Blackhawks keep rivalry with Prairie Grove
Visit the Tigers this Friday
Though no longer competitors in the same classification of conference, the Blackhawks and Prairie Groves Tigers will meet again, this time in the Hawks’ last nonconference battle before heading into the 5A West battles two weeks from Friday at Alma.
The Blackhawks are working on a three-game winning streak over the perennial playoff contenders Tigers. The Hawks lambasted the Tigers 57-28 in 2019, the worst defeat the Hawks ever hung on their Washington County rivals. Pea Ridge won a close game, 38-29 in 2018, and started the streak with a nail biting 26-21 victory over Prairie Grove in 2017. The 2017 victory was the first time in history that Pea Ridge defeated Prairie Grove in Pea Ridge.
Pea Ridge, once a much smaller school than Prairie Grove, has only claimed five total victories over the
Tigers with four of them occurring in Prairie Grove, oddly enough.
The Tigers had one of their worst seasons in memory, falling to 4-7 in 2019. They were pounded by Shiloh and Pea Ridge in ’19 and were upset by Gentry for the first time in this millennium. However, they were heavy underdogs to Farmington last week but hung a 19-7 defeat on the Redbirds. Prairie Grove had beaten the Cardinals five straight years until last year’s debacle.
Last week’s home win was big for the Tigers as it marked the 200th career victory for head coach Danny Abshier who has spent his entire career at Prairie Grove. In Abshier’s tenure at Prairie Grove, the Tigers have won 12 conference championships and have been to the playoffs 25 times. They have only missed the playoffs once since the year 2000, back in 2010. The man knows how to build a program.
Folks reveling in the demise of Tiger football should not count out Abshier’s team for 2020. The game with Farmington demonstrated that.
The Tigers do return most of their starters from 2019 with a strong sophomore group that had a great junior high season last year.
Prairie Grove is led by senior quarterback Knox Laird who threw for nearly 1,000 yards last year in a run-oriented offense. Cade Grant (5’10” 200 lbs.) is also a senior, leading the ground attack last season. A sophomore back, Ethan Miller, was sensational as a junior high back last fall and will see playing time. The Tigers boast a number of running backs with game experience.
Receiving the ball will be a number of targets led by 6’4” Landon Semrad. The Tigers have five receivers while averaging only 5’6” in height, possess sure hands to aid the Tigers’ air attack.
One thing Prairie Grove teams always produce is plenty of line talent. Once again, the Tiger roster is replete with linemen in the 250 pounds and up weight category. The Tigers will hang their hat on their defensive prowess, where they have the most experience and size. Their throttling of Farmington offense last week would attest to that.
Prairie Grove is projected to finish second behind Shiloh in the 1-4A this season. The Hawks’ game with the team that handled Farmington may give fans a glimpse of how the locals may fare this year in the 5A West. The Cardinals were supposed to be a playoff team this season. Pea Ridge won’t play the Cardinals until the next to last regular season game on Oct. 30.
Another game to watch this week is the Harrison/ Siloam Springs game. If the 6A Panthers dominate Harrison, then the Goblins may not be as stout as many believe. They did graduate half their team this past spring and I thought that might lead to a fall off in 2020. Time will tell.
The Hawks will be working through injuries this week. Starting quarterback Logan Stewart went down in the second half against Siloam and his status for this week is unknown. After a rough start last Friday, Stewart hit a groove and completed six passes in succession with one going in for a score. He also scored the other offensive touchdown on a rushing play.
Starting tailback Cole Brown, who went down in the first quarter against Shiloh, will likely not play until conference games begin. The Hawks started their season with a pair of rugged opponents and will finish their non-conference slate with another team with a vaunted history. With the team off next week, Coach Jeff Williams’ Blackhawks may well be ready to take on the 5A West and prove the prognosticators wrong about
Pea Ridge in 2020.