Lonoke Chains Up the Bald Knob Bull Dogs

Sarah Hester, Editor

Lonoke Jackrabbit Football played extremely impressively against the Bald Knob Bulldogs! The Bald Knob Bulldogs did not score against the Lonoke Jackrabbits all week. On Thursday, October 20th, in the homecoming game, the 7th grade and junior high football team beat the Bulldogs 14 to 0. On Friday, October 21st, the Jackrabbits chained up the Bald Knob Bulldogs in an away conference match-up! Lonoke took the ball away from Bald Knob a total of five times. In the first quarter, Lonoke scored 7 points. Senior, Latrell Burnett, made a 37-yard run touchdown in the second quarter while playing running back. Burnett excites, “I ran the ball from the backfield, it was a sweep to the right, then I made a cut through the hole, then after I made my cut it was off to the races. It felt like weight was taken off of the team’s shoulders…” Junior, Tom Boatright, kicked a field goal following Burnett’s touchdown. A total of 22 points were scored in the second quarter by Lonoke. Junior, Denham Gooden, scored a touchdown after he returned a fumble as a defensive corner. Gooden describes, “It felt good to beat them on their homecoming. I just came down to make a tackle and the ball fell down in my hands and I ran. It was pretty much just the way it happened. I’m used to scoring touchdowns but it felt good to put points on the board. My plan is to beat Stuttgart by stopping the runs and executing the offense.”  Senior, Cody Amato, succeeded in a two-point conversion run, following Gooden’s touchdown. A 7-yard touchdown run was made by junior, Bradon Allen. Boatright scored a field goal following Allen’s touchdown. A 3-yard rushing touchdown was scored by senior, Cody Amato, Tom scored another field goal following Amato’s touchdown. Lonoke ended the first half with a score of 29 to 0. Neither team scored in the second half. The Lonoke Jackrabbits shut out the Bald Knob Bulldogs with a score of 29 to 0! Head coach, Chris Norton, exclaimed, “I’m proud of the effort our guys played with – I thought we played hard all night and that is evident by the shutout.” Norton expresses that this week’s game against the Stuttgart Ricebirds on October 28th will be a great challenge for the Jackrabbits. Coach Norton stressed, “We have a tremendous challenge on Friday. Stuttgart is extremely talented, they are going to be very physical…I think we’ve got a good plan, our kids are going to play really hard and we expect to be successful.” Senior, Tayler Coffey, has big plans for the big game. Coffey plans, “I feel excited and confident heading into the biggest game of our season. I’m planning to head in head-on bringing all of my hard work through the year and pouring it onto the field.” The Lonoke Jackrabbits will take on their most challenging conference match-up of the season at home against the Stuttgart Ricebirds at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, October 28th at the James B. Abraham stadium. The Purple Pit theme is pink out for breast cancer awareness. See you there!