The Southside Mavericks are looking into the teeth of another good running back this week.

What’s new?

But coach Jeff Williams believes Friday’s 7A-Central game at War Memorial Stadium, against Little Rock Catholic’s Samy Johnson, is more about Southside and Catholic.

The Mavericks (3-4, 1-3) need to clean up some of their mistakes.

“Samy Johnson is a great running back, and it seems like everybody in our league has a great running back, (but) we’ve got to do a great job of tackling and we’ve got to be able to score,” Williams said. “We need to start fast and finish strong.”

Southside checked a third of that off its play chart last week against Bryant. The Mavericks drove 63 yards in only four plays for a quick 7-0 lead.

They forced Bryant into a quick three-and-out. They had the ball near midfield.

But Southside couldn’t capitalize on good field position, or Mason Gregory’s two first-half interceptions, one of which set the Mavericks up deep in Hornets’ territory.

Southside managed only one first-half score and eventually dropped a 31-14 decision.


“You look at the film and we felt like we left 21 points on the field in the first half, and against good football teams you can’t do that,” Williams said. “It’s the same thing with Catholic; you have to be playing your best football.”

Southside is in control of its own destiny heading down the stretch. Wins over Catholic, Little Rock Central and Northside would set up the Mavericks for a possible No. 4 seed in the 7A-Central, as well as a chance to play a home playoff game for the first time since 2015.

Quarterback Taye Gatewood is coming off his most difficult performance of his career, completing just 9-of-24 passes for 66 yards and two interceptions — uncharacteristic numbers for the right-handed slinger.

It’s the first time in his career he hasn’t thrown a touchdown pass in a game.

But he can surely make up for it this week at historic War Memorial Stadium. Southside hopes to leave its mark on the stadium, which turns 70 years old this year.

“When I was growing up, that was a childhood dream to get to play in that stadium,” Williams said. “Those guys (Mavericks) that get to go to a big stadium, you don’t want them to be awestruck, and we’ve talked about that. (But) what an opportunity for any high school football player to get to play in that stadium.

“Our focus is on Catholic; coach (John) Fogleman and I coached together at El Dorado. He’s an excellent football coach.”


The Rockets (4-3, 1-3) opened the season with four consecutive victories before dropping three in a row to Bryant, Northside and North Little Rock.
