Skelton's crew keeps PB rolling

The Sentinel-Record/Corbet Deary Z FORCES: Lake Hamilton’s Ramar Easter (20) tries to evade Pine Bluff defender Allen Wainwright in Friday night’s 6A-South game on Bank of the Ozarks Field at Wolf Stadium. Leading 31-0 in the third quarter, defending Class 6A champion Pine Bluff sought its third conference shutout of the season. Lake Hamilton, coming off a road win over Texarkana, played the first of two straight home games, El Dorado visiting next week.
The Sentinel-Record/Corbet Deary Z FORCES: Lake Hamilton’s Ramar Easter (20) tries to evade Pine Bluff defender Allen Wainwright in Friday night’s 6A-South game on Bank of the Ozarks Field at Wolf Stadium. Leading 31-0 in the third quarter, defending Class 6A champion Pine Bluff sought its third conference shutout of the season. Lake Hamilton, coming off a road win over Texarkana, played the first of two straight home games, El Dorado visiting next week.

PEARCY -- The Skelton-Beasley show was in high fine form.

Ladarius Skelton passed for 304 yards and five touchdowns, four to Beasley, and Pine Bluff's offense got rolling in the second quarter in a 40-0 rout of Lake Hamilton Friday night on Bank of the Ozarks Field at Wolf Stadium,.

Shelton completed 13 of 14 passes, Beasley with nine catches for 227 yards. Beasley had two touchdown receptions covering 30 yards and one each for 52 and 10.

"We came in wanting to throw the ball," coach Bobby Bolding said. "We wanted to get our quarterback's confidence back. We're getting a lot of (defenders) in the box and struggling in the running game. We had to throw the ball."

Pine Bluff's defense earned its third shutout in as many 6A-South games, overcoming Lake Hamilton's 163 rushing yards. Johnathan Buss had 98 yards on 20 carries.

The Zebras rushed for 161 yards, Romar Reades with 91 and a touchdown on eight carries.

Unbeaten Pine Bluff moved to 6-0. Lake Hamilton falls to 1-5, 1-2 in conference.

Lake Hamilton's defense held up early, stopping Skelton for no gain and a turnover on downs on the game's opening possession and forcing Justin Williams' errant 26-yard field goal. The latter came on fourth-and-goal at thenine after Jacob Porter tackled Skelton for a loss of one.

The Wolves missed a chance to take the lead on the previous drive, Ethan Johnson missing a 44-yard field goal after Buss ran 38 yards to the Zebras' 35.

Like most of the season, mistakes haunted Lake Hamilton the rest of a fairly competitive first half. After a 16-yard Buss run following Williams' miss, Beasley recovered Ramar Easter's fumble and returned eight years to the Wolves' 30. Beasley got by Easter in the end zone for his first touchdown on the next play, Williams kicking the point.

Skelton started Pine Bluff's next drive with a 22-yard pass to Beasley, then ran for 13 yards before Reades raced around right end for a 27-yard score.

Lake Hamilton threatened to answer with four first downs, but turned the ball over on downs at the Zebras' 31. Higgins kept the series alive with a third-down catch for 34 yards catch at the sideline, and Skelton hit an open Beasley in the end zone on the next play for another 30-yard score.

The Zebras' Daniel Ryles recovered a botched punt snap at Lake Hamilton's 38, and on the following play Higgins made a sliding catch in the end zone 12.4 seconds before halftime for a 25-0 lead.

Sports on 10/10/2015

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