The gridiron Blackhawks of Pea Ridge are back in the Sweet 16, by way of a 42-6 beating of outmanned Trumann last week.
Trumann's talented but small roster kept Pea Ridge out of the end zone in the first quarter but couldn't hold out beyond that. Jakota Sainsbury's 20-yard pass to Britton Caudill, followed by a 12-yarder to Hayden Holtgrewe started the scoring. A Wildcat fumble moments later led to a 28-yard dash to the end zone by Zaine Holley. Dependable Cody Edwards tacked on both PAT kicks as Pea Ridge led 14-0 at the half.
Holley scored three more times in the second half on runs of 40-, 2- and 38-yards to blow the game open. The 'Hawks showed a lot of class when they got a first down near the goal line as time was winding down and chose not to score. A hallmark of the past few seasons has been Pea Ridge's sportsmanship and class on the field and from the sidelines.
Next up on the playoff agenda for Pea Ridge will be the season long top 10 Robinson Senators. Beginning the 2015 campaign with a No. 4 ranking, Robinson cruised to an 8-2 record in the 4A-4, earning them the No. 3 seed for post-season play. Their state ranking got as high as No. 2 until current top ranked Dardanelle put the hurt on them mid-season.
The Senators dispatched Gravette 58-18 in a game that was a mismatch from the outset. Would the Lions who held Pea Ridge to a pair of touchdowns show up, or would it be the Lions who gave up six scores to lowly Gentry in the season finale? It would seem the latter.
As I said in last week's column, the Senators would be led by quarterback Brennen Johnson and tailback T.J. Hammonds. Against Gravette, Johnson made a little go a long way. He only threw 11 passes, but completed eight of them for 182 yards and three touchdowns. He ran the ball just five times, but that part of his offense accounted for 106 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Hammonds ran the ball just 13 times but it was good enough for 213 yards and a couple of touchdowns. Their two- man punch will be a challenge for the 'Hawks this Friday.
The Senators scored on a long passing play (53 yards) on the game's first play. A Gravette fumble led to another score as Robinson led 15-0 after one period. Both offenses were active in the second period with the Senators outscoring the Lions 21-12 for a 36-12 half-time edge. Two long runs by Senators helped mercy rule Gravette as Robinson led 58-18 late in the third quarter.
To no one's surprise, Prairie Grove crushed Jonesboro Westside 45-14, a game in which the Tigers led 39-0 at intermission. Prairie Grove moves on to host Ashdown in the next round, a game the Tigers should be able to capture though it will be a battle. Should the Tigers get past Ashdown, they will likely have to play Star City in the next round. Star City was third in the very tough 4A-7 district and I am picking them to defeat Pocahontas in the second round. Pocahontas is undefeated but are possessors of the weakest schedule in all of 4A, playing in the weakest league in all of 4A. Star City has won eight games this year against a lot of tough opponents and they may very well route route Pocahontas this week.
For the second week in a row, Shiloh's offense was shut out in the second half. However, their first half offense was all they would need as they held on to take the contest 23-8 against visiting Dover. Pea Ridge shut out Shiloh in the second half last week, but Shiloh's early scores weren't enough to decide that battle.
Shiloh's season will come to an end this week when they travel to Nashville for the second round. Nashville is the state's No. 2 team and is undefeated at 11-0. After a close game Oct. 2, when they edged out Fountain Lake 13-12, the Scrappers have won their last six games by an average 50-11 score. Their 60-man roster has plenty of speed and athleticism and it may be a chore for Shiloh to avoid a blowout.
In the first round, their were only a couple of upsets, at least in the seedings. Neither Arkadelphia's 51-19 pounding of West Helena or Pottsville's 42-10 thrashing of Highland was a surprise. Both games were a situation with lower seeded teams in tough conferences taking on high seeded teams from weak conferences. Malvern was another Sweet 16 quality team that was derailed by the No. 1 seed Central Arkansas, but it was close, Malvern scored late and got to within 3 at 42-39 but CAC ran out the clock to stay in the hunt.
Now we are down to eight games. Star City will beat down Pocahontas to get into the quarter-finals, where I think they will be joined by Prairie Grove who will need a good home game to defeat Ashdown. Dardanelle will join the quarters after smashing Hamburg but the other game between Arkadelphia and Fountain Lake is much harder to tell. They are members of the same conference with Fountain Lake beating them 35-13 awhile back. Kinda like Pea Ridge, after they suffered those two losses in mid season, they made improvements and are getting better weekly.
I think Warren will take Pottsville down next week and then play the conquerors of Shiloh/Nashville. CAC should have no trouble with Gosnell next week and will be hosting the quarter-finals with either Robinson or Pea Ridge coming to town.
Hurrah for Blackhawk TV and cable, too
Even though I slept for 12 hours Friday and 16 hours Saturday, I did get to catch the video broadcast of the Trumann game and I must say it was a right fine production. Having come down with bronchitis, I was stuck at home this weekend but I get to soak in the healing powers of victory.
Saturday, it was just me and TV and it quite a game, too. The Razorbacks thoroughly dominated Louisiana State in their own stadium at night. They were said to have a 48-5 record at that time and place, but two of those losses were (now three) were at the hands of Arkansas.
I was surprised to realize that finally, the Razorbacks have faster athletes than the Tigers. In the losses of games gone by, it was usually due to the inability of the Hogs to lose Tiger defenders, and their difficulty at bringing down LSU's fleet backs. No longer.
I just wish the Hogs would decide to be good before the seventh game, as has happened the past two campaigns.
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Editor's note: John McGee is an award-winning columnist and sports writer. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].
Sports on 11/18/2015