Blackhawks fight hard, but lose, season opener

Young team outscores opponents in second half

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

— Though demonstrating sparks of brilliance and hope for the future, the varsity Blackhawks’ youth and inexperience dug a hole Pea Ridge could not climb out of as they dropped their season opener to the Elkins Elks by a 25-8 count.

With two-thirds of the ’Hawks starters participating in their first ever high school football game, the homeboys began play a bit tentatively and it appeared the Elks might even turn the game into a rout early on. A pair of timely called time-outs by coach Tony Travis served toright the ’Hawks’ ship, however, with the locals actually coming back to outscore their guests 8-6 in the second half.

“For the great majority of our players, this was their first Friday night in high school competition,” Travis said. “At one point in the game, 75 percent of the players on the field were sophomores with several upper classmen playing in their first game since junior high. The good news is that the mistakes that we made, and there were lots of them, are correctable. No one on the team is happy with the way the game turned out and we will be back at it nextweek to fix the things that went wrong and have a better game when we host Green Forest next week.”

Elkins didn’t take long to take control of the game as the Elks’ Chad Curry rolled right then ran right through a host of ’Hawk defenders to dash 85 yards to paydirt on the game’s first play from scrimmage. The ’Hawks then received another blow when senior tailback Andrew Woollard, after gaining 10 yards on two carries on the ’Hawks’ first possession, had to leave the game due to an injury received on the opening kickoff.

“We were hurting for experience when the game started so losing one of the few veterans we had in the games’ opening moments was disheartening.” Travis said. “To their credit, the boys came back with a greater resolve and put forth an even greater effort to get back into thegame.”

After forcing a ’Hawk punt, the Elkins quarterback ran for 10 yards and passed for 21 more as the Elks drove to the Pea Ridge 19-yard line midway in the quarter. Junior Drew Norris threw a clod in the churn when he barged through the Elks offensive line to sack the quarterback for a 3-yard loss. Norris and Holliday then teamed up to stuff a quarterback sneak forcing the Elks into a fourth and 10 situation. The ’Hawks’ great efforts were thwartedwhen Elks quarterback Robert Teague found Zach Hutcheson open in the middle of the field for the games’ second touchdown from 22 yards out. The kick failed leaving the score at 13-0 with 5:05 left in the first quarter.

Sophomore Dayton Winn responded to the kickoff with a fine 35-yard run back to near midfield. More adversity was heaped on the ’Hawks however, as the ball was fumbled away on second down to give the Elks possession in Pea Ridge territory on the 47. Playing with increasing confidence, the ’Hawks were led by Jase Sharp to pour through the Elkins line to run down the ball carrier for a 3-yard loss. Another sack two plays later and the ’Hawks had the ball on their own 47.

On first down, Winn dashed for 14 yards into Elks territory on the 39. Quarterback Austin Easterling ran for 7 yards and Winn for 4 more as the ’Hawks claimed a first down on the Elks’ 28.

The Elks defense finally responded to force the ’Hawks into a fourth-and-six at the start of the second period from the Elkins’ 24. While the ’Hawks had a player open, they couldn’t make connections as an incomplete pass turned the ball over to the visitors.

The Elks drove to near midfield and nearly scored on a breakaway run except for Scott Fisher’s fightingthrough three blocks to drop the ball carrier after a 6-yard gain. The ’Hawks sniffed out the next play and had three defenders on an Elkins receiver but the Elk caught a perfectly thrown pass to gain 27 yards to the Pea Ridge 28-yard line. Four plays later and the Elks were in the end zone to bolster their advantage to 19-0 with 5:57 left in the half.

Another sophomore, Daniel Beard, made a good runback on a kickoff return as he sprinted 24 yards to set the ’Hawks up on the Pea Ridge 34. Runs by Fisher, Easterling and Winn then drove the ball to the 50. Facing fourth-andfifth, the ’Hawks got some more bad luck as the quarterback slipped on wet grassbefore he could throw to an open ’Hawk as the Elks took over on downs. The half ran out before either team could mount a further threat.

The ’Hawks came out a different team in the second half sparked by Winn’s 25-yard kickoff return to the Pea Ridge 35. Winn picked up 5 yards on a run before Easterling hit a streaking Bo Rylee for a 23-yard gainer to the Elks’ 37. Winn then picked up 9 yards on first down and moments later gained a first down on a penalty. While Easterling ran twice for 6 yards to enter the red zone the Elkins 18 yard line, two successive incompletionsended the ’Hawks’ drive.

After a big run by the Elks tailback Curry got them out of a hole, Teague dropped a 63-yard bomb into the hands of Leichner on second down to put Elkins up 25-0 to seemingly put the game out of reach.

The ’Hawks’ Beard brought the Pea Ridge fans to their feet as he ran the kickoff back 51 yards, running left then moving right to outmaneuver a host of pursuers.

Three runs by Winn put the ’Hawks on the Elk 30 and a 2-yard dive by Cody Edwards gave Pea Ridge a first down on the 28. The ’Hawks mounting threat was derailed however when a mixup on a pass route led to an Elkins interception which the Elks returned to midfield. Successive runningplays by the Elks gave them a first down on the ’Hawk 40 but a fired up ’Hawk defense knocked the ball loose with Dalton Fisher covering the fumble to give Pea Ridge new life.

On his second straight big play, Beard roused the Blackhawk faithful as he broke off a 46-yard jaunt to the Elkins 30, only to see it waved off on a penalty on another ’Hawk player.

Beards’ run was reduced to 7 yards which, along with 8 yards rushing by Winn, did give Pea Ridge a first down on the ’Hawks 39. Moments later facing fourthand-two from their own 49, Travis rolled the dice with Winn covering the bet in by sprinting past a host of Elk defenders to score the ’Hawks’ first touchdownwith 10:30 left in the game.

A 2-point conversion play call completely fooled the Elks with Scott Fisher jogging into the end zone to cut the deficit to 25-8.

After the Elks gained a first down following the kickoff, the ’Hawks threw the Elk ball carriers for losses on three consecutive plays. Norris led the onslaught pinning a yard loss on the Elks on a first-down play with Sharp and Fisher breaking through to nail the ball carrier for a 3-yard loss on second down. Norris put the icing on the cake by dropped the quarterback for a whopping 12-yard loss on third down to force a punt.

On the ’Hawks’ next possession, Pea Ridge did manage to get into Elkins territory but the drivebogged down, turning the ball over to Elkins with 4:45 left in the game. The Elks utilized six straight running plays against the ’Hawk reserves to pile up 41 rushing yards for a first down on the Pea Ridge 13. In a moment of class not often seen on Friday nights, Elkins coach Aaron Clark had his quarterback take a knee on the last three plays to run out the clock and to refrain from running up the score unnecessarily.

Winn led the offense with 107 yards on 13 carries with Easterling rushing for 24 yards on seven jaunts.

Woollard gained 10 yards on two tries, Edwards gained 7 yards on seven carries, with Beard rushing for 7 on one try. Easterling was five of 11 passing for 35 yards.

Sports, Pages 7 on 09/08/2010