SOUTHSIDE, HERITAGE RECAP

Rogers Heritage and Fort Smith Southside each came into the game Friday looking to grab a victory. For Rogers Heritage the culprit has been turnovers and those have contributed to the losses against Little Rock Central and Russellville. Fort Smith Southside was shutout against Springdale Har-Ber and suffered a tough defeat against the Greenwood Bulldogs. Both Heritage and Southside needed a win to get some momentum jump started going into conference play.

Southside was able to find some offensive rhythm early in the game and was able to jump out to a quick 16-0 lead. Quarterback Graves Schmidley got settled into the game early and was able to lead the Mavericks down the field on long drives. The opening drive of the game was an 84 yard drive and the second drive for Southside was 68 yards. Heritage would be held scoreless in the first quarter.

The War Eagles would get the offense going midway through the second quarter. Heritage quarterback Zach Brown was able to connect with Zach Gall on a 35 yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 16-8 Southside. The War Eagles could not keep the Mavericks out of the end zone as the half was ending and Southside would go into the half up 22-8. Schmidley hit running back Kobe Rogers with a 7 yard touchdown pass. The touchdown before the half was the jolt Southside needed going into the half.

The Mavericks would control the third quarter lighting up the scoreboard to the tune of 17 straight unanswered points. Southside was able to milk the clock on the opening drive of the third quarter and go up 25-8 after a 38 yard field goal from Derek Gutierrez. Southside would strike two more times in the third quarter to make the score 39-8. Heritage would not go away and would strike two times in the fourth quarter to cut into the lead. The final score would be Southside 39-Heritage 22.

Southside will look to rack up another win this week when they play host to the Conway Wampus Cats Friday night. Rogers Heritage will travel to Springdale to take on Zak Clark’s Bulldogs. Both Southside and Heritage should look at the start off conference play as being a new season. Fans should expect both Southside and Heritage to be ready to play, because now playoff spots are going to be on the line.