By ANN THARP
Special to The Leader
The Lonoke football team locked up a four seed in the Class 4A state playoffs with a dominant 48-16 win over Riverview on Thursday at James B. Abraham Stadium in Lonoke. The regular-season finale meant the difference between a four or five seed, and the Jackrabbits will now travel to Prairie Grove next Friday for their first-round playoff game.
“I’m real proud of the kids, finishing up the season strong, heading into the playoffs,” said Lonoke head coach Doug Bost. “It started to snowball on us there a little bit when they had the blocked punt, and they came back and scored an offensive touchdown, but we stayed in there. We came back and marched down and offensively scored.”
The Jackrabbits had 360 yards of offense, while holding Riverview to 77 yards in the first half and 176 yards for the game. Justin Meadows led Lonoke with 124 total yards, three touchdowns, and a two-point conversion. Josh Coleman had 59 rushing yards, two touchdowns, and two two-point conversions. Quarter-back SaVonte Rountree passed for three touchdowns.
Lonoke received the opening kickoff and went 54 yards in 11 plays to get on the scoreboard. The final play of the drive was a 32-yard touchdown pass from Rountree to Meadows on third down and 14. Early in the drive, Rountree had a 9-yard completion to Meadows, followed by a fourth down run of 8 yards by Meadows to move the chains. The extra point was no good and the lead was 6-0 with 8:17 to go in the opening quarter.
Riverview’s first drive ended in a 34-yard pick-six by the Jackrabbits’ Caleb Bailey to give Lonoke a 12-0 lead with 6:43 to go in the quarter. The two-point conversion was no good.
The next Raider possession also ended in an interception, this time by Trey Bevis, but the Jackrabbits could not take advantage of the turnover.
After forcing a Riverview short punt, Lonoke started on the Raider 35-yard line and scored on fourth down and 4, when Meadows scampered in from 29 yards out. The two-point conversion again was no good, and the score was 18-0 with one minute still to go in the first quarter.
The Lonoke defense forced the Raiders to turn the ball over on downs, giving the offense the ball on its own 46-yard line. A 39-yard completion from Rountree to Bailey gave the Jackrabbits a first down on the 11-yard line. Meadows took the ball to the 5-yard line, and Coleman ran into the end zone from there. This time the two-point conversion by Coleman was successful and the lead was 26-0 with 9:25 left in the half.
Riverview drove from its 26-yard line to the Lonoke 11-yard line, but was stopped on downs.
The Jackrabbits were flagged for a personal foul, which placed the ball on the 5-yard line. Two Lonoke holding penalties forced a punt from the end zone, which was blocked by the Raiders for a safety and a score of 26-2. Riverview’s Bennie Watson then returned the ensuing kick for 60 yards and a touchdown. A successful two-point conversion made it 26-10 with 4:34 left in the half.
The Jackrabbits answered back, moving from the Lonoke 44-yard line to score with 10 seconds left in the half. Rountree was complete to Juwaun Bryant for 20 yards, Meadows had a run of 17 yards, and Coleman one of 13 yards, before Rountree connected with Meadows from 5 yards out for the touchdown and a 32-10 advantage at intermission.
Lonoke also scored on its first possession of the second half, with Coleman scoring on an 8-yard touchdown run, then adding the two-point conversion to make the score 40-10.
The Raiders scored with 3:19 to go in the quarter when quarterback David Lee connected with Luke Hoofman for an 83-yard touchdown pass. The PAT was no good for a 40-16 Lonoke lead. Jackrabbit Rountree responded with a 78-yard touchdown completion to Logan Dozier, and Meadows added the two-point conversion to set the final score with 2:18 to go in the third quarter.
