Defense paves way for 50-21 victory at Gentry
Blackhawks trounce Pioneers
The Blackhawks displayed offensive power and used its defensive prowess to throttle the Gentry Pioneers 50-21 in the opening game of the 4A-1 conference schedule.
The Pioneers were poised to take an early lead after a ’Hawk fumble led to a 74-yard drive that had Gentry placed on the Pea Ridge 9 yard line late in the first quarter. However, on fourth down, the ’Hawks’ Seth Trammel blitzed through the Pioneer offensive line and made a lunging tackle on the Gentry quarterback that brought him down on the 11, killing the drive.
From that point till until early in the third quarter, the ’Hawks rang up 50 points with the defense limiting the Pioneers to a meager 80 yards to activate the Mercy Rule.
“We held out six starters who were banged up from a very physical contest with Farmington last week,” Stephen Neal, Blackhawk head coach, said, “but we had several others who stepped up and got the job done.”
“Defense set the tone tonight, just as they have done in every game all year. We developed some depth tonight and the kids just played well.”
All-state running back Zaine Holley sparked the Blackhawks with 128 yards on nine carries, rushing for three touchdowns. Junior back Drew Winn also topped the century mark, picking up 106 yards on just seven forays, scoring a pair of touchdowns in the process.
Junior quarterback Jakota Sainsbury had a big night, connecting on 11 of 14 passes for 169 yards and one touchdown. Hayden Holtgrewe had one of the best nights for receivers in Pea Ridge history, hauling in 10 passes for 152 yards and a touchdown.
All told, the ’Hawks piled of 494 yards of offense, all but two of which came before the middle of the third quarter. Gentry had a 134 yards against the Pea Ridge first team, then gained 133 yards against the reserves in the last quarter and a half, for a total of 267.
Blackhawk defenders flexed their muscle early, throwing Gentry ball carriers for 2-yard losses on both of the game’s first two plays. After Jackson Tillman and Trammel pushed the Pioneers back on successive losses, Gentry went to the air but were crossed up with Jacob Torres made a diving leap to make a finger tip interception at the Gentry 48.
The ’Hawk turnover derailed their first chance to score, but after Trammel snuffed out the Pioneers’ threat, Pea Ridge set out on a big play drive that drove 89 yards in just 90 seconds.
Holley started of things with a 4-yard run before Sainsbury hooked up with Holtgrewe for a 20-yarder to the ’Hawk 35. Winn burst through the defenses for 22 yards on the next play, and followed that up with a 9-yard jaunt to the Pioneer 34. On the next play, Sainsbury led Holtgrewe perfectly on a deep pass that the sure handed receiver gathered in and raced into the end zone with 1:37 left in the first period. Sainsbury picked up a bad snap, then ran in the 2-point conversion for a 8-0 lead.
Things went downhill quickly for the Pioneers when Carson Rhine recovered the Pea Ridge kickoff on the Gentry 34. After a penalty pushed the ’Hawks back to the 39, a 13-yard dash by Holley got the ’Hawks near the red zone on the Gentry 26. Sainsbury made a tremendous pass to Holtgrewe to cross the goal line on the next play a 5-yard penalty wiped it out. Sainsbury kept the drive alive with a first down pass to Holtgrewe on the Gentry 22. A few seconds later, Holley took a handoff then just outran the defenders to the end zone. A 2-point pass from Sainsbury to Holtgrewe padded the lead to 16-0 with 12 seconds left in the first.
Gentry got some good yardage from Myles McFerrin and Josh Perrin after the kickoff, but the ’Hawks forced a punt from the ’Hawks’ 44.
Gentry helped the ’Hawk cause with a 5-yard off-sides penalty, and two plays and 60 seconds later, the ’Hawks were back in the end one. Carson ran around the end on a keeper and he kept it all the way to the Gentry 12, a 55-yard run. From there, Winn scooted into the end zone, then added the 2-point conversion to boost the score to 24-0 with 8:16 left in the half.
Gentry managed to make a first down on a 15-yard pass from Faulkenberry to Cole Cripps but the Pioneers just could not make headway against the ’Hawk defensive line. An eventual punt placed the ’Hawks on their own 38.
The Blackhawks’ freight train offense picked up more steam as it took just two runs by Holley to earn their fourth TD. Holley ran up the middle for 4 yards, then sprinted out right outmaneuvering a swarm of tacklers to race down the sidelines for a 58-yard scoring jaunt. One last Pioneer had a shot at Holley at the 1-yard line, but Holley just ducked and headed into paydirt. Evan Green came on to boot the PAT as Pea Ridge ballooned the lead to 31-0 with 4:45 left in the half.
With Pea Ridge now rotating in a lot of players, the Pioneers finally got some traction offensively and began to move the ball. Faulkenberry kept four times for 17 yards with short runs by Perrin and McFerrin first and goal on the ’Hawk 2. Duncan Truesdell dropped the Pioneer quarterback for a 3-yard loss on first down, with the defensive line collapsing on Cripps to hand a 1-yard loss on Gentry back to the 6. Gentry finally scored on the next play by McFerrin with Matthews kicking the PAT to cut the score to 31-7 with 1:01 left in the half.
Sixty seconds left in the half was twice as much time as the ’Hawks would need to score their fifth touchdown. Starting from the Gentry 48, Sainsbury hit Holtgrewe with three successive passes of 16, 5 and 2 yards. Facing a third and 3 on the Gentry 25, Winn exploded with the hand off to sprint into the end zone. Joseph Ortiz was successful in kicking the extra point as Pea Ridge took a commanding 38-7 lead with 34 ticks left on the clock before intermission.
It took Pea Ridge but a minute into the second half to put the game out of reach and activate the mercy rule. Sainsbury threw a 17-yarder to Truesdell on the first play, and two runs by Holley would be all it would take for the team’s sixth touchdown. Holley broke off a 6-yarder before running the rest of the way on the next play for a 19-yard score to lift the score to 44-7 with 10:56 left in the third.
After the kickoff return, the Pioneers just couldn’t solve the ’Hawk defense, gaining only 13 yards on five plays, forcing a punt. On the next play for the ’Hawks, a 22-yard pass from Sainsbury to Holtgrewe set Pea Ridge up near midfield at the ’Hawk 46. Winn nearly went all the way on the next play, breaking tacklers and juking defenders in the middle of the field before being brought down on the Pioneer 21.
With the clock quickly running down, Pea Ridge cleared their offensive bench. Torres made the most of his opportunity, breaking off slashing runs of 11, 5 and 5 yards to score the ’Hawks’ final touchdown. The veteran senior crossed the goal line with3:40 showing on the clock with the ’Hawks insurmountably on top 50-7.
The Pioneers stayed on the ground with Cripps, Faulkenberry and McFerrin alternating runs to pick up two touchdowns in the last period. Matthews kicked both PATs to set the final margin at 50-21.
Pea Ridge will be home this week hosting the Lincoln Wolves, a 33-0 victim of Gravette last week. Game time is set for 7 p.m.