By RAY BENTON
For the Leader
The North Pulaski Falcons couldn’t maintain their strong start to the season.
NP, coming off a season-opening win at class 6A Searcy, ran into another team that started the season hot, a team that just got hotter Friday night. Oak Grove, which ran over class 5A state title contender Little Rock Christian last week, ran over the
Falcons on Friday night in Jacksonville, racking up 35 points in two and a half quarters en route to a 35-0 win.
North Pulaski moved the ball well on several possessions, but penalties and turnovers doomed each drive. Oak Grove struggled to move the ball early against the Falcon defense. Hornet running back J. P. Green broke a 67-yard touchdown run on Oak Grove’s second drive, but the team gained just 27 total yards on its other three possessions in the first quarter.
Things got easier for the visitors in the second period. A North Pulaski fumble set the Hornets up at the Falcon 37. It took just five plays for the Hornets to go up 14-0 when Martin Chenault-Johnson scampered around the corner from five yards out with 9:25 left in the second quarter.
The Falcons moved across midfield on the ensuing possession, but failed to convert a fake punt on fourth and 8 and gave the ball up at the Hornet 48.
Three plays later, quarterback Corderrell Harris scored from 31 yards out on a quarterback sneak up the middle. The extra point by Corbin McCuien made it 21-0 with 5:29 left in the half, and that’s the way the second quarter ended.
The Falcons opened the second half by fumbling on the second play of its first two possessions, and Oak Grove capitalized on each mistake, scoring two more touchdowns and enacting the mercy rule with 6:19 left in the third quarter.
Chenault-Johnson scored from 47 yards out after the first NP fumble, and Brandon Hudson scampered 52 yards on the first play after the second Falcon fumble of the half.
Oak Grove finished with 401 total yards, with former Falcon Brandon Hudson leading the way with 108 yards on nine carries.
North Pulaski finished with 134 total yards. Bryan Colson led the charge with 78 yards on 18 carries.
The Falcons will go back on the road next week to take on Oak Grove’s other victim, Little Rock Christian. The 2-0 Hornets will face longtime rival Pulaski Robinson next Friday.
