Chicks cruise past Helena-West Helena Central

The Blytheville Chickasaws gave their fans a lot to cheer about in their home debut thanks to a 58-36 rout of the Helena-West Helena Cougars Friday night at Haley Field.

Three Chickasaws topped or nearly topped the 200-yard mark. DeMarko Clark rushed for 203 yards and four touchdowns, quarterback Langston Jenkins threw for 209 yards and three touchdowns passes -- with all three scores and 194 of the yards landing in the long arms of receiver Greg McKillion. Clark also picked off a pass and Jenkins rushed for an additional 67 yards and a touchdown to add to their already video game-like numbers.

"Wow. That's all I can say right now is wow," said Chicks head coach Maurice Moody.

With the score tied at 22-22 with just under six minutes left in the first half, coach Moody's squad posted 29 consecutive points over the next quarter and a half as his offense finally broke through for a big game.

"I knew we're explosive," said Moody. "We've got weapons all over the place. It's a challenge to get the ball into the hands off all of those weapons."

With the Chicks (2-1) gaining over 600 yards of total offense, Coach Moody had plenty of yards to share with as many weapons as he needed.

"We're not a selfish team. Nobody complains about not getting the football."

Helena set the pace early on. After the two teams traded fumbles on the first two offensive series, they traded scores on four of the next six series.

The Cougars took over at the Chicks' 31 yard line after recovering a Jenkins fumble. Seven plays later, quarterback Delane Belford found Jack Walker in the endzone on a third-and-goal from the Blytheville 13 yard line. A Helena penalty on the extra point attempt pushed them back five yards forcing them to go for two. This time, Belford found Khlid Byrd in the end zone giving the Cougars an early, 8-0 lead.

Clark got things going for the Chicks midway though the first quarter. With the Cougars driving in Blytheville territory, he picked off a Belford pass near the goal line and returned it 45 yards setting up the Chicks first score. Six plays later, Clark broke through the line up the middle for a 35-yard touchdown. Bruce Harlen added the extra point to bring the Chicks within a point at 8-7 with 2:32 left in the first period.

The Chicks forced four turnovers on the night and scored touchdowns following two of them.

Helena bounced back with a score at the beginning of the second quarter. DeKeathin Williams' one-yard touchdown run capped a 64-yard, 11- play drive and gave the Cougars a 15-7 lead after a successful extra point attempt with 11:25 remaining in the half.

It took Blytheville less than 20 seconds to respond.

On the first play of the drive, two more of Moody's weapons were released. One first-and-10 at the Chicks 20 yard line, Jenkins hit a wide open McKillion, who slipped his defender, racing down the sideline for an 80-yard touchdown. JaMarcus Williams ran in the two-point conversion to tie the score at 15-15 with 11:08 still remaining in the first half.

Clark struck again for Blytheville seven minutes later. The running back accounted for all 49 yards of a three-play drive including a 44-yard dash to pay dirt on a third-and-six play to give the Chicks a 22-15 lead at the 5:48 mark in the second quarter.

Just over a minute passed before Byrd ran in a 16-yard score for Helena to tie the game at 22-22 with 4:55 left in the half.

Blytheville put one more touchdown on the board before halftime. On second down and 13 from the Cougar 30 yard line, Jenkins rainbowed the right side and McKillion made a nice over-the-shoulder catch for his second touchdown reception of the half giving the Chicks a 29-22 lead.

"It looked like a shoot-out in the first half," said Moody. "It didn't like that. We had a bunch of break downs in our coverage and we gave up some big plays."

It wasn't all offense in the first half.

With time running down in the half, Helena marched down deep into Blytheville territory. On second and goal from the three yard line, Williams was stopped for a four yard loss. The Chicks then forced Belfored into incomplete passes on third and fourth down stopping the Helena drive at the Chicks seven yard line with :45 second left in the half.

The break at half time didn't cool down the Blytheville offense. The Chicks scored on their first three possessions of the second half to put the game out of reach.

Jenkins punched in a four-yard touchdown run capping a 56-yard drive making it 35-22 with 8:35 to play in the third.

K'Mel Goins recoverd a Cougar fumble on their ensuing possession setting up Clark's second 35-yard touchdown run of the night on a fourth-and-three call. Clark also ran in the two-point conversion to give Blytheville a 43-22 lead with 5:03 to play in the quarter.

Jenkins found McKillion for a third time on their next possession. This time for 79 yards. McKillion ran the final 30 yards of the touchdown score with one shoe while holding off Helena defender to give Blytheville a 51-22 lead.

Clark scored the Chicks final touchdown on a nine yard run with 2:23 left in the game. The score capped off a 14-play drive that started at the Chicks seven yard line with 8:28 left in the fourth period following a Helena touchdown.

Helena put one more score on the board with just over a minute to play to end the scoring.

"We looked at the film and knew Helena wasn't a bad team," said Moody. "They're explosive and have a lot of speed. Speed and spacing is always tough to defend. When you've got a guy who can go out and make one man miss in open space you can be very dangerous. I'm tired of playing all of these fast teams. From Osceola to West Memphis to Helena, I'll be glad when we get a chance to play someone not as fast. I'll put it that way."

They're next opponent may not be as fast, but the Wynne Yellowjackets like to get out in space with new head coach Chris Hill.

"Coach Hill has those guys spread out all over the dog-gone place," said Moody. "We've got to work on tackling on defense and tightening our coverages up. We've definitely got to get better for next week."

The Chicks finish the non-conference schedule winning two out of three and now begin the long trek through the 5A-East.

"I'm pleased coming out 2-1. We had a great non-conference schedule. Osceola's always a tough one and then to come back and play West Memphis who's always tough and then a tough Helena team. We saw a lot of speed. 2-1, I'm not upset with that at all. We've still got some areas where we have to get better and we're going to get better."

Moody said that once his team gets back to full strength, more offense is sure to come.

"58 points? You might see that at half time. I'm excited about it."

afitzpatrick@blythevillecourier.com