Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Wolves Still In Contention
Coach Optimistic About Getting Eighth Win
LINCOLN — Gravette never faced Tyler Cummings in Lincoln’s first season in the 1-4A Conference and the Lions saw all they wanted of the Wolves’ speedy tailback on Friday.
Last season, Lincoln lost a heart-breaking 6-0 road game at Gravette with Cummings sidelined by injury. The defeat cost the Wolves a playoff berth and they finished with a 5-5 record after a promising start.
“That was definitely the game that kept us out of the playoffs last year,” said Lincoln coach Brad Harris.
But instead of focusing on revenge, Harris asked his players to set their minds on playing for seeding after a win over Gentry the previous week. With two weeks left in the regular season, the Wolves are tied with Farmington for second place in the 1-4A standings.
The Wolves took the kickoff and drove 74 yards in 12 plays to score with Cummings ripping virtually untouched past Gravette defenders on third-and-goal from the 14.
“Friday night on the opening possession, we looked really good and then we kind of slowed down,” Brad Harris said.
Gravette evened the score, 7-7, on a screen pass that Cedric Duarte took 44 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown with 3:08 to go before halftime and forced the Wolves to punt after three plays. The Lions picked up one first down and moved the ball out to their own 36 but then they threw the football in the direction of one of Lincoln’s playmakers and Dalton Simmons came away with an interception, which he returned to the Gravette 30-yard line.
“Defensively, we played really well with the exception of the one screen play. They [Gravette] executed that play really well,” Brad Harris said.
Lincoln converted the turnover into points overcoming an illegal procedure call. On fourth-and-15, Drew Harris threw a short wide receiver screen to Simmons near the left sideline and the senior dodged tackles to make the first down at the 20. Drew Harris scrambled for five yards on the next play getting out-of-bounds to stop the clock on the far sideline with 12 seconds to go. On the next play, Drew Harris hit Danny Calvillo at the goal line where he secured the ball and with help from teammates pushed the pile in for the score. Emilio Marrufo kicked the point-after and Lincoln led 7-7.
“The touchdown right before halftime gave us momentum,” Brad Harris said. “At half time we talked about picking up the aggression. We kind of challenged them to push themselves a little more and we came out and played real well.”
Gravette would not score again and Marrufo sent a 28-yard field goal through the uprights for a 17-7 Lincoln lead adding a touchdown 2:26 later on a 73-yard pass play from Drew Harris to Alec Pitts.
Cummings scored on a 2-yard carry 31 seconds into the final stanza and on the ensuing Gravette possession, the Lincoln defense asserted themselves.
Timmy Alexander hit the Lion quarterback and was wrapping him up for the sack when he fumbled the ball and it rolled into the end zone where Cummings jumped on it for a defensive touchdown.
Marrufo nailed another 28-yard field goal down the stretch for the game’s final points and Lincoln celebrated a 41-7 win.
“We played really well in the second half. Colton Barnum led us again in tackles with 16. Timmy Alexander, Charles Rowe and Mikey Drain all had 10 plus tackles. Timmy had a nice night. He caused two fumbles and recovered one. That was a big night out of a defensive end,” Brad Harris said.
Lincoln is now 7-1 overall and 4-1 in conference play. The Wolves host Ozark on Friday in their last home game of the regular season and Brad Harris is optimistic.
“Hopefully we can get that eighth win and set a school record for the most wins in a season.”