Blackhawks slog through wet opener, take down Pioneers 27-7
Pea Ridge opened defense of their 1-4A Championship football title from a year ago with a 27-7 domination of the Gentry Pioneers on the road last week.
The moisture than came down steadily all day Friday made footing on the natural grass turf at Pioneer Stadium difficult and thrown passes hard to hold.
Nevertheless, the ’Hawks rolled up 238 rushing yards and scored all four touchdowns via the ground, with running back Carson Rhine and quarterback Tate Busey coming up with two scores each. The bad weather grounded the ’Hawks potent air attack with Busey connecting on four of nine passes to rack up 60 yards.
Samuel Beard was the statistical ground leader, hitting the century mark again, rushing for 100 yards on 20 carries. Rhine chipped in with 70 yards on 17 carries while field general Busey ran much more than he threw, accumulating 68 yards on 15 forays.
On the receiving end, Hunter Rains emerged to lead with two catches for 35 yards total. Trevor Blair caught a pass for 14 yards with Peyton Galbraith snaring one for 11 yards.
The defense was very elastic, twice staring down Gentry possessions near the goal line to prevent a Pioneer score. As a matter of fact, the only Gentry touchdown came via a kickoff return. The Gentry game marked the second straight week the ’Hawks’ opponent failed to score on the Pea Ridge defense.
A very big part of the lid holding Gentry’s offense in check were the number of huge sacks administered to the Gentry quarterback. Blackhawk Luis Reyes brought down the signal caller twice as did Arnoldo Rascon with Gavin Warden breaking through to bring down the quarterback one time.
Reyes did remarkably well accomplishing his kickoff duties. In spite of the bad conditions, the junior kicker managed to average nearly 47 yards per kick. He also managed to make three of four PATs on the sloppy field. Busey was very effective in the rain handling his punting duties. He averaged over 37 yards on his three punts.
The ’Hawks had some success in kickoff returning, returning two for a more than 30 yards per kick average. Rhine returned one 41 yards with Justin Koon taking one back the other way for 21 yards.
Sixteen different Blackhawks recorded a tackle, giving Pea Ridge a definite edge in roster depth. Junior Adam Trammel led all tacklers with nine stops with a trio of Gavin Warden, Koon and Reyes having the second most with six each.
Others recording tackles were: Tristen Brewer, 5; Cole Brown, 4; Rhine, 3; Mason Harwell, 3; David Wood, 3; Jake Adams, 2; Gannon Conrad, 2; Arnoldo Rascon, 2; Carlos Martinez, 1; Toby Dunning, 1; Mazon Harris, 1; and Iain Mulikin, 1.
The victory over the Pioneers has landed the ’Hawks in a four-way tie for place in the conference. Prairie Grove won their opener with a 63-0 beat-down of out manned, outgunned Green Forest. Eight different black and gold Tigers scored TDs against the black and red with the ninth touchdown coming via a fumble return.
Shiloh earned their piece of the lead with a 36-0 victory over Berryville. The Bobcats fumbled three straight kickoffs in the first quarter to help Shiloh race out to a 29-0 lead after just the first quarter.
The fourth team to escape the conference opener with a victory was Lincoln. They battled Gravette to a 7-7 tie at the half, and then took a 14-7 lead on the strength of a Gravette fumble into their own end zone which the Wolves covered. A short scoring run in the fourth quarter sealed Gravette’s fate in what appears to a down year for the usually potent Lions.
Lincoln’s win sets them up at 4-0 and ready to invade Pea Ridge next week. Though having a better record than Pea Ridge’s 2-2 mark, the Wolves have had the weakest schedule among all of Arkansas 4A teams and have yet to be really tested. Invading Pea Ridge this week will give observers a chance to see just how good Lincoln is this year.
The ’Hawks will be down three defenders Friday after a mini-brawl broke out in the second half at Gentry. Three Pioneers were also suspended for their role in the fracas which saw a short game stoppage while officials sorted things out.
Shiloh will likely earn their second league win this Friday with a trip of lowly Green Forest. A very small roster at Green Forest compounded by the fact that few Tigers went through summer drills for the Tigers will result in another blowout loss like the one they suffered to Prairie Grove.
Tate Busey’s passing totals gives him nearly 600 yards on 30 of 66 passing. His 737 yards total offense makes him the leader of that category as well.
Samuel Beard is leading the rushing attack for the season on 62 carries for 323 yards, a 5.2 yards per carry average. Rhine is second with 189 yards with Busey third with 159 yards through four games.
Hunter Rains leads the receiving corps with 15 total catches for 235 yards. Brayden Ralph has the second most yards with 118 on just four receptions, Trevor Blair has 114 yards on eight catches.
Gavin Warden and Carson Rhine have emerged as the tackling leaders with 28 tackles each. Tristan Brewer is hot on their trail with 27 tackles of his own.