WILSON, Ark. - On the verge of digging themselves out of a big 24-point hole, the Rison Wildcats came up a yard short of moving the chains for a much-needed first down in a frantic second half rally, then yielded a long touchdown run that put the fire out for Rivercrest, sending the Colts on their way to a 52-34 victory in the second round of the Class 3A state football playoffs last Friday night at Cortez Kennedy Field. It was the first-ever meeting between the ‘Cats and Colts.The loss ended Rison’s season at 10-2, a sharp turnaround from the 3-8 campaign of a year ago. Meanwhile, explosive Rivercrest, which played for the Class 4A state title just a year ago, improved to 11-1 and advanced to face Salem in the quarterfinals this Friday.Commenting about the loss, Rison coach Chris Vereen said, “I was disappointed. We are much better than we played. Turnovers (four for Rison; none for Rivercrest) and big plays killed us. After watching the film, we played better than I thought. But I’m proud of our boys. They fought. We just made too many mistakes against a good team.”Down, 30-6, starting the second half, Rison scored touchdowns on its first three possessions to get back in the game. And going into the game, Vereen had already emphasized his team could not get into a shootout with the Colts.Asked about the second half turnaround, Vereen remarked, “At half, I just said there aren’t any adjustments (to make). Let’s just go out for 24 minutes and play our brand of football. Which is hit them in the mouth.”When all was finally settled last Friday night, amidst almost 300 yards in penalties combined by both teams, it was the talented tandem of Cavonta Washington and Jayden Young and a late dagger delivered by Jakavion Williams that proved to be the downfall for the Wildcats, who bounced back from the 30-6 halftime deficit to trim the Colts' lead to 37-26 with still over 10 minutes remaining in the contest. And when t...
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