Pulaski Academy throttled Dollarway in Friday’s Arkansas 4A semifinal matchup. The Bruins led the Cardinals 44-6 at half en route to a 51-32 victory. PA had a 30-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and led 37-6 after scoring on its first five possessions. The Bruins were going in for a sixth straight touchdown as they had a first and goal from the 8-yard line when a Dollarway linebacker stepped in front of a Fredi Knighten pass in the end zone and returned it 65 yards. Pulaski Academy would hold the Cardinals and drive 74 yards in 7 plays to score with 49 seconds left in the half. The Bruin offense had 528 yards of offense to Dollarway’s 42 yards at the end of the first half.
After getting a stop on the first possession of the second half, the Bruins would use their starting offense minus Knighten to drive 59 yards on 3 running plays and a shovel pass to increase their lead to 51-6. Dollarway would score 4 unanswered touchdowns on PA’s second team, one being an interception return, to end the game. Pulaski Academy would finish the night with 656 yards to the Cardinals’ 147 yards.
HBO Real Sports was in attendance filming for an upcoming segment about Coach Kelley and his unique philosophies, mainly the onside kicks and insistence to go for it on all 4th downs. The first team was 1 for 1 on 4th downs, converting a 4th and 7 for a 13-yard touchdown pass from Knighten to L.J. Wallace. The onside kicks, however, were unsuccessful in all four attempts.
For those keeping up with the Bruins scoring streak, they had stretched it to 19 straight possessions of scoring a touchdown before just the 6th interception of the year for Knighten. In their last 61 possessions, PA has scored 55 touchdowns. They have 82 touchdowns in 104 possessions (79%) on the year with their first team offense.
Knighten has completed 73% of his passes for 4239 yards and 63 touchdowns. He has also gained 922 yards on the ground and has 13 rushing touchdowns. The Bruins have 4 receivers with double digit touchdowns. LJ Wallace has 48 receptions for 1118 yards and 18 touchdowns, Hunter Henry has 58 catches for 977 yards and 14 touchdowns, Kendall Bruce has caught the ball 57 times for 946 yards and 14 scores, and Ben Fortson has hauled in 42 passes for 783 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Pulaski Academy will face Malvern in the state championship on Saturday at noon. The game will be streamed live at http://www.fearlessfriday.com. The Bruins defeated Malvern in week 8 on October 21, 47-16.
Pulaski Academy has a new athletic website, http://pabruinsports.com, where you can get all of your up-to-date information regarding Pulaski Academy athletics.
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December 03, 2011
