Gravette comes up short against unbeaten Pea Ridge
PEA RIDGE — Drew Winn rushed for 314 yards and scored four touchdowns on just 20 carries, and Pea Ridge managed to answer every Gravette challenge in a 42-28 win in 4A-1 Conference action Friday night.
Winn scored on runs of 62, 3, 4 and 80 yards, and Pea Ridge (6-0, 3-0 4A-1) needed every one of them to hold off Gravette (3-3, 1-2), who got a huge night from its own running back, Austin O’Brien. The senior rushed for 283 yards and scored two rushing touchdowns and one receiving TD.
“That running back (O’Brien) and that quarterback (Tajae White) are some really, really good players and I’m glad we got a chance to play against them tonight because we’re going to see some kids like that as we move along over the course of the season,” Pea Ridge coach Stephen Neal said.
No. 2 Pea Ridge jumped out to leads of 21-0 and 28-7 at halftime as the Blackhawks kept White and O’Brien in check in the first half. It was a different story in the second half as Gravette found huge running lanes starting with the opening drive of the third quarter when O’Brien ripped off 65 yards on the fourth play of the series, and Bailey Soule’ found the end zone with 9 minutes, 56 seconds left in the third quarter, cutting Pea Ridge’s lead to 28-14.
After Gravette forced Pea Ridge into a threeand-out, the Lions got another big run from O’Brien, this time for 26 yards to near midfield, and forcing Neal to call a timeout. The next three plays resulted in two big sacks and an incompletion. On fourth down, Gravette put a punt snap over the head of Chris Childress and by the time Childress ran it down, he was at his own 1.
But the Blackhawks were penalized twice on the play, one for an illegal substitution and another for a sideline infraction. That kept Gravette’s drive alive and O’Brien was able to get a first down at the Pea Ridge 48. But the Blackhawks’ defense again came up with key stops and forced a Gravette punt to end the threat.
“We adjusted to their formation a little better,” said a smiling Neal of the timeout. “We made sure our kids understood where they needed to be aligned and we fixed it.”
Gravette coach Bill Harrelson said that was a huge
swing when it appeared his team was in the position to really make this one a game.
“We had a chance but we just couldn’t capitalize on it,” Harrelson said. “I could not be any prouder of how my kids fought and how they played, but we came up short again and they’re getting tired of hearing that, but hopefully it will pay off in the weeks to come.”
Pea Ridge drove 82 yards after the big stop to extend its lead to 35-14, then, after Gravette scored on a perfectly executed hook and lateral for 46 yards, Winn exploded for an 80-yard touchdown to put the game away.
That sets up a huge 4A-1 game at home this week against unbeaten Prairie Grove, who held off Shiloh Christian on Friday night to remain unbeaten.