By Brad Greer

What looked like a one-sided game on paper turned out to be just that on the field Friday night as North Delta opened the 2011 home slate with a 46-22 thumping of a out-manned West Memphis, Ark. squad.

The Green Wave scored on seven of their eight  possessions in the first half to take a commanding 46-0 lead at intermission. The second half was played under a 12-minute running clock.

Junior tailback Taylor Morris rushed for 190 yards and four touchdowns -all in the first half- as the Green Wave offense rolled up 394 yards, 350 of which via the ground game, to improve to 2-0 on the season.

The North Delta defense meanwhile held West Memphis to minus 11 yards rushing in the first half while forcing four turnovers on the night. Sy Pritchard intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble while Brett Harrington also added an interception from the free saftey position. Carter Gant recovered a fumble on the Green Wave three-yard line to halt a West Memphis drive in the third quarter.

After an interception stopped North Delta’s first drive of the game, the Green Wave offense kicked into high gear by scoring on drives of 61, 60 and 94 yards in the first quarter.

Morris got North Delta on the board at the 6:50 mark with a five-yard run as Kyle Devazier booted the PAT. Less than a two minutes later, Morris added his second touchdown with a 30-yard scamper to finish off a four-play, 60-yard drive that took 1:10 off the clock. Devazier’s point after sailed wide left to leave the score 13-0.

West Memphis put together its longest drive of the night by marching to the North Delta six-yard line only to turn the ball over on downs.

The Green Wave covered 94 yards on three plays as quarterback Tyler Pirtle connected with Colby Pirtle on a 36-yard scoring strike as time expired in the first quarter to extend the North Delta lead to 20-0 after Devazier tacked on the extra point.

North Delta turned three West Memphis turnovers into points in the second quarter as Morris added touchdown runs of seven and five yards to push the lead to 40-0. William Dean caught Pirtle’s second pass of the night on an eight-yard reception with 9:59 left before halftime.

Pritchard got into the scoring act as the offensive linemen-turned-fullback  bulldozed his way seven yards into the endzone with 1:20 left in the half to finish out the North Delta scoring as Devazier’s PAT was no good. Pritchard finished the night with 48 yards on four carries.

The Black Knights got on the board with a 28-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter and two more scores in the fourth, the last being with 13 seconds remaining in the game.

Hunter Durham followed Morris in rushing with 73 yards on 12 carries. Parker Jones chipped in with six carries for 35 yards while Tyler Pirtle added one carry for six yards.

North Delta held a 16-15 advantage in first down while averaging 9.8 yards per play. West Memphis quarterback Jonathon Witcher threw for 226 yards on 16-of-38 passing on the night as the Black Knights totaled 291 yards of offense.

 North Delta (2-0) hosts Greenville Washington Friday night at 7:30 p.m.