Prairie Grove is praying for Pea Ridge
Prairie Grove students and staff are not tone deaf to unvoiced emotions or hurt so deep words can’t begin to express sorrow in the absence of a beloved student.
A sign depicting a heart and commemorative ribbon in memory of the life of Pea Ridge sophomore Ayden Cotton, who passed unexpectedly Jan. 9, greeted Pea Ridge coaches, players and fans when the Blackhawks visited Tiger Arena to take on Prairie Grove in conference basketball games in a rescheduled game Monday, Jan. 13.
Prairie Grove remembers all too well the challenges of dealing with heartache. Three years have speedily gone by since Jarren Sorters, son of Prairie Grove assistant high school principal Joey Sorters and district speech pathologist Donna Sorters, succumbed to sarcoma one month before what would have been his 16th birthday.
Jarren was a fierce competitor cherishing every minute spent on a baseball diamond or basketball court. He is remembered fondly at Prairie Grove; and for these reasons and others the Tigers were sensitive to the plight of Pea Ridge, which would have to play three games in one week — as the Pea Ridge administration and staff requested opponents to postpone playing games scheduled for Friday, Jan. 10 in light of Ayden’s passing and the impact upon the student body, coaches and teachers.
Prairie Grove willingly accommodated the request although that meant the Tigers,
too, would be playing three games in one week.
Pea Ridge girls basketball coach Heath Neal spoke candidly about the situation after the Lady Blackhawks defeated Prairie Grove, 48-26, on Jan. 13.
In an ironic twist. The scenario almost played out like a crisis Pea Ridge faced on Jan. 11, 2019.
Pea Ridge cheerleader Kennedy Allison collapsed near the end of a morning class period, and for a few brief moments laid on the floor, lifeless. Pea Ridge High School principal Charley Clark, school nurse LaRay Thetford, and health teacher and former baseball coach John E. King, worked to save her life.
The Pea Ridge TIMES reported later Kennedy’s father, Keith Allison posted a summary of those events on Twitter: “She collapsed from V-fib after class, was blue, no pulse, not breathing, pupils fixed and Coach King and Nurse Thetford revived her with CPR and the AED. She’s recovering at ACH in LR now. The PR School was prepared and she’s alive because of them AND GOD. Period.”
Ayden also collapsed. He was at work at a feed store, but this time the outcome was different, and no one can explain how one child lives while another doesn’t. Perhaps, an appropriate faith-based response for each affected by Ayden’s passing is to ask, “God, what do I do now?” The answer to this question will bring guidance.
Neal felt the Pea Ridge community circle the wagons in each instance and he’s thankful for the support because like it or not there remains a conference basketball schedule that must be played out.
“I think that’s the biggest thing about our community is that we’re a tight-knit family, tight-knit community. You know when our community’s hurting, we’re hurting, too,” Neal said. “We had a similar situation almost a year ago to the date with the Kennedy Allison thing and our kids did a phenomenal job with that deal and it’s our town, not necessarily our team, it’s our town.”
Pea Ridge lost a heartbreaker in double overtime to Farmington (49-48) days before Ayden’s death so coming into the game at Prairie Grove Neal knew he had better have his girls ready.
“Every night is a tough battle in conference play. It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, there’s so many good coaches in this league. If you’re not prepared, you’re going to get beat,” Neal said. “Responding how we did tonight, I was very proud of that effort. We felt like we let that one loose (against Farmington) on Tuesday, (Jan. 8) but at the same time we know that we’re a young team and we got to grow and we can’t go backwards and we got to continue to push forward.”
Neal has eight juniors on his roster, but the Lady Blackhawks, like Prairie
Grove which has no seniors out for girls basketball, don’t have many upper classmen.
Senior 5’10” forward Allisa Short is the team’s one senior leader, who Neal says “really keeps us there, and keeps us growing, and so our kids fight for her because they know this is the last ride for her.”
Pea Ridge would have to overcome their raw emotions or face the possibility of getting saddled with a conference loss.
“So we prepared in a way we should prepare even if that game was on Friday (Jan. 10) we were ready to go,” Neal said.
Neal had a message for the girls before the game in the locker room.
“Hey, let’s be the light in bad situation and give our community some positives to look at and just reflect on what Ayden meant to us and how he represented our school,” Neal said. “We want to represent our school in the same way.”
Their conference brethren from Prairie Grove reached out to them — acknowledging their pain and offering comfort.
That speaks volumes as excellent representation of sportsmanship among the 4A-1 Conference, a league rich in girls basketball tradition and no shortage of contenders for a state title this season.
Editor’s note: Mark Humphrey is a sports reporter for the Washington County Enterprise-Leader, one of the weekly newspapers owned by Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC. The opinions are his own.