Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Prairie Grove Miscues Lead To Morrilton Victory
PRAIRIE GROVE — The Prairie Grove Tigers had numerous opportunities to knock off the Morrilton Devil Dogs on Friday at Prairie Grove’s Tiger Den Field.
However a slew of costly penalties and three even costlier turnovers allowed the Devil Dogs to escape town with a 28-21 victory.
“We just didn’t get the job done tonight, that’s the bottom line,” said Tigers’ coach Danny Abshier. “We had it. We coulda, we shoulda, but we didn’t.”
The Devil Dogs accumulated over 500 yards of offense, which coach Abshier partially attributed to the Tigers’ carelessness with the football, but perhaps even more devastating than the wealth of yards surrendered by Prairie Grove was the fact that two of the Tigers’ turnovers came in the Devil Dogs’ red zone.
The third turnover came with the score tied 21-21 and Prairie Grove hoping to move into scoring position for a chance at victory. The final turnover resulted in a Morrilton game-winning touchdown drive.
“We gave the ball back to them way more than we should have, that’s what the problem was,” Abshier said.
Prairie Grove claimed an early 7-0 lead after traveling 66 yards on their opening drive which concluded with a Jacob Storlie quarterback keeper from two yards out, followed by a J.D. Speed P.A.T. Morrilton countered with a scoring drive on their first series, tying the score 7-7 with 6:44 left in the opening frame.
The Tigers advanced to the Devil Dogs’ 18 on their next possession, but turned the ball over on an interception. Morrilton quickly returned the favor when Logan Bartholomew picked off Dog quarterback Toney Hawkins then sprinted 79 yards for a touchdown. The extra point try missed it’s mark, making the score 13-7 in Prairie Grove’s favor.
Morrilton took the lead 14-13 late in the third period when Hawkins, who passed for 337 yards, connected with Rayshod Criswell for an 80-yard touchdown pass.
With 1: 15 to play in the third stanza, the Tigers embarked on a 66-yard drive which chewed up over seven minutes of game clock and resulted in a Speed eightyard touchdown run over the left side of the offensive line. Following the touchdown, Speed and the Prairie Grove offense lined up for an extra point attempt, however Prairie Grove eschewed the P. A.T. try, opting instead to directly snap the ball to Speed who shed a tackler in the backfield then tossed the ball toward the back of the end zone where Dylan Soehner was able to corral the pass after it was tipped by a Morrilton defender, completing the two point try and giving the Tigers the 21-14 advantage.
Prairie Grove was unable to slow down Morrilton, who themselves traversed 67 yards, concluding with a Sharaz Rhodes two-yard touchdown, which helped tie the score 21-21 with four minutes left in the contest.
With plenty of time on the clock, the Tigers marched into Morrilton territory, but a fumbled Tiger snap and a Devil Dog recovery, gave Morrilton the ball at their own 46 yard line with 2:06 left. With 31 ticks left on the clock, Hawkins passed to Reese Heidenreich for a 24-yard touchdown and a 28-21 Dog lead. That lead held up as the Tigers were unable to find the end zone in the final 27 seconds.
Offensively, the Tigers were led by Nick Sugg who chewed up 110 yards on 16 carries. Bobby Catt toted the rock five times for 58 yards, while Storlie finished the contest with 42 yards passing on a 5 of 9 performance.
The Tigers go on the road for the first time this season when they travel to West Fork on Friday. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. West Fork is coming off a 28-0 loss to Farmington.