Blue Devils set for Kickoff Classic game

West Memphis and Little Rock Central square off in season opener tomorrow afternoon

WM School District The West Memphis Blue Devils get another early start to their football campaign, and head coach Billy Elmore said it’s been good for the program.

For the second consecutive season the Blue Devils open more than a full week ahead of most of the rest of Arkansas as they take on Little Rock Central on Tuesday night at War Memorial Stadium in the Bank of England Mortgage Kickoff Classic presented by 103.7 The Buzz.

But there is a big difference this time out.

The Blue Devils and the Tigers will kick off at 5 p.m., thus giving their fans a chance to get home at a decent hour. Last year the two teams played in the nightcap of a doubleheader and actually kicked it off at 8:15 p.m.

Elmore thinks his team is ready to start the season.

“I think our kids are ready for the challenge of a season,” said Elmore, whose team went 11-1 last year in winning the 6A-East Conference championship and advancing to the semifinals of the state playoffs for the second straight year.

“They’ve worked really hard all spring and summer and we feel good about where we’re at from a competitive standpoint.”

Elmore said he would have liked to have gotten more of a look from his team in last Tuesday’s preseason scrimmage at Batesville, but a thunderstorm brought lightning, heavy winds and rain as the two teams were near the end of the first of two 12-minute periods.

“I was hoping to get in more during the time when it was really hot because we know we’re going to be playing in probably the hottest part of the day (against Little Rock Central),” said Elmore.

“But you can’t do anything about the weather.”

One of the things that jumped off the page in the Batesville scrimmage was the running of senior Cedric Loving, who spent last season as a rarely used back-up. He scored the game’s only touchdown from 11 yards out and also added some explosive runs during the untimed portion of the scrimmage.

Central will be trying to turn around from a 1-8 campaign a year ago under head coach Kent Laster.

The Blue Devils blitzed the Tigers last year 35-0.

“They have a lot of kids back from last year and they’re explosive,” said Elmore. “You gotta remember that they played in 7A against the likes of Bryant, Cabot, North Little Rock and Conway. We’re going to have to play well to beat them.”

Loving will be paired in the backfield with another senior, Tyrique Thomas, who rushed for 134 yards also in a back-up role last season.

The Blue Devil offense will be under the direction of senior quarterback Owens McConnell, a starter last year who was the Most Outstanding Player in the 2018 game against Central by completing 14 of 25 passes for 198 yards and three touchdowns.

On defense, senior linebacker Kendarious Moore leads a mostly untested group of Blue Devils.

Moore was the team’s leading tackler a year ago for lost yardage and he has made a verbal commitment to sign with Tulane University after getting offers from Oklahoma State and Vanderbilt.

“Kendarious’ coverage skills translate to the next level,” Elmore said of Moore. “I’ve probably had bigger and more physical linebackers, but not any that are as smooth in coverage and the things he does with the RPO game.

In practice we cannot read him.”