The play of the game ...

PEA RIDGE — Last Friday’s game was an emotional roller coaster.

The ’Hawks were so close to taking an early lead and they came up with plenty of defensive heroics early in the game. No one had hung zeros on the Tigers in the first half since, well, last year when the ’Hawks did the same thing to them on their (the Tigers’) field.

Bad luck, mistakes and questionable officiating played factors in the ’Hawks’ first defeat of the season, but make no mistake, Prairie Grove is a great football team and should go far into the playoffs.

Several defenders came up with big plays Friday. The defensive line gave the Tigers fits, and there were more negative plays for the Tigers than they are accustomed to suffering. For me, the greatest play of the game, however, was the last meaningful play of the game.

With the ’Hawks trying to salvage something with the impending loss soon to be finalized upon them, they had driven down to the Tigers’ 1-yard line and were down to their last play. The last chance pass was on the mark but a Prairie Grove corner sniffed the play out and cut in front ofthe pass and was off to the races, leaving his own end seemingly destined to score at the other end.

At this point in the game, it was over. Whether the Tiger scored wouldn’t have mattered much in the final scheme of things except, it mattered to Dayton Winn. The senior back was probably tired from the game’s beating and more than likely a bit disconsolate from seeing his senior year’s chance for a conference championship disappear into the cold October evening but, nevertheless, he was still in the game.

Most athletes in a similar situation might have thought “just let him go” instead of expendin a lot of energy in what would have probably have been a fruitless pursuit. Although having to make up a lot of ground on a known speedster, Winn took off and ran what look liked to me to be one of the fastest trips he has ever madeacross the gridiron. He not only caught up to him, he made a perfect open field tackle on an athlete known to run through them.

That, to me, was the play of the game. That to me was one of the finest plays I have ever seen - not giving up, not surrendering, with stubborn resistance to the last.

They say that playing football can build character and can make men of boys. I do know that boys with character become men with character and a country with enough men and women of character is a great country.

Hawks hang onto top 10 ranking

Although the ’Hawks were much closer to the Tigers in playing ability than the 31-0 loss might seem, I was afraid that the loss last Friday might send the ’Hawks tumbling down the rankings.

The fact was they did go down some, but not much. After the loss, the ’Hawks still hold the No.

8 spot in the polls.

Prairie Grove has the top spot and will likely end the regular season with it as they will play second division teams in their final two games of the year. They will also have the luxury of hosting three playoff games if they can keep winning, something I hope they can do as a member of our conference.

Pea Ridge, if they can control the No. 2 seed, will host a playoff game here against the fourth seed of the 4A-8 District. I’m not sure who that will be, although it will be much clearer next week who will be going where.

To get the No. 2 seed, it seems, according to the playoff system, the ’Hawks will have to either beat the Cardinals or lose to them by less than 7 points. A victory by Pea Ridge will gain the seed for them regardless of the Berryville game at seasons end.

Should Pea Ridge lose and they end in a three-way tie with Ozark and Farmington with 4-2 records, they will go to a tie-breaking formula to break the tie. At present, Pea Ridge has 7 value points in a tie-breaker while Ozark has 13 points due to their win over Farmington.

The team with the least value points will drop out of the threeway tie with the remaining two teams breaking the tie on headto-head results. If Farmington loses, or wins by less than 7, they will be the first team eliminated with Pea Ridge holding the tiebreaker over Ozark to get the second seed. If Farmington wins by 7 or more Friday, the ’Hawks get the fourth seed. The Cards cannot get the No. 2 seed but they could get the third. Pea Ridge can’t get the third seed but will get either No. 2 or No. 4.

Volleyball ’Hawks take 2nd in District

The Lady ’Hawk volleyball team shocked conference Gravette in the semi-finals to adance to the district finals in only their third year year to compete.

Although they lost to Prairie Grove in the finals, the win gave them a good seed for the state volleyball tournament set to begin Oct. 30 in Harrison. The Berryville Lady Bobcats are the tournament host, in a competition they are not playing in after being put out by the ’Hawks in the district quarterfinals.

Not having the facilities to host the meet, the Bobcats are using the youth facilities in Harrison.

The 16-team tourney will have the first three rounds in Harrison with the championship final to be played on the Valley View Blazers campus.

The Blazers have practically owned small school volleyball with many, many state titles to boast of. For nearly all the past 10 years, either they or their neighbor to the north, Jonesboro Westside, have reigned as champions. As a matter of fact, since 1991, the district/ area around Jonesboro has produced an almost unending line of state champions with Harrisburg and Crowley’s Ridge dominating the state along with the aforementioned two. Arkansas State University did a marvelous job of boosting girls volleyball competition among their area schools beginning in the 1980swhich led to the northeast part of the state dominating the sport for so long.

Actually, the loss to Prairie Grove might prove to help the ’Hawks. It put the Tigers in the same side of the bracket with Valley View and the ’Hawks away from them. Pea Ridge will play the third place team from the Northeast District. As I don’t know the identity of that team as of press time, I do know that it will be the third best team of the best conference in the state.

If the Volley ’Hawks can get by that team, they will likely play the Central District champion in the quarterfinals.

The ’Hawks will open play at noon Oct. 30 with the winner playing the next day at 4 p.m. The semi-final matchup will be Nov. 1 with the finals set for that Saturday at Valley View near Jonesboro.

Cross Country goes for the gold

Although set to be held after the publish deadline, the ’Hawks went to Gentry yesterday to compete for the District 4A-1 Cross Country Championships.

The girls were heavy favorites to win the meet as they are one of the favored teams to win this year’s state championship in November. The boys program has been coming on of late having won a pair of meets during the season.

This writer doesn’t know if Pea Ridge Schools has ever won two district team titles at the same time in the same sport ever before, boys and girls. This could be the time.

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Editor’s note: John McGee is an award-winning columnist and sports writer. He is the art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, coaches elementary track and writes a regular sports column for The Times. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].