Blackhawks can’t capitalize on spoiler role
Pea Ridge started strong with an eight-play, 90-yard touchdown drive but couldn’t sustain the momentum and dropped a 5A West Conference football game 49-16 at Farmington Friday.
The outcome of the game held major bearing on playoff seedings.
Pea Ridge, which entered the contest at 3-5 overall, found itself in the role of a potential spoiler with a chance to slip into the playoffs.
The Blackhawks remained alive coming into week nine despite their 1-4 record in the 5A West. The Blackhawks could have turned their season around and garnered a No. 3 seed, by beating Farmington in week nine, and Harrison in week 10, and only if the Cardinals, Goblins and Alma all lost in both week nine and again in week 10.
None of those teams lost in week nine and the Blackhawks’ playoff chances went out the door with Friday’s loss to Farmington combined with Harrison’s 56-0 win over Clarksville, along with Alma’s 59-14 win over Dardanelle.
Farmington, which approached week nine at 5-3 overall, improved to 4-2 in the 5A West.
The Cardinals came into Friday’s game facing a potential elimination if they lost to both Pea Ridge in week nine and Prairie Grove in week 10 — a scenario that required either Pea Ridge or Alma to win in both week nine and week 10.
The Cardinals, by virtue of their 49-16 victory over Pea Ridge, could still leapfrog to as high as a No. 2 playoff seed with a win over Prairie Grove, which suffered its first conference loss of the season last week to Shiloh Christian, should Pea Ridge beat Harrison this week — or the Goblins fail to secure the maximum 13 tiebreaker points against Pea Ridge.
After Pea Ridge went up 7-0 on Bowen Phillips’ 10-yard touchdown pass from Gavin Dixon, the Blackhawks pulled out all the stops early, attempting an on-side kick and a fake punt from their own 28 on fourth-and-9 in the first quarter. Neither of those ploys were successful and the Cardinals seized momentum.
Farmington senior wide receiver, Peyton Funk part of the “hands team,” recovered the onside kick giving the Cardinals possession at their own 46. Funk capped a three-play drive by catching a 10-yard touchdown pass from Sam Wells. Jorge Cervantes’ kick evened the score at 7-7 with 7:44 remaining in the first quarter.
Four plays later a Blackhawk pass fell incomplete out of punt formation and the Cardinals took over on downs at the Blackhawk 28. They overcame a holding call on first down with Luke Elsik breaking off a 30-yard run, followed by a 5-yard carry. Pea Ridge had an opportunity to regain some of the momentum when a high snap sailed over the head of Farmington’s Cooper Gardenhire on a 2-point conversion attempt.
Pea Ridge senior Jonathan Lyons, a 5-feet-10, 140-pound
cornerback, tackled Gardenhire, forcing a fumble which his teammates recovered, stopping the conversion attempt. Farmington led 13-7 at the 6:11 mark of the first quarter and kicked off to Pea Ridge.
The kickoff went out of bounds inside the 5 and Pea Ridge sent out its offensive unit with good field position at the 35 because of the penalty on the kickoff. The Blackhawks reeled off 13 plays, gaining 40 yards, but a 42-yard field goal attempt was wide to the right.
Farmington began at its own 20 following the missed field goal and scored on Russell Hodge’s 35-yard run. Sam Wells ran in the 2-point conversion lifting the Cardinals to a 21-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Pea Ridge tried to stay in the game, leveraging good starting position from its own 38 set up by a handoff on the kick return. Blackhawk signal caller Gavin Dixon completed three passes and took the offense to Farmington’s 22. On fourth-and-6 Pea Ridge attempted a 39-yard field goal but Damian Trejo kick’s bounced off the left upright.
Farmington again started from its own 20 and Wells busted a 54-yard run to paydirt. Cervantes kicked the PAT and the Cardinals were up 28-7 with 7:36 left in the first half.
Pea Ridge answered with a solid drive culminated with Phillips’ 5-yard touchdown on a pass from Dixon. Trejo’s kick reduced the Blackhawk deficit to 28-14 with 3:15 to play in the first half.
The Blackhawks tried another onside kick, but Farmington was prepared. Morgan Schader recovered at the Cardinal 34.
Hodge polished off an eightplay march with a 3-yard touchdown run, the first of three Cardinal touchdowns that broke the game open in the last 1:52 of the half.
Farmington’s Charlie Mobley scored on a 47-yard interception return. Pea Ridge could neither score nor run out the clock and gave Farmington too much time. The fleet-of-foot Cardinal quarterback, Wells, engineered a three-play 43-yard touchdown drive that ended with his 17-yard run with six seconds on the second quarter clock.
Leading 49-14 at halftime, Farmington mounted another march into Blackhawk territory but a 33-yard field goal missed and the running clock made the