Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Prairie Grove Pulverizes West Fork
WEST FORK — Still licking their wounds after letting a winnable contest slip through their fingers last week, the Prairie Grove Tigers were looking to regain a winning mindset before the start of conference play..
Fortunately for Prairie Grove, the West Fork Tigers proved to
be just the right balm to help heal those wounds, with the Tigers from Prairie Grove easily claiming a 41-6 victory on Friday at West Fork.
After being haunted by miscues the previous week, Prairie Grove turned around and did the terrorizing against West Fork. The Grovers recovered two fumbles and pilfered two interceptions, with all four turnovers leading to Prairie Grove points.
“What we wanted to fix was the things we were making mistakes on last week,” said Tigers’ coach Danny Abshier.
Prairie Grove’s Logan Bartholomew, who while playing with a hand injury, admittedly had a rough game last week, re- established himself as a force to be reckoned with on both sides of the ball against West Fork. Bartholomew scored a touchdown on a 63-yard run in the first quarter and on defense had two interceptions, the second of which he took to the house for a 32 -yard touchdown.
“I fractured my finger and let that affect me (last week),” Bartholomew said. “Tonight, I didn’t let it bother me.”
Bartholomew wasn’t the only Grover running rough shod over West Fork on offense. Nick Sugg scored two touchdowns, J.D. Speed found paydirt from 17 yards out and converted a pair of extra-points, Jacob Storlie was a perfect 2-for-2 in the passing department, with one of those tosses going to Bobby Catt for a 34-yard touchdown.
In the end, Prairie Grove out- gained West Fork 390 yards to 132 yards. Prairie Grove’s defensive effort was lead by Brandon Nodier and Jack Reynolds who each had four tackles apiece. Sugg and Jackson Diebold both added a fumble recovery to Prairie Grove’s defensive tally.
A pair of fumbles on West Fork’s first two possessions, led to a three- yard Sugg touchdown and a touchdown pass from Storlie to Catt, giving Prairie Grove the lead 14- 0. With 4: 26 left in the opening period, Bartholomew peeled off his 63-yard scoring run and Speed crossed the goal line a little over two minutes later, putting Prairie Grove on top 28-0. Bartholomew sent the Grovers into the locker room with a 34-0 lead after returning his second interception 32 yards for a touchdown. Sugg capped off Prairie Grove’s scoring when he plunged into the endzone from three yards out with 6:23 left in the third period. The only blemish on an otherwise perfect night for Prairie Grove came in the fourth quarter, when a fumble gave West Fork the ball at the Prairie Grove 15 yard line. That turnover allowed West Fork to avoid the shutout when they scored with 2:17 left on the clock, bringing the final score to 41-6.
Prairie Grove opens their 4A-1 conference schedule at 7 p.m. Friday when they welcome the Ozark Hillbillies to the Tiger’s Den Field.