Matt Thomas, defensive tackle Alejandro Ramirez and senior Nick Parchman also finished with touchdown grabs.

"Grant is just money all the time," said Parchman, who finished with three grabs for 74 yards. "They pressured him a little bit, but he overcomes that, rolls out, runs it when it he needs to and when he throws it it's right where it needs to be."

Air Force commit Payton Copher -- 47 yards on eight carries -- rushed for 40 yards in the first half, pushing him over 1,000 for his career. Logan Collins ran for 42 yards, and picked up a big first down in the fourth quarter on a 22-yard carry.

Southside quarterback Taye Gatewood had a strong showing in a losing effort, throwing for 349 yards and three touchdowns. Mavericks receiver Tyrese Solomon was Gatewood's top target hauling in nine passes for 197 yards and two scores.

Har-Ber led by as many as 28 points in the win, but Gatewood's no-quit attitude in the fourth quarter led to 15 straight Southside points to set the final margin.

"Southside's got a good ball club," said Har-Ber coach Chris Wood, who improved to 8-4 in season openers with the Wildcats. "To get a win on the road is huge. It's a learning deal each week. ... Defensively, I though it went well. Yeah, there's some things here and there and they'll clean that up. But overall I thought it was a quality win against a quality ball club."

One area Har-Ber will look to fix is penalties. The Wildcats were whistled for 22 in the win for nearly 200 yards while Southside was flagged just five times for 35 yards.

"(The penalties) are going to be fine," Wood said. "I guess they wanted to throw a lot of flags. That's how it goes sometimes."
