GRAVETTE — Pea Ridge got behind early in their battle with the state’s No. 3-ranked homecoming-celebrating Gravette Lions but fought back to make the game respectable in the district opener for both teams. The Blackhawks came from being down 20 points to outscore their hosts 28-22 for the game’s final 34 minutes.

“Gravette showed us why they are ranked third in the state,” head coach Tony Travis said. “We like to run the ball but Gravette is real good at stopping the run.

They made some great passing plays that were hard to recover from, but the boys never stopped fighting.

“We had to establish our passing attack if we were going to get anything going and Easterling came through and made some great passes. Teams will now have to respect our ability to pass,” Travis concluded.

The Lions got on top on their first offensive play of the evening, a 61-yard aerial bomb from Clayton Alexander to a wide open Tyler Greenhaw. The successful kick put the Lions up 7-0 with 9:32 left in the first quarter.

With junior tailback Dayton Winn coming into the game with a 150 yards per game average, the Lions set stopping Winn as their first objective as he was stopped short the first four times he was handed the ball. The ’Hawks’ lone bright spot in the early going was quarterback Austin Easterling’s 16-yard scramble on the first play following the Lions’ initial score.

Easterlings’ run was followed by three rushes netting 3 yards forcing a ’Hawk punt to the Lion 28-yard line. After Gravette made a first down on third and long, the Lions reeled off four straight first down plays to have the ball on the ’Hawks’ 4-yard line. Two plays later, Alexander scored on a quarterback sneak with 3:44 left in the quarter. The kick was good,extending the lead to 14-0.

Two runs by Braxton Caudill gained 4 yards with Easterling’s 5-yard run placing the ’Hawks on their own 43, facing a fourth and 1. The ’Hawks elected to go for it but came up inches short on a run up the middle, turning the ball over to Gravette on the ’Hawk 44.

The Lions all-state running back Darick Strzelecki burst through for 14 yards on first down. The ’Hawks looked like they might hold as the Lions were facing a third and 4 but an offsides call on the visitors gave the Lions new life and they scored three plays later to make the score 20-0 just seconds into the second quarter.

The ’Hawks’ next possessionhad the same result, Winn being gang tackled after a gain of inches with the next two passes falling incomplete. The Lions regained possession after the punt and ripped off two big gainers to get a first down on the Gravette 39.

It was at this point that the ’Hawks began to solve the Lions seeming invincibility. Blackhawk lineman Rico Schneider broke through to bring down the Lions’ heralded running back for a 1-yard loss. Two plays later Gravette responded by hooking up on a 27-yard passing play from Alexander to Dallas Kerley to get to the ’Hawk 26. Proving it was no fluke, Schneider broke through again to drop Strzelecki for a 2-yard loss. The Gravette back avoided Schneider on the next play but was thrown for a loss by junior tackle Blake Roughton. Looking at fourth and 13, the Lions looked to pass but sophomore Will Klein broke it up by sacking the quarterback for a 7-yard loss back at the Pea Ridge 35.

Before the stunned Lions could regroup, the ’Hawks went for broke on first down with Easterling finding Winn open on a fly out pattern. The fleet Winn gathered in the catch and raced to the end zone to cut the Lions’ lead to 20-6 with 7:25 left in the half.

With the Lions realizing that their heavily favored status wasn’t being respected by the upstart ’Hawks, the homeboys went back to their grinding offense, passing just twice while running the ball 12 times to get back on the scoreboard. Dalton Morgan managed to slice through the Gravette line once to throw Strzelecki for a loss and Schneider was successful for stopping a completed pass for a loss. However, Strzelecki covered the last 5 yards with 1:45 left in the half to put Gravette ahead 27-6.

With time running out, the ’Hawks were set back by a loss of 5 on a fumble. The Lions helped the ’Hawks out by unnecessarily late hitting Easterling to give the ’Hawks a first down on the ’Hawk 45. A great pass from Easterling to Winn was wiped out by a penalty, but the ’Hawk signal caller responded by hitting Caudill with a 33-yarder and a first down on the Gravette 32 two plays later. With just seconds left in the half, the ’Hawks had to go to the air with the Lions preventing completions on first and second downs. Onthird down, Easterling got the ball to Caudill who caught it for a 17-yard gain. With the clock ticking down to zero, a scrambling Easterling threaded a pass to Caudill who fought into the end zone to shrink the Lion advantage to 27-12. The lead shrunk even further when the ’Hawks decided to go for two with Easterling passed into the right side of the end zone and finding an open Bo Rylee for the score as Pea Ridge went into intermission trailing 27-14.

Blackhawk hopes were rising when Pea Ridge stopped Gravette on their first possession after the second half kickoff. On third and 3, the Lions were forced to puntwhen Schneider got to Strzelecki for the fourth time behind the line of scrimmage, forcing a Lion punt on fourth and 5.

The ’Hawks’ good fortune went out the window when a fumble on first down gave the ball right back to the Lions on their own 34. The Lions then scored in five plays to take a 33-14 lead with 7:27 to go into the third quarter. Gravette decided they could score on a 2-point conversion like the ’Hawks did earlier, but Bo Rylee stuffed the run far short of the goal line to frustrate the Lions.

Pea Ridge went to work, with Winn rushing for 13 yards on two carries with Caudill running for3 as the ’Hawks drove to the 50-yard line. A disastrous third down fumble pushed the ’Hawks back to their own 41 and they were forced to punt on fourth down.

The Lions were struggling against a re-energized ’Hawk defense but managed a first down on their own 33. With the ’Hawks swarming over and past the quarterback’s blockers well behind the line of scrimmage, the Lion field general threw the ball away to avoid a sack but drew a 15-yardintentional grounding penalty. On third and 35, the ’Hawk line broke through to sack the quarterback for a 4-yard loss, forcing the Lions’ second punt of the quarter, a situation not faced by the Lions this season.

A big 36-yard gainer by Easterling was wiped out by a holding call, but two plays later the junior signal caller picked up 34 yards on a toss to Rylee to get the ’Hawks a first down on the Gravette 10. After an incomplete pass, Winn burst through to paydirt to shrink the Lion lead to just 13 points. Schneider’s good kick after narrowed it even further as Pea Ridge trailed 33-21 with 11:46 left in the game, much to the consternation of the Lion faithful.

After returning the ball to the Lion 36 on the kickoff, Schneider gave the hosts even more to worry about as he slipped through the blockers to knock down their leading rusher behind the line of scrimmage for the fifth time of the game.

The stunning turn of events forced the Lions to gamble and they were successful as Alexander hooked up with Greenhaw for a 38-yard pass play. A 3-yard gain was followed by two runs of 8 yards by Strzelecki with the big senior running back’s third run covering the last 9 yards to the end zone. The Lion TD raised the lead to 39-21 with just over 9 minutes left in the fray.

The fired up Lions, for the first time in the game, allowed the ’Hawks no return yards on the kick.

A 1-yard loss and two incompletions forced a ’Hawk punt, setting the Lions up on their own 40. Strzelecki struck for 9 yards on his first carry with Robinson ripping off a 16-yard gainer to the ’Hawk 27. From that point, however, the ’Hawks slammed the door, allowing just gains of 1, 1 and 2 yards with Gravette electing to go for a field goal on fourth down. The 29-yard kick was good as Gravette assumed a 42-21 lead with just over 7 minutes left in the battle.

Torres returned the kickoff 8 yards to the ’Hawk 26.

The ’Hawks very nearly pulled off another stunner when Easterling dropped a pass behind the Lion secondary which would have gone for a quick score had the receiver managed to hang on to it. Undaunted, the ’Hawks went to the ground with Winn roaring up the field for 18 yards, which had another 15 yards tacked on when a Lion defender was called for unsportsmanlike conduct.

After a short gainer pass to Rylee, Easterling nearly made it to the red zone with a dash for 12 yards to the Lion 22. Caudill ran for 4 yards on first down, followed by an 8-yard pass to Joel Thomas. On first down on the Gravette 10, Easterling hit Daniel Beard on the right flat, with the junior receiver/return specialist sprinting to the end zone.

Schneider’s successful kick chopped the lead to 42-28 with 2:49 left in the game.

Gravette decided to play it safe and eat up the clock with running plays which they patiently did to ensure their victory in their 2011 Homecoming game.

Easterling had the best passing game of his tenure as the ’Hawk signal caller, passing for 189 yards and two touchdowns. Winn led the way rushing with a 48 yards total, well off his average, but the junior speedster did score twice.

He rushed for a score and caught a pass for another to match Easterling’s two TD effort. Torres had a good night in return yardage, racking up 45 yards on three attempts.

Next week the ’Hawks play at home against Shiloh.

Sports, Pages 11 on 09/28/2011