Tyler Cummings Featured In Showcase Of U.S. 62 Runners

BARTHOLOMEW, BOUDREY AND CUMMINGS SHOWCASE U.S. 62 RUNNING BACKS

U.S. 62, NW Ark. — Bartholomew, Boudrey and Cummings have kept a firm grip on showcasing U.S. 62 football running backs for the past two seasons.

Weston Bartholomew, of Prairie Grove; Spencer Boudrey, of Farmington; and Tyler Cummings, of Lincoln, shared a healthy respect for one another as U.S. 62 rival running backs.

Each has had 1,000-yard rushing seasons for their respective teams.

Bartholomew and Boudrey have grown up playing baseball and met each other on the diamond regularly.

“Our dads are buddies since we were 10,” Bartholomew said. “We always text each other before a football game. There’s no trash talk, not anything like that. We say, ‘Good luck.’”

“A long time we’ve been friends,” said Tim Boudrey, Spencer’s dad. “It’s one of those deals we just want them to be successful. We both want them to win but when they’re not [in head to head competition] we text each other.”

“He’s a stud,” Bartholomew said of Spencer Boudrey, who bench presses more than 300 pounds and runs the 40 yard dash in 4.5 seconds.

“I knew when we played it was going to be tough,” Bartholomew said of the Sept. 28 rivalry game won, 27-21, by Prairie Grove but not decided until a final Farmington threat was averted by a Tiger interception in the closing seconds.

The start was just as nail-biting for fans of both teams in the rivalry.

“Of course, I fumbled and he took it in for a touchdown on the next play, so then I had to take it all the way,” Bartholomew said.

The game featured two long running touchdowns in the first three plays from scrimmage. Bartholomew fumbled on Prairie Grove’s first play and Farmington recovered. On the Cardinals’ first snap, Boudrey broke through the line and ran 35 yard to paydirt.

After the ensuing kickoff, Prairie Grove went right back to Bartholomew and he reeled off a 65-yard touchdown.

“He [Bartholomew] is constantly trying to do a little bit better and instead of sinking downhill from the poor job he’s just done, he will step it up,” said Prairie Grove coach Danny Abshier.

“No one is more critical of Weston than he is of himself. He wants to achieve. You don’t have to gripe at him. He intends to make up for it.”

Bartholomew celebrated his 18th birthday on the same day with 17 carries for 169 yards to offset 182 yards gained by Boudrey on 26 rushes.

Cummings, who attended school at Prairie Grove and played with many of the Tiger players at the pee wee level in fourth, fifth and sixth grade, was fully aware of the caliber of players on the Tigers’ 2012 roster but singled out Bartholomew, who also wore football jersey number 20.

“Prairie Grove, they’re all athletes,” Cummings said. “They are very talented, but Weston Bartholomew is by far the best athlete in Prairie Grove.”

“He plays with his heart, he never gives up. It’s so hard to bring him down once he gets into the open field.”

When informed of Cummings’ statement, Bartholomew’s thoughts turned to Cummings, whom he knew suffered a torn ACL in the first quarter of the first Lincoln football game last fall after gaining 1,480 yards rushing as a sophomore with 4.5 speed.

The Wolves fashioned a breakout 7-4 season in 2011 with Cummings posting an 8.5 yards-per-carry average. Cummings scored 16 rushing touchdowns and had more than 500 receiving yards with 2 touchdowns.

“I appreciate what he said,” Bartholomew said. “He’ll come back next year really tough.”

In the final week of the regular season, Lincoln held a 13-12 lead over Farmington with less than six minutes remaining in the first half. Farmington answered with a game-changing 15-play, 70-yard drive, capped off by Boudrey’s 32-yard touchdown when he took a short flare pass the distance.

“We threw a simple swing pass, he makes their whole team miss and takes it for a long touchdown,” said Farmington head football coach Mike Adams. “He had the ability to stick a dagger in you.”

“Coach Mike Adams and coach Tracy Sutton prepared me, they kept talking me up,” Boudrey said.

For his senior season in football, Boudrey was named All-State and gained 1,497 yards from scrimmage on 183 carries with 12 touchdowns. He caught 23 passes for 536 yards and another 7 touchdowns.

PHOTOS BY MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER Weston Barthomolomew of Prairie Grove shown carrying the football against U.S. 62 rival, Farmington, completed a stalwart career as a Tiger running back as a senior.

Spencer Boudrey of Farmington shown rushing for yardage against Lincoln, was a workhorse during an outstanding career as a Cardinal.

Tyler Cummings of Lincoln shown racing out of the backfield against Westville, returns for his senior season after suffering an ACL injury in his first game as a junior. As a sophomore, Cummings rushed for 1,480 yards and 16 touchdowns. His presence...