LITTLE ROCK — The Conway Wampus Cats have started the gain some momentum over the recent weeks, and that was definitely evident Thursday night in the season finale against Little Rock Catholic.
The Cats (4-6) showed plenty of firepower on their way to a 35-28 win. The quick-strike ability helped Conway keep the Rockets grounded.
That’s just one of the improvements that have transpired in recent weeks.
The defense has had multiple goal-line stands. The offense has started to click more and score more points. In short, things are getting better.
Those feats, along with others, have no doubt helped build confidence for the Cats as they prepare for the opening round of the Class 7A state playoffs. Just making the playoffs is a step forward from a dismal 2-8 season last year, in which Conway did not reach the postseason.
The Cats (4-6) will take the fifth seed and travel to Fayetteville — which lost 49-20 to Rogers Heritage on Friday night and fell to the fourth seed in the 7A-West — to open the postseason. The defense has played a large role in getting Conway this far. But now the offense is beginning to catch up.
“We’ve been clicking on all cylinders,” said Cats quarterback Xavier Acklin, who passed for 246 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 188 yards and two more touchdowns. “We just got fed up with playing for two quarters and started playing for four quarters.”
During the most recent four quarters, Conway amassed 439 yards of offense — compared to Catholic’s 323. The passing game had its best production of the season, highlighted by Jalen Jones’ breakout performance of seven catches for 155 yards and a touchdown.
“It gives us a lot of confidence (heading into the playoffs),” Jones said. “We’ve just been practicing hard and getting a grip on what we need to do.”
When Jones and company have a firm grip on the offense, that gives the Cats quarterback more leeway in how he accomplishes his task.
“It makes my job easier having guys like that I can get the ball to,” Acklin said.
But even with all of this, a strong force upfront is making such success possible. The Conway offensive line, which has been reshuffled since the North Little Rock game in Week 5, has made large strides from where things started.
“The offensive line is getting better every week,” Cats coach Clint Ashcraft said. “I think they got better as the night (Thursday) wore on.”
That could bode well for Conway as the season continues with the skilled position players are reaping the benefits.
“We couldn’t do any of this without the o-line blocking,” Acklin said. “Even with a couple of key injuries (Thursday), they’ve done a great job of blocking and opening holes up.”
The spirit in which the Cats played with is something Ashcraft hopes continues as well.
“Hopefully, we can take the emotion and intensity and desire and fill our tanks up and lay it all on the line next week,” Ashcraft said.
There’s already plenty of emotion. The rest will be determined by how the Cats play.
“We’re really excited,” Acklin said. “We’ve just got to execute and (eliminate mistakes), and everything else will take care of itself.”
