On a cold November night, an irrepressible young Blackhawk team battled a senior-laden Berryville Bobcat squad to the final wire before getting edged out 21-20 in the football season finale thriller.

The ’Hawks started out slowly, allowing the Bobcats to take their first possession down the field to score early and take an initial 7-0 advantage. After falling behind 14-0 in the second quarter, the ’Hawks scored their first touchdown on the first half’s last play then scored successive touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters until a last minute score by the Bobcats proved decisive.

“This was a game that we should have won and could have won, but Berryville did what they had to at the end to pull it out,” Blackhawk head coach Tony Travis said.

“I was proud of the boys for not giving up early when it would have been easy to do so,” Travis continued. “I think we have laid the foundation for a good team for next year when all these sophomore and juniors are juniors and seniors.”

The Bobcats scored on their first possession to take command with the ’Hawks failing to come up with a threat on their first foray. The Bobcats kept up the pressure, driving to the ’Hawks’ goal line early in the second quarter. However, on fourth-and-four from the ’Hawk 4, the ’Hawk defenders brought the Berryville ball carrier down on the 1-yard line to regain the ball on downs.

With their backs against the wall on their own 1-yard line, Blackhawk Braxton Caudill gave the ’Hawks a little running room with a2-yard run to the 3. Successive 6-yard runs by Dayton Winn earned the ’Hawks a first down on the 15. Winn netted 6 more yards, but an incomplete pass forced a punt to the Berryville 49.

Berryville then began to hammer at the ’Hawks with a succession short runs, driving down close to the red zone with a first down on the Pea Ridge 24.

The ’Hawk defenders then summoned up enough fire to stop the Bobcats dead in their tracks, allowing them just 2 yards in four running attempts to regain the ball again on downs.

Berryville decided to return the favor as they stacked up the ’Hawks for three straight running plays which netted them 0 yards.

The ’Hawks got off a good punt but a special teams’ breakdown let the Bobcat return man break loose and scamper to the end zone to boost the Berryville advantage to 14-0 with 1:08 left in the half, as the kick after touchdown was good.

Refusing to go into the intermission down by two touchdowns, the ’Hawks put their one-minute offense into gear, highlighted by Austin Easterling’s 19-yard pass to Winn followed by an 8-yard flip to Maddox to get into Berryvilleterritory on the 44. With the clock running down to zero, Easterling connected with Bo Rylee for a 44-yard bomb with the ’Hawk faithful celebrating as the halftime horn was sounding.

The PAT kick was blocked however, an event that would loom large later in the contest.

The ’Hawks started the second half on their own 26. After a 5-yard run by Winn got the ’Hawks out to their 31, Winn broke loose on a 38-yard dash to cross over into Berryville territory at the 32. Winn slashed for 6 more yards with Winn hooking up with Joseph Adams on the next play for 10 yards and a first down on the Bobcat 16. On second-and-10, Winn burst up the middle bouncing off would-be tacklers to race into the end zone for the ’Hawks’ second touchdown. Trailing 14-12 because of the missed PAT kick, the ’Hawks tried to tie the game on a 2-point conversion but were stopped just short of the goal line.

After the ensuing kickoff, the ’Hawks dug in and held the Bobcats to just 6 yards rushing, forcing a punt with the ’Hawks taking over on their own 20.

Pea Ridge maintained their attack from the outsetof the second half and drove into Berryville territory.

After Caudill’s initial 2-yard run, Winn broke loose for 9 more and a first down on the 31. The ’Hawks then were hit for a 10-yard penalty for holding followed by a quarterback sack that left the ’Hawks looking at a second-and-25 from their own 16. Easterling brought them back with 10-yard and 14-yard passes to Rylee and Adams that left them facing fourth-and-one from their own 40. Although the Bobcats sniffed out the play, Easterling stuck his head into the wall of defenders, reaching out with the ball to just barely move it past the first down marker to save the drive.

Winn then ran twice for 5 yards with Easterling hitting Rylee for 2 yards on a pass, leaving the ’Hawks in another fourth down situation, fourth-and-three on the Pea Ridge 48. A burst by Winn up the middle got the ’Hawks their needed yardage and more to the Bobcat 44. An elusive run by Easterling got the ’Hawks 7 more yards and a pair of runs by Winn gave the ’Hawks still another first down on the Berryville 32. On first down, Easterling was brought down via the face mask for a 7-yard loss to the 39. Winnran for 6 with Easterling following that with an 8-yard pass to Maddox to get the ’Hawks close, facing fourthand-four from the Bobcat 25. Easterling then rolled to his left and had a man wide open on the sidelines but a Bobcat defender managed to get a hand on the ball to knock it away and stop the threat.

Led by some big stops by Jase Sharp, Berryville could only gain 3 yards and were forced to punt. Winn fielded the kick cleanly and dashed 30 yards to the Berryville 35. ’Hawks rushed the first two downs, gaining 3 yards and forcing Easterling to go to the air on third and long.

He connected with Maddox who was stopped short of a first down but whose refusal to go down added enough yardage to keep the drive alive with a first down to the 21.

Winn was then called on hit the holes three times in succession with the sophomore back racking up 12 yards to the 9-yard line.

On first down, Winn burst past the Bobcat defenders to the end zone to give the ’Hawks their first lead of the night. Easterling’s successful 2-point pass conversion put the ’Hawks ahead 20-14 with just 4:30 left in the game.

With their high school football careers just minutes from ending, Berryville’s seniors put together one last drive.

Starting from their own 23, Berryville started out running the ball which gave them a first down on the ’Hawk 38 on eight plays.

With the clock running out, Berryville then went to the air going the rest of the way sparked by the air attack to score their third touchdown with just 40 seconds left to knot the score at 20-20. Their kicker connected on the PAT to give the Bobcats their final margin of victory.

Never saying die, the ’Hawks used the game’s final 30 seconds with passes from Easterling to Rylee moving the ball into Berryville territory. With the clock again winding down to zero as in the first half, Easterling scrambled to his left looking for a receiver but the defenders had the play well covered this time as the ball fell harmlessly into the end zone as the game horn sounded.

While first quarter stats were unavailable, Winn picked up 133 yards rushing over the final three quarters to spark the offense with Easterling passing for 107 yards.

Sports, Pages 7 on 11/10/2010