Pea Ridge takes game down to wire

FARMINGTON -- Multiple onside kicks by both teams kept things exciting with Farmington holding off a last-minute effort by Pea Ridge in junior high football Thursday.

The junior Cardinals prevailed 22-16 after withstanding four plays ran off by Pea Ridge in the final 12 seconds after driving to their own 47. Play was wild during the last 2:27 with three changes of possession beginning with a fumble recovery by Pea Ridge when Farmington didn't execute a jet sweep and lost the football.

The fumble was returned to the Pea Ridge 47 but Farmington dug in defensively. Cardinal Blayton Fox shot the gap dropping Blackhawk Samuel Beard four yards behind the line of scrimmage and forcing a Pea Ridge timeout. On fourth down Cardinal Jacob Freeman batted down a junior Blackhawk pass and possession reverted to Farmington at the 1:35 mark. Four plays later Farmington punted and Pea Ridge had one last chance with 35 seconds to make a score.

The junior Blackhawks began at their own 14 and on first down Gannon Conrad gained 23 yards with a pass reception. On their last play, Pea Ridge lined up quarterback Carson Rhine at right flanker and passed to him but he was knocked out of bounds as time expired giving Farmington a hard-fought, 22-16, victory.

"I'm real proud of these guys. Farmington is a real good team," said Pea Ridge coach Cody Alexander. "Our guys never quit until the last play. It would have been real easy to quit being down two scores but we didn't."

"Our offensive line played super hard. Carson Rhine ran the ball as hard as he could. We had a lot of young guys out there, who played as hard as they could."

The game was a see-saw battle. Pea Ridge scored first on Rhine's 15-yard run followed by Beard's 2-point rush to take an 8-0 lead with 5:12 left in the second quarter. Reid Turner answered for Farmington. Eric Hill passed to Rhett Rominger for the game-tying 2-point conversion with 2:22 to play in the second period. An onside kick attempt by Farmington went out-of-bounds giving Pea Ridge good field position at their 36 and they drove to the Farmington 14 with Rhine gaining 49 yards on three rushes.

The game then turned in Farmington's favor after the junior Blackhawks couldn't convert fourth-and-8. Farmington ran a sweep to the right with Turner dodging a defender and living up to his name by turning the corner and running 86 yards for a touchdown. The extra-point kick was good and Farmington's Nathan Langston recovered an onside kick before running out the clock to hold a 15-8 lead at halftime.

Pea Ridge returned the favor with an onside kick to start the third quarter but Farmington recovered. In the fourth quarter, Danny Valenzuela's interception halted a promising Pea Ridge drive. On Farmington's first play from scrimmage, Turner ran off right tackle, then cut back across the grain and reversed field once more going back to the right. Nobody caught him as he ran 68 yards for another touchdown. The point-after failed and the junior Cardinals settled for a 22-8 lead with 4:53 left in the game.

Farmington again recovered an onside kick with Seth Swain diving on the ball but fumbled possession away to Pea Ridge two plays later. On first down Rhine faked a handoff to Beard, then ran for 28 yards. A face-mask penalty was added to the end of the run and after two more Rhine runs the junior Blackhawks were within, 22-16, with 2:58 showing.

An onside kick attempt went backwards and Farmington appeared to be in control before coughing up the football on a fumble to set up a nail-biting finish.

"We made some good plays and we made some bad plays," said Farmington coach Tracy Sutton. "Hats off to them (Pea Ridge), they fought us all the way to the end. We didn't put them away when we should have. It was a very, good learning lesson for us tonight. We overcame some adversity and found a way to win."

Sports on 09/23/2015