Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Tigers Break Golden Arrows
PRAIRIE GROVE WINS NONCONFERENCE OPENER
LAVACA — The Golden Arrows simply had no answer for the Tigers in any aspect of the contest as Prairie Grove defeated Lavaca 41-0 in their season-opening football game Friday.
“It wasn’t the prettiest 41 point win, but I’ll take it,” Prairie Grove coach Danny Abshier said.
Prairie Grove showed big-play capabilities on the ground, through the air, on special teams and had a defensive effort that completely dominated Lavaca, holding them to less than 100 yards for the entire game.
The impressive defensive effort started in the trenches with Jared Murphy, who despite being double teamed for most of the contest still found himself in on 13 tackles. Brandon Nordier complimented Murphy with nine takedowns and Jacob Kahl finished with seven tackles and a sack.
The wealth was spread on the offensive side of the ball, with no one Tiger player separating himself in the statistical categories, even though Prairie Grove racked up 328 yards of offense. Quarterback Cooper Winters was 3-for-7 passing for 58 yards and two touchdowns and one interception. J.D. Speed led the Tigers rushing attack with 63 yards and one TD on just two carries. Weston and Justin Bartholomew each finished with 39 yards apiece, while Nick Sugg tallied 20 yards on two carries, with both resulting in touchdowns.
Despite all of the positive aspects shown by the Tigers, the win was
tempered by an effort rifled with penalties and turnovers. Prairie Grove committed 10 penalties for almost 100 yards and had two turnovers which helped keep the contest from becoming an even bigger blowout than what the final score indicated.
“There were some areas where we looked really good and there were some areas that we need to improve. Obviously penalties were one of them,” Abshier said.
Lavaca fumbled the snap on their first play from scrimmage, which was promptly recovered by the Tigers at the Arrows’ 34. On the next play, Winters rolled to his right and found Jon Halbert streaking down the sideline for a 34- yard touchdown pass, giving the Tigers a 60 lead. With 3:22 left in the opening period, Prairie Grove increased their lead to 12-0 when Winters hit Murphy on a tight end dump for a 27-yard touchdown, capping off an 84-yard drive by the Tigers.
Halbert, who earlier missed out on his second touchdown after a dropping a Winters’ pass, redeemed himself with less than seven minutes to play before the half, when he picked up a bounding Arrow punt then weaved his way through Lavaca defenders for an 80-yard touchdown, staking Prairie Grove to an 18-0 lead by intermission.
“It’s nice to see that we have that type of magic in us to have those big plays,” Abshier said, lauding his team’s quick strike capabilities.
Sugg scored from 11 yards out with 3:11 to play in the third stanza and Logan Bartholomew crossed the goal on the 2-point conversion, swelling the lead to 260. Speed contributed to the Tigers’ scoring frenzy when he rambled 59 yards to pay dirt in the waning seconds of the third frame. Winters sneaked into the end zone on the 2-point try making the score 34-0.
Jamison Huckaby set-up Prairie Grove’s final touchdown when he blocked and recovered an Arrow punt at the Lavaca 9. Sugg covered the remaining distance for his second touchdown. Speed capped off the scoring with a successful P.A.T., bringing the final score to 41-0.
The Tigers travel to Morrilton on Friday for their second nonconference matchup. Kickoff is 7 p.m.