Blue Devils stay perfect

Blue Devils stay perfect

West Memphis moves to 9- 0 with close win over Zebras

WM School District With the West Memphis Blue Devil offense seemingly stuck in neutral at various times this season, its surest bet has emerged in a most electrifying manner.

The feet of fleet Devin Olloway has just become too much for opponents and his latest string of highlight reel plays gave the Blue Devils a 24-23 victory over Pine Bluff on Friday night at Hamilton-Shultz Field.

When asked to give a oneword description of his teammate, Blue Devil junior quarterback Owens McConnell had this to say about Olloway: 'He's fast man!,' McConnell said.

OK, that's three words, but there has been no way to economize the value Olloway has for the Blue Devils as the season is winding down.

He ran for a 41-yard touchdown in the first half and then Pine Bluff made the mistake of kicking to him to open the second half. Olloway returned that boot 83 yards for a touchdown in 12 seconds.

'He's a great player,' West Memphis head coach Billy Elmore said. 'It's not just his speed. It's his ability to do different things. '

The Blue Devils (9-0 overall, 6-0 in the 6A-East Conference) clinched the No. 1 seed from the East in the Class 6A state playoffs.

With it comes a first-round bye and home-field advantage through the semifinals. On Nov. 16, the Blue Devils will play the winner of the first-round game between the No. 5 seed from the East and the No. 4 seed from the West.

The games are getting closer each week with the Blue Devils. After eking out a 3-0 overtime win in bad weather a week earlier in Jacksonville, they held off Pine Bluff (2-6-1, 2-4) with key defensive stands and, for a second straight week, the right leg of placekicker Colin Clark, who kicked a 26-yard field goal with 7:53 left in the third quarter.

However, the night belonged to Olloway.

Midway through the second quarter, West Memphis ran an end around for Olloway, but the Zebra defense was waiting for him on the left side.

Olloway, however, reversed his field and then left Pine Bluff defenders puzzled as they only swiped at air as he breezed by him.

The 41-yard touchdown gave the hosts a 14-7 lead.

'One of our linemen missed a block, so I turned around and saw nothing but green grass,' Olloway explained. 'I always got another gear for them.'

Then Olloway blew past Pine Bluff once again as he returned the second-half kickoff 83 yards for a touchdown which snapped a 14-14 tie at halftime.

When asked which touchdown was more electric, Elmore said, 'I would say the kickoff return was most impressive. Maybe it was that one, but the one he took down the sideline (the 41-yarder) was obviously a big play.'

On the kickoff return, Pine Bluff kicker Eddie Tee was waiting on him and the only guy who had a shot at Olloway once he crossed midfield.

With a simple shimmy, Olloway made Tee fall down.

'That wasn't intentional,' Olloway said with a laugh.

Elmore said he anticipated a kickoff return for a TD from Olloway coming into the game.

'We honestly felt we were going to pop a kickoff return because Pine Bluff will kick it deep,' said Elmore. 'We haven't had too many kickoffs to return this year. But Pine Bluff is going to kick the ball to you, so we felt like one of those kicks was going to be returned deep. We didn't necessarily know it was going to be that one, though.'

The game came down to Pine Bluff's final offensive possession, which began at the 5:38 mark of the fourth quarter, starting at its own 10 and the Zebras still with two timeouts left.

It was a timeout by Elmore, though, that preserved the win for West Memphis.

Facing a fourth and eight from the West Memphis 44, Pine Bluff head coach Bobby Bolding called his team's final timeout.

When play resumed, however, Elmore saw the alignment and raced down the sideline to alert the official for another timeout, also the Blue Devils' final timeout.

'I didn't think we had the tight end covered,' Elmore explained. 'We were in a two-man coverage, and I didn't think our kids recognized it. I didn't want the tight end running up the seam.'

The adjustment worked.

Pine Bluff quarterback Shauwn Howell threw incomplete to Kentrell Murry, which gave the ball back to West Memphis with 1:09 left. The Blue Devils ran the clock out from there.

Earlier, a 24-21 West Memphis lead was trimmed to 24-23 when Blue Devil sophomore punter Caden Smith chased a snap well over his head near his own end zone. He kicked the loose ball out of the end zone, resulting in a safety.

Smith's play may well have saved West Memphis' undefeated season.

The Blue Devils will now work with a short week in preparation for their Thursday night regular-season finale at Mountain Home.

By Billy Woods