By CHAD MATCHETT
Special to The Leader
Lonoke’s running game was so good on Friday night that the Rabbits didn’t have to pass out of the Spread in a 56-12 pasting of the Marianna Trojans.
The Jackrabbits ran the ball 31 times for 393 yards and six touchdowns against an overmatched Marianna defense.
“We thought we would be able to run the ball against them, but not like that,” Lonoke coach Jeff Jones said. “We saw some things on film during the week and once we got going they never really had an answer.”
The Jackrabbits improved to 5-0 in the 2-4A Conference, 7-1 overall. Lonoke struck first when Clarence Harris capitalized on a Terrell Washington interception. Harris scored from five yards out to give the Rabbits a 7-0 four minutes into the first quarter.
Marianna came right back with an answer as Elias Harris tossed a 15-yard touchdown pass to DeMarcus Price.
That was just about the last positive for the Trojans as Lonoke scored 42 unanswered points to control of the game from that point.
“It was really a team effort tonight,” Jones said. “There was no one standout player. Everybody did their job.”
Harris was the only Jackrabbit with multiple touchdowns. Harris had a six-yard scoring run in the second quarter and caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Rollins Elam in the third quarter.
Morgan Linton, Brandon Smith, Eric Graydon, Wes Plummer and Trenton Spencer all scored for Lonoke. Graydon and Spencer scored on 76- and 55-yard runs, respectively. Plummer scored on a 26-yard pass from Logan Dewhitt.
Defensively, Lonoke held the Trojans to 97 yards on the ground and 95 yards through the air.
The victory sets up a showdown with undefeated Stuttgart next Friday at Stuttgart.
“Stuttgart has a good offense and can give our defense a lot of problems. We’ve just got to keep pushing forward and trying to get better,” said Jones. “We still need to improve our tackling and fundamentals.”