Coming off their rain-shortened loss to Bryant last week, the Northside Grizzlies could not afford to start 7A-Central play 0-2.

Fortunately for the Grizzlies, they were able to rebound Friday in Little Rock as they picked up their first conference win, defeating the Little Rock Central Tigers, 35-7.

Quarterback Derrick “Deuce” Wise completed 9-of-13 passes for 211 yards and a touchdown while adding 71 yards on 10 carries and two TDs.

Wise had the Grizzlies’ opening two touchdowns. His first came on the initial play of the second quarter in a scoreless game, when Wise took a keeper in from 21 yards out. Henry Hernandez added the PAT for a 7-0 lead.

Minutes later, Wise ran another keeper 3 yards into the end zone, and Hernandez’s PAT made it 14-0.

With less than two minutes left until halftime, Northside made it 20-0 when Wise found Preston Baugh open in the back corner of the end zone from 8 yards out.

Early in the second half, Wise nearly had another TD pass when he threw a short route over the middle to James Clayton, who took it on the run but was brought down at the Central 1 after a 65-yard gain. Eli Bolton finished it off on the next play, and Northside went for two and got it as Wise tossed a pass to Jackson King, making it 28-0.

Bolton had another 1-yard TD run midway through the third as the Grizzlies built a 35-0 advantage, and the clock began to run continuously from there.

Northside (4-1, 1-1) returns home this Friday to take on Little Rock Catholic.