Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Defensive Dagger
LAST MINUTE HEROICS ALLOW TIGERS TO BEAT BLACKHAWKS
in the contest, Prairie Grove’s defense bottled up the Blackhawk runner and stripped the football from his hands before the referees could blow their whistle. Prairie Grove’s Connor West scooped up the bounding pigskin and had enough fuel in the tank to outrace the Pea Ridge players 61 yards for the game-winning touchdown.
“Coach Abshier is always telling us to be the person to make the play. I saw the ball on the ground and picked it up and all I knew to do was just run,” West said.
It took Pea Ridge two plays to get on the board when Shane Ivy busted up the middle for a 55-yard touchdown and a 6-0 Blackhawk lead. Prairie Grove countered with a 66-yard drive that culminated in a 19-yard touchdown run by Jacob Storlie on the option keeper. Clammond Gautreau booted the first of his five PAT’s to give Prairie Grove the 7-6 advantage.
The Tigers trekked 90 yards on their next series, however they lost two yards on a fourth and three attempt from the Blackhawk six yard line. Pea Ridge then reversed the field, marching 92 yards and capping off the drive with a 21-yard touchdown pass from Seth Brumley to Logan Rose, making the score 14-7 following the successful 2-point conversion.
Prairie Grove answered back with a 71-yard drive which was finished off by Storlie on a quarterback sneak from one yard out, tying the score at 14-14.
Pea Ridge threatened to score on their next possession, however Elliot Chamberlain picked off Brumley at the Tiger’s five yard line. Prairie Grove then methodi- cally moved the ball downfield and was at the doorstep of the Blackhawk goal line but was turned away from the glory land for the second time in the game when they fumbled the ball at the two just before halftime.
The generous Tiger offense gifted the Blackhawks another fumble after the break, which Pea Ridge turned into a 24-yard touchdown pass from Brumley to Rose, making the score 21-14. Prairie Grove responded with a 44-yard touchdown run from Storlie, which again tied the score, this time at 21-21. With a little less than three minutes in the third quarter, Ivy scored from six yards out to give the Blackhawks a 28-21 advantage.
Momentum was seemingly in the Blackhawks’ favor after they picked off Storlie on Prairie Grove’s next series. However, the Tiger defense stiffened up and thwarted the Blackhawks on their next two possessions. Then with 2:12 left in the game, J.D. Speed busted off a three-yard touchdown run and Gautreau cooly converted the extra point which knotted up the score at 28-28.
The Blackhawks had one more chance to pull off the upset. Pea Ridge moved the ball to the Tigers’ 33, which was where things fell apart for the Blackhawks. On a handoff, Ivy was quickly stopped up by a host of Tiger defenders, and before the whistle was blown and before Ivy hit the ground, the ball popped loose allowing West to stage his last minute heroics. Gautreau finished off the scoring, bringing the final score to 35-28.
The Tigers will take go on the road for their final two regular season contests, starting Friday when they travel to Gentry to face the Pioneers with kickoff at 7 p.m.