Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
‘Battle of Highway 62’
Prairie Grove’s Anthony Johnson (1) tries to evade Farmington’s Javan Jowers on Tuesday in Farmington.
FARMINGTON — Prairie Grove’s student section could have began the “It’s our high-way!” chant much sooner.
Instead, it waited until the closing minutes of the Tigers’ 36-13 win over Farmington in the “Battle of Highway 62” at Allen Holland Stadium.
“I loved hearing that,” said Prairie Grove senior JD Elder, who made his first start at quarterback. “There’s no better feeling than that.”
The 1-2 punch of Elder and Anthony Johnson rocked Farmington early and often. Elder completed all four passes on the opening drive and capped it off by lofting a perfect spiral to Collin Bryant for a 33-yard touchdown and a 6-0 Tigers’ lead.
Johnson rushed for 116 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries and also had three receptions for 23 yards. Elder finished 7 of 11 passing for 94 yards and two touchdowns.
“(Elder) seems to be a gamer because he’s not been doing that in practice,” laughed Prairie Grove coach Danny Abshier. “He’s worried me in practice, but when we play, he always does a good job and he always does good on the defensive side of the ball.”
It was a defensive play by Elder that helped the Tigers (1-0) knock the Cardinals (0-1) completely off their feet. Following Elder’s 19-yard touchdown pass to Demarkus Cooper that pushed the lead to 20-7, Elder came hard on an outside linebacker blitz to sack Farmington quarterback Trey Waggle for a 15-yard loss.
It forced a punt attempt, but the deep snap hit one of the Cardinals’ upbacks and resulted in a short gain. Two plays later, Johnson rushed for a 10-yard touchdown — his second — to push the lead to 26-7.
The Prairie Grove student section didn’t start the chant after Elder’s second touchdown pass, or his big sack, or even Johnson’s second touchdown run. It didn’t even begin after a 73-yard interception return by Bryant pushed the margin to 33-7 early in the fourth quarter.
But moments before Ben Beason lined up for a 21-yard field goal with 2 minutes, 30 seconds left, the “It’s our high-way!” chant — the first of several — erupted from a sea of frenzied black and gold clad students.
“It felt great to hear the chant,” said Johnson, who also had several tackles and pass breakups defensively despite fighting through cramps in the second half. “Our line came out and did a really good job of blocking, and defensively, we got some really big stops. And John David did a great job in his first start at quarterback.
“It was awesome to see our team come together and come out on top.”
Farmington scored on its first offensive possession, using a 52-yard pass from Waggle to Xavier Staten to set up a 3-yard touchdown run by Caleb Williams. Drew Sturgeon’s extra point gave the Cardinals a 7-6 lead, but Prairie Grove answered on its next drive — thanks to a pair of 15-yard penalties on the Cardinals — to take the lead for good on a 3-yard touchdown run by Johnson.
The Cardinals tacked on a late touchdown with a 25-yard run by Reid Turner, which created the final margin.
“The cramps tonight on both sides showed what great effort both teams were putting out,” Abshier said. “Because the weather has been so nice, you think you’re doing enough conditioning, but obviously, we need to do a little more.”