Ozark Hillbillies wear down Blackhawks 28-0

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

— The Pea Ridge Blackhawks came out ready to play Friday but early success failed to dent the scoreboard with Ozark outlasting their guests to dominant the second half en route to a 28-0 victory.

The ’Hawks won the opening toss and looked poised to take an early lead against the 4A No. 3 state-ranked Hillbillies. Behind the running of tailback Dayton Winn, the ’Hawks drove the field on the Billies with consecutive runs by Winn and Austin Easterling getting Pea Ridge a first down on the Ozark 20-yard line.

A 3-yard run by Winn followed by a 3-yard pass to Rico Schneider gave the ’Hawks a third and 4 on the Ozark 13. Ozark stacked the line to stop any running success on the next two plays with the Billies taking over on downs.

After moving out to near midfield, the ’Hawk defenders slowed then stopped Ozark to force a punt. The Billies booted the ball to the ’Hawk 21 where the ’Hawks ran into difficulty in the passing game. One completed pass lost a pair of yards while another fell incomplete. Winn’s 4-yard run was not enough to keep the drive alive as the ’Hawks had to punt it back to Ozark. A good 35-yard punt, however, was wasted as the return man for Ozark slipped by the ’Hawk defense to dash35 yards for a first down on the ’Hawk 27. Three rushes later and the Billies were in the end zone.

The kick was good to give Ozark a 7-0 lead with 1:37 left in the first quarter.

An 18-yard kick return by Bo Rylee gave the ’Hawks decent field position to start their drive as they were set up on their own 34. After a good run by Winn was erased by a holding penalty, Easterling found Schneider all alone on the sidelines as the duo hooked up for a 44-yard gainer to the Billies’ 30-yard line. Three runs by Winn netted the ’Hawks 11 yards and a first down on the 19 as they made their way into the red zone for the second time.

Two pass incompletions and a short gain left the ’Hawks facing a fourth and 8 from the 17, however, and a defensive blitz by Ozark got to the quarterback resulting in a sack, giving the ball back to the home team on downs.

It didn’t take the speedy Billies long to double their score.

The first play from scrimmage saw the Billies’ Ree burst past a host of ’Hawk defenders to gain 48 yards to the ’Hawk 32. Ozark then ran the ball the remaining yardage on the next play to score with 9:10 left in the half. The good PAT lifted the score to 14-0 in the hosts’ favor.

After a good 21-yard runback of the kickoff by Jonah Torres got the ’Hawks started on their own 26, a 14-yard pass from Easterlingto Winn moved the ball to the 40.

At this point, Ozark decided to stack the line and they stopped the ’Hawks cold on three runs as one was held for no gain and the other two lost yardage. Lawson got off a great punt, as the 44-yarder pushed Ozark back to their own 10-yard line.

Alternating between quarterback keepers and short passes, the Billies moved to mid-field in five plays. A keeper from the 50 eventually picked up 46 yards and the nimble quarterback outran the defense until finally getting pulled down on the 4-yard line.

Ozarks’ Ree punched it in from there as the homeboys converted the PAT as well to assume a 21-0 lead with 3:09 left in the half.

The ’Hawks could not solve the Ozark defense as they had to punt again after a pair of incompletions and a short 2-yard gain.

Lawson got off another great punt, a 40-yarder, with the ’Hawk cover team preventing any kind of runback. Ozark made a run at a last second score, as a long bomb as time was running out found a Billie loose at the 8-yard line, but Daniel Beard made the half ending tackle with the hosts short of the end zone.

Ozark rattled off three straight first downs but the last play saw the ’Hawks knock the ball loose from the Billie receiver. The resulting fumble allowed the ’Hawks to cover it and take over on their own 1-yard line.

However, the ’Hawks could not move the ball and had to punt, facing a fourth and 6 from their own 5-yard line. The 36-yard punt was covered well by the ’Hawks and there was no run back.

Starting on the Pea Ridge side of the field on the 41, it took the Billies six plays to score on a 11-quarterback keeper. The kick was good to give the hosts a commanding 28-0 lead midway into the third quarter.

Incompletions, penalties and tackles behind the line of scrimmage stymied the ’Hawks as they had to kick away on a fourth and 24. Three plays later the ’Hawks made themselves some good fortune by stripping the ball again from a Billie ball carrier to gain possession on the Pea Ridge 26.

Winn got off runs of 2, 9 and 5 yards to move the ball to midfield but Pea Ridge had to punt again when they hit a fourth and 8 from their own 40.

It looked like the Billies were poised to get the lead to the mercy limit of 35 points when they passed for three straight first downs to the ’Hawk 19-yard line.

Two plays later saw the Billies having a short third and 1 from the 10. The ’Hawk line responded by stuffing a run play for a 1-yard loss the jamming up a fourth down run to take away possession on their own 10. Three plays netted 0 yards so the ’Hawks had to punt away with the Billies getting another chance from the’Hawk 38.

In three plays, Ozark had a first down on the ’Hawk 5. Two quarterback keepers wound up as losses to push Ozark back to the 8 facing third down. Dalton Morgan then burst through on defense to drop the quarterback for a loss to the 15. On fourth and 15, Blake Roughton made his presence felt as he threw the Billie ball carrier for a 5-yard loss to give the ball back to the ’Hawks.

Jack Rapp and Winn alternated rushes, gaining a first down to the 32. However, a fumble on the next play gave the hosts one last chance at a fifth touchdown. It looked like it would not be long in coming as a 20-yard pass gave Ozark a first down on the ’Hawk 5.

In a classy decision and example of good sportsmanship, the Hillbillies coach decided to allow the clock to run out on the game and forgo scoring a final last minute touchdown.

Winn provided most of the offense to Pea Ridge, rushing for 82 yards. Easterling completed five passes for 78 yards in the passing attack for the other half of the ’Hawks’ 157 total yards of offense, 147 of which came in the first half.

With a bug or virus moving through the ’Hawks’ ranks in the run up to the long road trip to Ozark, the ’Hawks hope to be ready for their final road trip of the regular season as they travel to Prairie Grove this Friday.

Sports, Pages 9 on 10/18/2011