LITTLE ROCK — Ty Storey’s first pass Saturday night ended up being intercepted in the Class 3A state title game. The Charleston junior quarterback made up for it fairly quickly, though.
Storey completed 9 of his next 12 passes, five of which went for touchdowns and Charleston rolled to a 42-19 victory over Glen Rose to capture the school’s fourth state title since 2005.
“We preach to our kids there’s going to be ups and downs, and it’s a lot like the life, this game,” Charleston Coach Greg Kendrick said. “He handled that down.”
Storey, who has committed to play at Arkansas, finished 18 of 31 passing for 378 yards and tied a state championship record with 6 touchdown passes as he took over a game that’s rhythm was shaken for both teams because of an inordinate amount of penalties.
Glen Rose was penalized 18 times for 183 yards and senior running back Austin Kehner was ejected in the fourth quarter after receiving consecutive unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. Charleston had 9 penalties for 122 yards.
The Beavers (12-2) were penalized three times for 45 yards during a third-quarter drive that ended with Storey’s 18-yard pass to Taylor King that put the Tigers (15-0) up 42-7.
“Horrible game, you can quote me on that,” Glen Rose Coach Mark Kehner said.
Storey’s accurate streak through five consecutive first-half possessions got Charleston a large lead in the midst of all the penalties.
It started with Charleston’s first drive after Storey’s initial interception, and didn’t end until Storey put the Tigers up 35-0.
Of the 12 passes Storey threw over 14 minutes, 1 second, two went for touchdowns to King, two to Austin Pittman and another to Colton Ward, which covered 70 yards. Storey passed for 235 yards during that span, and also caught a 26 yard pass from Chance Shelby on a fake punt that kept a scoring drive alive.
“We just got in a groove there as an offense,” Storey said. “My line was giving me time and my receivers were giving me great catches. I mean, they’re the reason we’re here.”
All four of the touchdowns to running backs King and Pittman came on screen passes in which the backs did most of the work after the catch.
One of Pittman’s touchdowns covered 55 yards, another one 16, while King caught touchdowns of 14 and 13 yards.
Defensively, the Tigers held a Glen Rose (x-x) offense that had scored 42 or more points in each of its last six games to a season-low point total. Before Saturday, the Beavers’ season-low was 27 points in a season-opening loss to Malvern.
Glen Rose finished with 403 yards of total offense, but its drives were stalled with penalties and six turnovers. Only two of those turnovers ended in Charleston touchdowns, but four of them occurred at the Charleston 31 or closer.
“Our defense flew to the ball,” Kendrick said. “We feel like our defense is as good as there is. So I was proud of those guys.”