A bye week, weather issues, a rain-shortened loss and a much-needed win.

That all happened in the five weeks since the Northside Grizzlies were at home.

But Friday, they make their long-awaited return to Mayo-Thompson Stadium on, appropriately enough, Homecoming. And in the rigorous 7A-Central, another challenge awaits the Grizzlies.

Namely in the form of arguably the best running back in the conference, Little Rock Central senior Samy Johnson.

“He’s a great player,” Northside coach Mike Falleur said of Johnson. “He’s not the only good player they have, but he’s by far their go-to guy and we’ve not done a good job the last two years of corralling him, so we’re working hard this week on just tackling. ... Just trying to get him down on the ground.”

Johnson (5-foot-10, 186 pounds) rushed for a total of 330 yards and five touchdowns in the Rockets’ first two games this season, both wins. Then in the conference opener at Cabot two weeks ago, Johnson carried the ball 42 times for 217 yards and a TD as Catholic pulled out the win.

Plus, Falleur is very familiar with what Johnson can do with the ball, having went up against him each of the past two years. Two years ago at Northside, Johnson’s exploits helped Catholic nearly pull out an upset win; then last season, Johnson helped give the Rockets a win against the Grizzlies.

“It was almost single-handedly (Johnson’s performance two years ago), he did a lot of stuff and he’s done that for them this year,” Falleur said. “Against Cabot, he carried the ball 42 times. I don’t know if we have a ball carrier, maybe one, that’s carried the ball 42 times the entire year so far and he did in one ballgame, so we know the challenge.

“We’ve got to control Samy, contain him but at the same time, you can’t go brain-dead and forget about the other (players); they’ve got two really good receivers, a good tight end, the quarterback’s very shifty.”


Catholic’s defense utilizes a 3-4 scheme, primarily consisting of five seniors and six juniors.

“Defensively, they’re a team that doesn’t have one guy that stands out,” Falleur said. “They’ve got 11 guys that play very hard. They love to slant, twist, they get after it, so it’s a different challenge for us and our kids have got to be ready.”

The last time the Grizzlies played at home was on Week 1, but the team’s second game after starting the season on Zero Week.

Since then, Northside went to Van Buren and, after dealing with a pregame rainstorm, defeated the Pointers. After the Grizzlies took a bye week, they began 7A-Central play at Bryant but the game was called late in the first half due to storms, and it was decided that Bryant would be awarded the win.

Then last week, Northside went back on the road to central Arkansas, this time Little Rock Central. But under perfect weather conditions, the Grizzlies had a much easier time, totaling 395 yards of offense and building a 35-0 lead en route to a decisive win.

“We’re excited to play at home; Mayo-Thompson’s always a lot of fun and hopefully, we’ll have a great crowd since it’s been a month since we’ve been here and we’re just excited to be back home,” Falleur said.

“It’s going to be a tough football game. Every game we’ve played them over the last four or five years, I don’t think anybody’s beaten the other one by more than a touchdown, so we’ve got to be ready to play.”

Northside quarterback Derrick “Deuce” Wise has thrown for 634 yards and five TDs and is the team’s top rusher with 340 yards on 61 carries and six TDs. Senior halfback Eli Bolton has 237 yards on 37 carries and five TDs. Junior Jackson King is the top receiver with 16 catches for 195 yards and two TDs.

On defense, the team’s top tackler is senior linebacker Anthony Travis with 43. Senior lineman Raytel Rone is second in tackles with 29 and leads the Grizzlies in sacks with four. Senior cornerback Tyriq Adams has the most passes broken up, recording four.
