PEA RIDGE — After the ’Hawks gave up a touchdown early to visiting Prairie Grove, Pea Ridge heldtheir guests out of the end zone until the final quarter before falling late in the game 20-6.
Reminiscent of last week’s nearupset of highly-regarded Ozark, Pea Ridge came back from their game-opening misfortunes to hold the Tiger offense in check for nearly three quarters. In the end though, the visitors’ marked advantages in numbers and experience were enough to wear the ’Hawks down and help them escape with a narrow victory.
“I know it sounds like a broken record,” coach Tony Travis said, “but I think we played well, especially on defense, and we are an improving team.
While the offense moved the ball well at times, we kept having penalties crop up to stall the attack. We still have some things that need working on.”
The visiting Tigers, a playoff team in 2009, used a balanced attack to start the game. Prairie Grove got 46 yards through the air and 31 on the ground to reach paydirt at the 8:31 mark of the first quarter. The PAT kick was good to give the visitors a 7-0 lead.
After Daniel Beard returned the ensuing kickoff to the ’Hawk 20, Braxton Caudill and Andrew Woollard rushed for a pair of yards each to go with a great 7-yard dash by Austin Easterling to give Pea Ridge their initial first down on the 31. After runs by Easterling and Woollard got Pea Ridge to the 34 yard line, the Tigers gambled by sending the house to chase quarterback Easterling. The defensive pursuit got past the Pea Ridge blocking backs to bring Easterling just before he could release a pass to a wide open ’Hawk receiver down field, resulting in a fourth and long.
Corey Lawson got off a good 32-yard punt push the Tigers back to their 41.
The Tigers’ next drive got off to a slow start with Jase Sharp bursting through to drop the first down rushing play for a 1-yard loss. Two plays later saw the Tigers looking at a third and 13 situation before the Prairie Grove quarterback tossed a 21-yarder to keep them alive.
The visitors then kept the ball on the ground to drive it to the verge of scoring on the ’Hawk 3.
The ’Hawk defense rose to the challenge by breaking through on second and 3 from the 3 with a resulting fumble being covered by Pea Ridge on the 14-yard line.
Jonah Torres sliced through for 6 yards on first down with Easterling finding Joe Adams open near the sideline for a 27-yard passing play that put theball near midfield at the ’Hawk 49. Facing a third-and-nine moments later, Easterling rolled out to pass but a defender tackled the intended receiver resulting in a flag from the referees and an additional 15 yards.
Torres and Caudill then gained 5 and 4 yards on the ground, respectively, but the ’Hawks were faced with a fourth-and-one from the Tiger 25. Dayton Winn then bulled up the middle for a yard to keep the drive alive with a first down.
On the next play, Easterling lofted a pass to the west corner of the field where Adams made an acrobatic catch with some great footwork to keep the ball inbounds before falling out at the Tiger 4-yard line.
Two quarterback sneaks by Easterling and the ’Hawks were in the end zone with 7:07 left in the half. The ’Hawks’ bid to take the lead on a 2-point play fell just short as Prairie Grove maintained a slimmer lead, 7-6.
The Tigers were stopped on their ensuing possession with Pea Ridge taking over on the Tiger 47. Easterling made a great throw to Adams for a 14-yard gainer, but a 12-yard holding penalty along with a 7-yard sack of the ’Hawk quarterback derailed the threat, with the Tigers getting the ball back on their own 32 with 1:12 left in the half. Five straight passes picked up 45 yards and a first down on the ’Hawk 12 with just 5 seconds left in the period. On the last play of the half, the Tiger signal caller threw a perfect pass to an open receiver in the end zone, but a diving move by ’Hawk defender Scott Fisher just deflected the ball enough to prevent the touchdown and send the homeboys into intermission trailing by just a single point, 7-6.
The ’Hawks began the second half with possession of the ball on their own 21. Runs by Easterling and Woollard got the ball near midfield with a 15-yard pass from Easterling to Bo Rylee getting Pea Ridge into Tiger territory at the 33. A possible first down gaining pass to Mike Maddox was wiped out by a holding call against the ’Hawks with Pea Ridge turning the ball over on downs two plays later.
The Tigers looked ready to increase their lead on the next possession as they marched down the field, picking up 47 yards on eight plays to get to the ’Hawk 6-yard line. Ricardo Snyder put a bump in their road by stopping the Tiger ball carrier 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage on third down. On a fourth-down play from the 9-yard line, Dalton Morgan broke through to stop the play for no gain, regaining the ball for Pea Ridge in the process.
The ’Hawks couldn’t move the ball after still another penalty pushed them back, forcing them to punt from their own 7-yard line. Lawson got off a good 33-yard punt but the Tigers were able to return it to the Pea Ridge 19 to establish a threat early in the fourth quarter. The Tigers stayed on the ground,eventually punching it in from 1 yard out. The 2-point play failed as Prairie Grove widened the lead to 13-6 with 11:19 left in the game.
The ’Hawks couldn’t get anything going offensively on their next possession with a 34-yard punt by Lawson pushing the Tigers back to their own 29-yard line. Twice the ’Hawks held the Tigers to third and long, but in each case, Prairie Grove got just enough yards to gain a first down and retain the ball.
A behind-the-line tackle by Rylee helped push the Tigers to a fourth and nine situation at the ’Hawk 34, but a successful Tiger pass gave the visitors just enough yardage to earn another first down. Two plays later, a 17-yard run by the Tigerswas followed by a 4-yard rush up the middle to secure Prairie Grove’s third score to ice the game with 4:16 left. The successful PAT kick gave the visitors a an imposing 20-6 lead.
Pea Ridge came up inches short on a fourth down play on their next foray as the Tigers then ran out the clock to put the game away.
“We have the best two weeks of practice that we have had since I have been here,” Travis said, “although we have yet to win a conference game, these next two weeks will be our best chance to end that streak. Tonight we avoided the turnovers that have hurt us in the past, but we are still committing penalties that just take the wind out of our sails. Our defensehas been giving our offense a chance and we need to take advantage of that in these last games.”
Easterling led the ’Hawks offensively by completing eight of 12 passes for 95 yards. Adams and Rylee each caught three passes for 61 and 27 yards, respectively. Daniel Beard hauled in one for 9 yards. On the ground, the ’Hawks could only manage 39 yards, with a lot of yards lost through quarterback sacks and tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Woollard was the most successful with 13 yards on six carries while Torres has 11 yards on two jaunts.
Pea Ridge will finish the season on the road, this Friday at Farmington and next week at Berryville.
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Sports, Pages 9 on 10/27/2010