Blackhawks plucked by Lions

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

— “If adversity were valuable, we’d all be rich,” Pea Ridge head football coach Tony Travis said after the 33-0 loss pinned on his Blackhawks at the hands of the Gravette Lions in the conference opener.

For a team that began the season with scant experience, the ’Hawks have found the sledding to get even tougher due to injuries and the suspension of three players, with most of the game against Gravette played without a quarterback.

“One of our key players, Bo Rylee, came down with a staph infection and could not play. He was our tight end and alternate quarterback,” Travis said.

“So when starting quarterback Austin Easterling went down with an injury early in the game, we had to improvise by having sophomore running back Dayton Winn fill that position.

With our passing game completely gone, Gravette could pretty well count on just protecting against the run.”

“Our defense played well enough but with the holes the decimated offense left us in, it was extremely hard to compete,” Travis said.

In fact, the Lions only had to pick up two first quarter first downs to rack up 16 points after a fumble, blocked punt and near blocked punt gave Gravette starting field position deep within Pea Ridge territory.

After receiving the kickoff, the ’Hawks were close to making a first down on runs by Winn when a Pea Ridge fumble turned the ball over on the ’Hawk 27.

Michael Maddox broke up a passing play on first down with Oldebeken and Jase Sharp dropping the Lion ball carrier after a short gain. A short passing gain on third down wasn’t enough for a Gravette first down so the Lions were forced to kick and the 38-yarder was through the uprights for a 3-0 lead with 9:26 left in the first.

The ’Hawks came up a yard short of a first down and had to punt. With the ’Hawks’ Holtgrewe and Roughton clogging up the middle, the Lions were forced to punt it back only four plays later. Penalties and dropped passes were enough to keep the ’Hawks at bay and a poor punt left the Lions in excellent field position on the ’Hawk 34.

Six plays later, a Lion ball carrier scored a touchdown behind a wall of blockers to boost the score to 9-0 with 2:32 left in the first quarter.

Braxton Caudill gained five yards up the middle but a dropped pass and a run stopped for no gain forced another Pea Ridge punt. Disaster struck as the snap nearly flew over the punter’s outstretched arms and by the time he could pull it back down and get set to punt, Lion defenders were able to block the kick and run the ball into the end zone for another score.

The PAT was good at the 1:14 mark, building the Gravette lead to 16-0.

The ’Hawks finally got a drive going of their own as a 3-yard run by Woollard and two 5-yard bursts by Winn got their initial first down as the quarter ended.

A fumble, 5-yard penalty and an incompletion conspired to force another ’Hawk punt with the Lions gaining possession on their own 44. Gravette passed for 13 yards on first down, picked up 18 more on the next play on a reverse, then ran it in from 33 yards out.

The kick was good and the Gravette lead was better as the Lions assumed a 23-0 lead with 8:57 left in the half.

On the kickoff return, Winn eluded several tacklers to run the kick back from the 1-yard line to the ’Hawk 32.

On first down, Winn sliced through the Gravette line, breaking several tacklers on his way to a 35-yard gainer only to see the fine run waved off by a penalty on another ’Hawk player. On the next play, the ’Hawks got good ground yardage but another fumble gave the ball back to Gravette. Though the Lions did drive to the ’Hawk 25, the Pea Ridge defense pushed them back on good defensive play from Oldebeken and Holtgrewe, with Gravette settling for a 42-yard field goal which fell a bit short.

Woollard and Winn combined for 8 yards rushing on the next three plays but had to punt it away. A great tackle by Oldebeken threw the Lions back for a 2-yard loss and an incomplete pass on third and 10 resulted in a Gravette punt.

With only 2:25 left in the half, the ’Hawks got busy with Woollard gaining 5 yards followed by runs of 7, 9 and 8 yards by Winn to get the Blackhawks past midfield. However, the clock ran out before Pea Ridge could threaten the end zone.

The Lions very nearly ran the third quarter kickoff back save a TD saving tackle by Maddox on the ’Hawk 40-yard line. Three plays later, the Lions were successful in setting up a wall of blockers as the quarterback ran it in from 30 yards out. The PAT was good for a 30-0 Gravette advantage with 10:35 left in the third quarter.

Winn got off another great kick return, dashing 30 yards from the 2-yard line to set the ’Hawks up at their own 32. Woollard broke through the left side as he sped past Lion defenders to pick up 22 yards on first down. The senior tailback then added 9 more yards on the next play as the ’Hawks had a second and 1 from the Gravette 37. Gravette then showed why they are averaging less than 2 points per game on defense as three running plays netted a minus 6 yards and another penalty gave the Lions the ball back on the ’Hawk 49.

Gravette quickly moved the ball to the ’Hawk 28 but a holding penalty and a quarterback sack by Sharp stopped the drive in its tracks. A desperate fourth down pass was intercepted by Scott Fisher on the Pea Ridge 25 as the threat was snuffed out. Woollard then rushed twice for 13 yards with Winn doing the same on the next two plays as the ’Hawks crossed into Gravette territory on the 49. Five-yard runs by Winn and Woollard earned another first down, but successive losses of 7 yards, an incompletion and still another blocked punt gave the ball to Gravette on their ’Hawk 35. After Gravette drove to the’Hawk 20, Holtgrewe nailed the Lion ball carrier for a short loss, with Oldebeken and Adams combining to blow up a Gravette play for an 8-yard loss to the 28. Two plays later and the Lions had to settle for a 33-yard field goal as Gravette led 33-0 with 8:45 left in the game.

Neither team threatened the rest of the way as Gravette posted its third shut out of the year and remained undefeated at 4-0.

“With our shrinking roster,” Travis said after the game, “we weren’t left with a lot of options on offense.

Our sophomores stepped it up and played well, as they have all season. We are getting better but we aren’t even close to full strength with all the players sidelined for one reason or another. I think there is light at the end of the tunnel but it has been a long tunnel.”

Sports, Pages 9 on 09/29/2010