FOUNTAIN LAKE -- After a winless season, Malvern may not be all the way back in football but has turned the corner.
A call to J.D. Plumlee at Fountain Lake this past spring has had a profound effect in Class 4A football.
Malvern, one of the state's worst Class 4A teams last year when 0-10, secured a postseason spot with a 41-16 thumping over Plumlee's former team Friday night at Beckham Memorial Stadium. The Leopards took care of business in a more winnable game than they figure to have against Nashville or Arkadelphia in the next two weeks.
Malvern, 4-4 overall, is 3-2 in 4A-7, which a Fountain Lake radio man calls the "SEC West of Arkansas high school football." That distinction factors in Bauxite, 4-1 in conference before consecutive matchups against co-leaders Robinson, Arkadelphia and Nashville. The league's fifth seed likely would send Malvern to 4A-4 champion Ozark in the first round Nov. 15.
Fountain Lake has soldiered on since losing Plumlee, who in his second season as a head coach powered the senior-filled 2018 Cobras to the playoffs. Kenny Shelton, a former Fountain Lake assistant, stayed at his alma mater and became head coach when the position suddenly reopened in August.
The Cobras, 1-7 overall, managed a Week 3 road win over Dover before predictable results against highly ranked Robinson, Arkadelphia and Nashville teams. A squad short in numbers and experience played a commendable first half against Malvern, as it has against other teams, but was overpowered late.
Fountain Lake scratched out an 8-7 lead with sophomore Steven DeArmon plunging 1 yard and adding a 2-point conversion with 7:57 before halftime. Junior Asa Westerman went 15 yards on a wingback reverse and sophomore Gavin Nguyen popped some nice runs before DeArmon, stepping up in the red zone, scored on Fountain Lake's second fourth-down conversion of the 13-play drive.
After a three-and-out first series, Malvern scored on its next four offensive possessions.
From the Malvern 36 after stopping DeArmon on fourth and 3, Cedric Simmons passed to Christian Warren twice for 17 yards and then for 15 yards to junior Jacobe Hart. Simmons, a 165-pound freshman who plays with poise, sneaked 1 yard for his first of two touchdowns.
From the Malvern 39 after the Fountain Lake TD, the Leopards gashed the Cobras on a 10-play, 61-yard drive to retake the lead. Sophomore Marquez Johnson went for 18 yards and Simmons twice for the last 7 yards, scoring from the 3, with sophomore Jesus Rodea kicking it to 14-8 at 3:36 before the break.
Fountain Lake, which would get the second-half kickoff, then needed either to match Malvern's go-ahead score or keep the ball. The Cobras could do neither, stopping junior Owen Barthel short on fourth and 3 from the Malvern 49 and playing beat the clock to perfection. With 1:14 and two time-outs, Simmons completed three passes on an eight-play drive, finding 6-1 senior Dallas Lewis in the back end of the end zone with 7.7 seconds remaining.
The game then got completely away from Fountain Lake, which punted after three plays, lost a fumble deep in its end and had a punt blocked in the third quarter.
Simmons, gashing the Cobras at will, moved the chains on keepers of 17, 13 and 19 yards before getting the last 7 on the quarterback draw, the Leopards' signature play. Rosea kicked it to 28-8, though missing at 34-8 after Hart, scoring from the 1, cashed in 315-pound senior Jason Lambel's blocked punt.
Junior Keith Caradine pounced on his backup quarterback's fumble in the end zone for the TD that made it 41-8. And though Fountain Lake's final possession couldn't alter the outcome, Nguyen and junior Seth Hughes powered the ball strongly on a drive that Nguyen scored from the 2 and Hughes ran for 2 points. The winning head coach could know where these Cobras learned those trades; the other fellow, that they're still in place at Fountain Lake.
Sports on 10/27/2019