HALL FALLS TO MOUNTAIN HOME

The Mountain Bombers bounced back from a poor performance in Week 7 at Marion to post the second-highest scoring total of the David Joyce era Friday night in a 40-12 victory over the Little Rock Hall Warriors at Bomber Stadium. The Bombers improved to 2-5 overall and 2-3 in 6A-East Conference action. The win allowed Mountain Home to virtually wrap up a berth in the Class 6A State playoffs. The Bombers (2-6 overall) hold head-to-head tiebreakers over the only teams – Hall and Jacksonville – that could fight their way into a tie for sixth place. Jacksonville (2-6, 1-4) would have to have upset wins at Marion and Jonesboro, and see Mountain Home lose their final two games. Hall (2-6, 0-5) is eliminated from postseason competition. After snapping a 13-game losing streak – and posting their first victory at Bomber Stadium in over five years – with a 34-27 win over Jacksonville on Oct. 7, Mountain Home was lambasted by a 42-16 count at Marion on Oct. 14 in a game that saw the Bombers struggle with to maintain possession of the football. Friday night, Mountain Home righted the ship, pulled away in the second quarter and cruised through second half to post the 28-point win. “Last week, we played a really good Marion football team and we haven’t played as well on the road as we have at home,” said Joyce. “Our guys really responded (tonight). We didn’t want to get fancy this week. Just get off the ball and ground and pound as much as possible.” Mountain Home opened the contest with a 11-play, 68-yard scoring drive capped by Isaac McKay’s 2-yard keeper. Mikey McLean’s PAT kick put the Bombers up 7-0 with 6:51 left in the first quarter. Hall countered with a scoring drive of its own behind the scrambling of quarterback Jaden McGraw. The senior ran four times for 21 yards on the 62-yard drive. Caezer Warren’s 12-yard touchdown drew the Warriors within a point, but Mountain Home stifled a two-point conversion to maintain the lead. The Bombers would pull away with two big passing touchdowns on fourth-down plays. On fourth-and-four from the 12, McKay hit Marshall Roberson for a touchdown to send the lead to 14-6; and on fourth-and-five from the 25, McKay and Roberson connect as Mountain Home would lead 21-6 at the half. “We knew they would crowd the line of scrimmage and that would open up some plays in the pass game when we needed to,” said Joyce. “We did hit a couple of them the first half to create a little separation.” After allowing Hall’s touchdown on the Warriors opening drive, Mountain Home settled in on defense and forced three punts to close the first half. David Wehmeyer recovered a fumble deep in Hall territory on the first play of the second half and the Bombers picked up a 1-yard touchdown run from Junior Williams and a 12-years sprint by Aaron Holmes to go up 34-6. Joyce was pleased with his defensive unit’s performance. “Defensively, our guys really rallied to the football well and tackled in space. Our pass rush finally started to have an effect on their quarterback, and he was running around for his life, all night long. I’m real happy with the way they responded.” Hall’s final touchdown came off Mountain Home’s only turnover of the night, which came late in the third quarter. “There was a little lull there when we got up 34-6. We had a check-with-me play called and fumbled the snap,” said Joyce. “It was just one of those things where we were under center too long. The play was too slow to develop.” Mountain Home tacked on its final touchdown when Williams carried six times for 77 yards on a seven-play scoring march. Williams scored from 8 yards out. “I liked the way that we rallied after they scored their last touchdown to make it 34-12. We drove straight down the field, scored and then held (defensively),” Joyce said. “Our guys played with a lot of class and it was sweet to finally get to kneel on the football. “ The Bombers finished with 402 yards of total offense, rushing 56 times for 365 yards. Williams led the way with 168 yards rushing on 24 carries and Holmes ripped off 132 yards rushing on 13 attempts. McKay was 2 of 2 passing for 37 yards and two touchdowns. Mountain Home limited Hall to just 136 yards of total offense. Mountain Home could climb higher in the standings with a win at Searcy (5-3, 2-3) on Friday. The Bombers would climb to fifth place in the standings with a win. Joyce knows that even though the Lions on are on a three-game slide (losses to Marion, Pine Bluff and Jonesboro), Searcy is a very dangerous opponent. “Searcy is a good football team. We’ve got a lot of tape on them and our guys understand that its going to be – if we play well and they play well – a very competitive football game,” said Joyce. “We feel like we can match up real well with Searcy. They play with a fullback most of the night and they’re going to try to run the football at us. We feel that if we can stand in there and match their game plan.

Hall High School Athletics

HALL FALLS TO MOUNTAIN HOME