Wolves Go Down Fighting Against Prairie Grove

LINCOLN — Friday’s 4A-1 gridiron battle between No. 1 Prairie Grove ( 10- 0, 7- 0 4A-1) and No. 6 Lincoln (3-7, 2-5) wasn’t over until Prairie Grove finally shut the door.

After Harrison Swayne’s 9- yard run trimmed the Tigers’ lead to 33- 20, Lincoln’s Hunter Phelan recovered an onside kick with 43 seconds left setting up the Wolves’ offense at the Tiger 48. A deep pass to a streaking Caleb Lloyd was underthrown and Prairie Grove’s Clay Fidler made an interception at the six to seal the game — leaving Lincoln coach Don Harrison to speculate at what might have been.

“If we get a little more oomph on that last throw and Caleb catches that for a touchdown cause he had them beat, then we do an onside kick and if we get that, who knows what might have happened?”

Prairie Grove built a 19-0 haftime lead with three touchdowns in the second quarter. Anthony Johnson ran 24 yards for six. Zeke Laird kicked the extrapoint, but Lincoln blocked another P.A.T. after Dustin Burton scored on a 7-yard run. Kyle Sam contributed a 19-yard touchdown run, but the Tigers failed to convert. Neither team scored during the third period. Lincoln got a touchdown with 2:08 elapsed in the fourth on Braden Umberson’s 4-yard score, courtesy of Harrison Swayne’s shovel pass to cut the lead to 19-6. Prairie Grove responded with a pair of touchdowns from Reed Orr (43-yard run) and Zeke Laird’s 1-yard quarterback sneak, the first of 20 points scored over the final 3: 27. Johnson caught a 2- point pass from Zeke Laird, but the last conversion failed, leaving the Tigers with a 33-6 advantage.

On the ensuing possession, Lincoln answered with Swayne’s 1-yard touchdown at the 2:11 mark cutting the gap to 33-12, and setting up an exciting finish. Lincoln needed either a win against Prairie Grove or a 6-point win by Berryville against Huntsville to qualify for a second-straight trip to the playoffs. The Wolves got neither, but what they did produce pleased Harrison.

“The kids kept fighting it out,” Harrison said. “Even that last score, they had it at the six and it took them four downs to get in. If we would have had that kind of effort in some earlier games, where we keep fighting to be in the playoffs, and to be a better seed in the playoffs…”