An unlikely Berryville touchdown in the waning seconds of the game last Friday negated a fi ne Blackhawk comeback and allowed the Bobcats to pull o◊a 25-20 upset in the 2013 football season’s fi nal game.
After getting down 13-7 at the half, Pea Ridge stormed back to score on their first two possessions of the second half to jump ahead 20-13 early in the fourth quarter. After falling behind, Bobcats came right back to score their third touchdown and decided to go for the lead on the point after, but the visitors failed to convert with 3 minutes left, leaving Pea Ridge ahead 20-19 with 3:55 left in the game.
The ’Hawks, on a pass from Seth Brumley to Jack Rapp and several good runs by Shane Ivy, ran most of the clock out moving the ball into Berryville territory before getting bogged down facing fourth and 2 from the Bobcat 46. Knowing the visitors had an excellent field goal kicker and wanting to get the ball as far from scoring territory as possible, the ’Hawks elected to kick on fourth down, pinning Berryville back to their own 18-yard line with 0:56 left on the clock with no Berryville time outs left. Berryville made their dire circumstances seem merely academic when, on first down, the Bobcats quarterback Austin Carr threw a deep pass to Ethan Chapin streaking down the west sidelines with the senior receiver gathering in the pigskin to race untouched 82 yards into the end zone for the winning score.
The look and feeling engendered by the stunned home crowd was a sharp contrast to how the game began. Berryville had won the toss, and while Chapin had some early success, gaining 22 yards on five carries, the ’Cats were forced to punt facing fourth and 4 from their own 45. A short return left the ’Hawks to begin their first drive from their own 27.
The ’Hawks’ time of possession lasted only long enough for Ivy to sprint right up the middle for 73 yards as the junior tailback scored on the ’Hawks’ first touch. Dylan Klein’s PAT kick was good to put the ’Hawks up 7-0 with 8:00 left in the fi rst.
Jacob Lundy and Colton Watkins teamed up to stop the Berryville ground attack on their fi rst two runs, but a 27-yard pass from Carr to Emilio Duarte took Berryville from a third and 13 to a fi rst and down on the 44. Chapin then broke loose on first down to scamper 24 yards to the ’Hawk 32-yard line. From there, Berryville ran five plays to the 7-yard line where Chapin took it in on a 7-yard jaunt with 3:25 left in the fi rst period.
The extra point knotted the score at 7-all.
Pea Ridge managed to pick uptwo first downs, on a 20-yard pass from Brumley to Justin Rose, and a 17-yard keeper by Brumley. The ’Hawks’ other four plays netted no yardage, forcing a ’Hawk punt to the Berryville 26-yard line. From there, the ’Cats alternated between Emilio Duarte and Chapin to push the ball down the field until Duarte ran onto paydirt from the ’Hawk 2-yard line. The PAT failed, leaving Pea Ridge down 13-7 with 6:33 left in the half. From there, neither team could threaten the other until the Bobcats field goal kicker lined up to try and make it 9-point lead with the clock running out. Garrett Eastering frustrated them by partially blocking the kick, enough to make the spinning ball drift wide left as time expired.
Like the first half, the ’Hawks started well with runs by Dylan McClellan and Ivy 18 yards downfield to the ’Hawk 33. Facing a fourth and 6, The ’Hawks got an automatic first down when the ’Cats interfered on a passing play.
An 8-yard run by Ivy, 2 yards by Brumley and a final 8-yarder by Ivy was enough to pick up the ’Hawks second touchdown, deadlocking the teams at 13-all.
The ’Hawks defenders made the going tough after the tie, forcing the visitors to go for fi rst down while facing fourth downs twice. The ’Cats were successful both times but were not when the wheels fell o◊their o◊ense, su◊ering two penalties and having only a 12-yard punt to give the ’Hawks excellent field position at the ’Hawk 39.
McClellan bashed the Cats for 10 yards following the punt, with Ivy rushing twice for 12 yards until a face mask attack on Ivy, mixed in a penalty to leave the homeboys having a first down on the Berryville 2. Brumley barreled into the end zone on first down, giving the ’Hawks control of the game leading 20-13 with 8:49 left. Klein was successful in converting the PAT kick.
The Bobcats were gettingdesperate, utilizing four running backs to rush into Pea Ridge territory with the game clock on the wane. With things looking dark, facing a fourth and 9 from the ’Hawks 19, Carr lofted a soft pass that barely got past the outstretched hands of a ’Hawk defender, Carr connected with Avery Logan on only their third completion of the day for 15 yards to the 4. Chapin then blasted it in for the score and were lined up to kick for the 20-20 tie when the Bobcats veered left to go for the lead. The scrambling ’Hawk defense bumped Carr out of boundsjust inches from the goal line to preserve the narrow 20-19 lead.
The ’Hawk victory was not to be as they could not run out the clock and the Bobcats managed to score that long touchdown in the game’s final seconds with their fi nal opportunity. The loss dropped the ’Hawks into a two-way tie with the ’Cats for seventh place in the 4A-1 with 1-6 records.
Ivy had another good night advancing the ball, garnering 157 yards on 19 carries. Brumley ran six times for 37 yards while Mc-Clellan gathered 19 yards on four trips.
Sports, Pages 7 on 11/13/2013