Looking more like a playoff team than a squad looking for its first conference win, the Blackhawks put a solid thumping on the Farmington Cardinals, scoring in every quarter in a dominant 26-7 victory.
“We have been through a lot this season, but our boys just continued to fi ght, continued to improve, and kept at it,” Tony Travis, head coach, said after the game, obviously highly pleased. “Last week’s game was a real emotional let-down, but the team picked themselves back up, and came out ready to play.”
The ’Hawks lost a 35-28 battle last week on a controversial scoop and score play by Prairie Grove, the district’s No. 1 team, in the game’s last minute. With the ’Hawks driving to post what would have been the winning score, a ’Hawk player lost control of the ball after he was downed.
A Tiger defender picked up the loose ball which should have been a dead ball, and raced the other way to win the game. Though stunned at the time, the ’Hawks came back this week with even greater resolve to thoroughly whip the visiting Cardinals, the district’s No. 2 team whose only loss for the season was to Prairie Grove.
The ’Hawks were led by KURM radio’s player of the game Seth Brumley who was 10 of 17 passing for 149 yards while rushing 10 times for 77 yards, scoring once in the process. Shane Ivy had a personal record three touchdown night while picking up 74 yards on 16 carries. Logan Rose had a monster night on defense while catching four passes for 81 yards.
Jack Rapp had three catches for the evening (34 yards) with Ivy, Hunter Lane and Jarran Sainsbury having catches for 12, 12 and 13 yards. Dylan McClellan rounded out the offense with 21 rushing yards on four attempts.
The ’Hawks established the tone of the game from the get go, taking the opening kickoff and marching 72 yards in 12 plays to assume a lead they would never relinquish. Key to the drive wasthe ’Hawks’ ability to convert third-down plays, converting all three on the way to the end zone. After runs by Ivy helped the ’Hawks to a third and 1 from their own 38, Brumley sneaked 7 yards for a first down on the 45.
After a penalty set them back 5 yards, a 9-yard pass to Rose and a 6-yard keeper by Brumley put the ’Hawks into Cardinal territory on the 45.
At that point, the Cards shut down the line with the ’Hawks losing a yard on two runs, but a third down pass from Brumley to Jack Rapp netted 16 yards and a first down on the Farmington 30. Runs by Dylan McClellan and Brumley gave Pea Ridge a third and 4 situation, with Rapp hauling down an 8-yard pass in traffic on the next play for a first down on the Cardinal 16. Though Farmington had been keying on Ivy from the game’s outset, determined to not allow the junior speedster the chance to beat them, Ivy blew up their plan, running left then outmaneuvering the defenders into the end zone. Will Klein booted the extra point through the uprights to give Pea Ridge a 7-0 lead with 6:08 left in the fi rst quarter.
The visitors looked to make a game of it, going deep on their second play to drop a 47-yard pass from Austin to Michael Ingram to set the Cards up on the ’Hawks 19. Blue rushed for 4 yards twice with Huff gaining a deuce on a short pass to give the Cards a first down on the 9. The ’Hawk defense came to life, pouring a host of defenders through the line to drop Austin for a 8-yard loss to the 17-yard line. Blue was next met behind the line for a yard loss to force the Cards into a third and 18. With no option left but to pass, the Cards went to the air but the ’Hawk defenders smothered the receivers as the third and fourth down passes fell harmlessly to the turf.
The Cards frustration at the turn of events got the better of them as one of them grabbed Ivy’s face mask after he had gone 5 yards on first down. The extra 15 yards placed the home boys on their own 38. After a couple of short gains, Brumley threaded a pass to Rose who caught it while fi ghting off two defenders, landing 38 yards downfield at the Cardinal 14. Though Ivy gained 4 yards on first down, the next two plays gained only a yard, leaving the ’Hawks facing a fourth and 5 on the Farmington 5. Using a hard count on his signal calling, Brumley finessed the Cards into jumping offside, netting a fi rst down on the 5-yard line. Brumley then rushed for 4 followed by Ivy’s 1-yard jaunt into the end zone for the score. With 9:45 left in the half, Klein’s kick ran the score to 14-0.
The Cardinals elected to receive the second half kickoff, and started with the ball near mid-field. The ’Hawks Rose then became a real thorn in Farmington’s side as he authored two plays that were the diff;erence in thwarting Farmington’s fi rst possession after the half. Facing a second and 9 from their own 49, the Cards Blue went around right end and seemed destined for the end zone until Rose zipped over and made a diving tackle on the Cardinal running back to save the score. The Cards’ Austin seemed to overcome that on the very next play, finding Ingram open for a 36-yard pass play to the ’Hawks 36. However, as Ingram turned to move downfield, Rose darted in and stripped the ball from the receiver, allowing Pea Ridge to pounce on the loose pigskin.
The next play brought the ’Hawk faithful to their feet when McClellan went up the middle and took nearly the whole line with him 9 yards downfi eld.
Brumley dashed for 6 on the next play and a ’Hawk first down on the 49. Three plays later, Rose fought off a triple team defensive maneuver to catch a Brumley pass that picked up 32 yards to theCardinal 16. After Brumley gained 3 yards, Ivy rushed for 5, 6, then 2 yards to get into the end zone for the third time. The touchdown came with 5:54 left in the third quarter expanded the ’Hawk lead to 20-0.
Proving their mettle, the Cards weren’t about to give up, as Austin hit O’Dell with a 42-yard pass play that had Farmington knocking at the door on the ’Hawks 29.
Three Farmington plays netted more 11 yards and a first down on the ’Hawks 18. However, another defensive tsunami by the ’Hawk defense swept over the Cardinal line, dislodging the ball from the hands of the Farmington quarterback with Pea Ridge recovering on their own 32. Neither team could get anything going offensively for the remainder of the third quarter.
Early in the fourth period, the ’Hawks used three straight runs by Ivy for 5, 3 and 3 yards for a first down, followed by a 12-yard stroll by McClellan to gain another first down near mid-fi eld. The drive stalled there, but Rose found a new way to bedevil his opponents, booting a booking 44-yard punt to pin them down on their own 15-yard line. Two incomplete passes and a 10-yard quarterback sack by the ’Hawks’ Justice Jenkins forced the Cards to punt. A good punt was negated by a great run back by Rose, who ran it back to the Farmington 26.
Runs by Ivy and McClellanpicked up 5 yards with a 10-yard slant pass from Brumley to Rapp giving the ’Hawks a fi rst down on the 11. Brumley then ran two quarterback sneaks to go the rest of the way for the ’Hawks’ fourth touchdown and a 26-0 lead with 3:49 left in the game.
With less than two minutes to go, Farmington finally sustained enough offense to drive 70 yards on nine plays to score with :52 left in the battle. The visitors successfully booted the PAT to leave the final score at 26-7.
Although the Pea Ridge offense did their job well, it was the ’Hawk defense that really stepped when it was needed the most, according to Travis.
“Although the Cardinals got inside our 20-yard line three times, they only scored once and that one was at the end of the game.
We have a mantra on defense that reminds us that until the ball is in the end zone, it is not a score. We fought hard no matter what, no matter where,” Travis said.
“While I think at this moment that we could play with any 4A school in the state, the reality is that we only have the Berryville game left for this season. We hope to finish the season on a high note, and build some momentum for next year. We have some high hopes for our younger players coming up and I thank the seniors for being instrumental in getting this team to a place we wanted to be.”
Sports, Pages 7 on 11/06/2013