Like a Stone

Like a Stone

Junior receiver makes waves for Blue Devils

WM School District With each ball that is thrown in his general direction, Steven Stone has his West Memphis coaches believing he's going to safely snag it into his soft hands.

Stone, a junior receiver for the Blue Devils, is emerging into a serious goto weapon as the 2016 regular season winds down.

The 5-10, 170-pounder and his teammates head to Mountain Home Friday night to take on the Bombers to give the Blue Devils (6-3 overall, 4-2 in the 6A-East Conference) a chance to grab some momentum heading into the state playoffs.

Stone caught two touchdown passes in last week's 30-29 West Memphis loss to Pine Bluff and for the year he's hauled in 25 receptions for 521 yards and 8 touchdowns. Most importantly, however, is his 20.8 yards per reception average.

'He's got great body control,' Blue Devil offensive coordinator Chris McClenny said of Stone.

'He has the ability, also, to make adjustments.'

Stone's emergence is one reason the Blue Devil aerial game has progressed steadily since the beginning of the season.

'He's come a long way,' head coach Billy Elmore said of Stone. 'He's a kid who's bought into what we're doing. He's been a big-play guy for us.'

Stone is also just an example of the kind of depth Elmore and his staff are building for the future of the program.

'We feel like we've got some young weapons just waiting on their shot to play,' said Elmore. 'We're excited about the overall course of where we're going. We're finally getting the depth you need to have at the 6A level. Sometimes you get through a season and then you're like, 'where are the next guys coming from?' We already know right now where they're coming from for next year. We've got two junior running backs (Guren Holmes and Quincy Marshall), two junior quarterbacks (Amaurius Stinnett and Michael Troxler) and a whole fleet of receivers.'

A win at Mountain Home would assure the Blue Devils of no worse than a third-place finish in the conference. A Marion win at Jonesboro tonight, however, could move West Memphis into the secondplace spot. The Bombers (3-6 overall, 3-3 in the conference) got some attention last week with their 42-41 win over Searcy. Their option offense is still a dangerous component for many defenses, as Elmore notes.

'If you're not disciplined on defense they can carve you up,' Elmore noted.

'On the college level, Navy's option has given Memphis fits the last two years. It's something you used to see a lot, and if the option is executed well, it's scary.'

Mountain Home's offense is averaging a respectable 23.66 points per game for the season, but in the last four games the Bombers are putting up 33 points per game.

Photo by Billy Woods Blue Devil junior Steven Stone (5) is turning into a go-to receiver for West Memphis.

By Billy Woods