FORT SMITH -- Fort Smith Northside found a few inches hard to come by Friday night at Mayo-Thompson Stadium.

Not so for North Little Rock.

The Charging Wildcats got the inch or two they needed in the final minutes to sneak past the Grizzlies 35-28 in a battle of 7A-Central leaders.

The victory gives North Little Rock (8-0, 5-0) a chance to clinch the 7A-Central's top seed and first-round bye next week with a victory over Bryant.

Northside also can clinch a first-round bye with a victory at Cabot next week, as long as North Little Rock wins.

The Charging Wildcats came into the game averaging 52.8 points per game, but had four turnovers, two of which were converted to Grizzlies touchdowns, and were limited to 400 yards of total offense (290 rushing, 110 passing).

"Right now, I can't even think about next week," North Little Rock Coach Jamie Mitchell said. "This bunch just refused to lose. We faced all kinds of adversity with turnovers. Northside is a good football team and took advantage of our mistakes. We just kept be battling. What a ballgame."

North Little Rock scored the go-ahead touchdown with 18 seconds left on a keeper by quarterback Trey Cox, who stretched the ball past the goal line on a third and goal from the Northside 6.

The Charging Wildcats' winning drive came after their defense held Northside short of a first down with three minutes to play,

Northside had one last shot after North Little Rock's go-ahead score.

There was a 29-yard pass completion to the Charging Wildcats 44, and quarterback Trey Norwood heaved a pass into the end zone that was deflected into the air but could not be hauled in by a Northside receiver.

"It was a heck of a high school football game," Grizzlies Coach Mike Falleur said. "We told our kids that the game was going to come down to a play. We thought we made the first down but the refs don't see it. I was proud of our guys. It was two good football teams and they got the last punch."

Mitchell lauded his team's fourth-down stop of Norwood on a keeper up the middle.

Officials spotted the ball inches short of the first down with 3:10 left.

"I don't know who made the play, but what a stop it was," Mitchell said. "They had really pounded us in the fourth quarter with the inside run."

The Charging Wildcats converted a fourth down after the stop and faced a second-and-6 situation at the Grizzlies 40 when Mitchell called North Little Rock's final timeout.

Wynton Ruth was given the ball on a wingback reverse and he raced 34 yards down the sideline to the Northside 6 with 50 seconds left.

Cox faked a handoff on third and goal with the clock ticking, went right and stuck the ball across the goal line to clinch the victory.

Northside tied the game at 28-28 on a 11-yard pass from Norwood to DeAaron Robinson with seven minutes left.

North Little Rock led 21-14 at halftime behind Alex Day, who rushed 17 times for 111 yards and 2 touchdowns.

The teams combined for five turnovers, with one turnover by each team turning into a touchdown and a 7-7 first-quarter tie.
