Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Valley View Broils Prairie Grove 14-12
TIGERS BOUNCED OUT OF PLAYOFFS
PRAIRIE GROVE — Despite a fiveand-a-half hour road trip, combined with cold, wet and miserable weather, the Valley View Blazers (11-1) were still able to burn brightly on Friday.
The Blazers defeated the Prairie Grove Tigers, 14-12, in the second round of the 4A state playoffs held at Prairie Grove’s Tiger Den Field.
Prairie Grove, who at times this season looked remarkably dominant, picked the least opportune time to turn in one of their shakiest performance of the season. The Tigers missed an extra-point, tallied two lost fumbles, had a fumbled snap on a 2-point conversion try, another fumbled snap that stymied momentum in Blazer territory and had a low snap on a punt attempt that ended up being downed deep in Prairie Grove territory. But in what may have been the backbreaker, the Tigers failed to come away with any points after reaching the Blazer nine on their last possession before halftime.
“We had our chances we just made too many mistakes and that’s what it’s all about,” said Tigers’ coach Danny Abshier. “They’re (Valley View) tough and we played tough, we just made too many mistakes and didn’t get the job done.”
Buried beneath the cavalcade of missed opportunities by both squads was an impressive duel on the ground between Prairie Grove’s Logan Bartholomew and Valley View’s Jaeger Sullins. Bartholomew, rolling on one bad wheel, recorded 134 yards on 10 carries with one touchdown, while Sullins, who started the contest at quarterback but switched to running back after throwing an interception on the Blazer’s first series, tallied 175 yards on an NFL-like 40 carries scoring both of the visitor’s touchdowns.
“He had a lot of heart. He was a good tough running back,” said Abshier about Sullins’ performance.
Prairie Grove came out of the gate swinging on their opening posses- sion, eventually landing a haymaker when Bobby Catt scored on a 21-yard wing-back reverse, which broke wide open after the Blazers bit on what they thought was a sweep to the left-side. The PAT missed its mark and would eventually haunt the Tigers later in the contest.
Catt followed his touchdown run with an interception of Sullins on Valley View’s first offensive series, however the Tigers were unable to capitalize, instead giving back the football to the Blazers on a fumbled snap exchange. In the waning minutes of the first quarter Prairie Grove pinned Valley View at their own three following a punt by J.D. Speed.
Undaunted, the Blazers proceeded to march the entire 97 yards, with Sullins doing most of the work. Sullins finally capped off the drive with a 4-yard touchdown. The Blazers successfully added the extra point to make the score 7-6 in Valley View’s favor.
With the last possession of the half the Tigers put themselves in scoring position with a first-and-goal at the Blazer nine. After three negative yardage plays the Tigers found themselves facing a fourth down way back at the 24. The half ended with an incomplete pass sending the teams into the locker room with a score of 7-6.
Valley View increased their lead to 14- 6 with 36 seconds left on the third quarter clock when Sullins found running room over the right-side of the offense, scoring from 21 yards out.
Prairie Grove countered on their next series when Bartholomew exploited a hole over the left tackle then sprinted for a 37-yard touchdown. Because of the earlier missed extra point, the Tigers were forced to try a 2- point conversion, but another fumbled snap thwarted Prairie Grove’s efforts and left them trailing, 14-12.
On what would be Prairie Grove’s last offensive series, the Tigers advanced into Blazer territory where they faced a third down- and-five to go at the 28. But, a momentum-killing bobbled snap, followed by an incomplete pass, gave back possession to the Blazers with 5:07 left on the clock.
Prairie Grove’s last, best opportunity to get the football back came with 2:43 left in the game and the Blazers facing a third-and-eight situation at the Prairie Grove 42. That chance withered on the vine when Sullins peeled off a 12-yard run for a first down. From that point on Valley View was able to chew up the clock and hang on for the 14-12 victory.
“I can’t say enough about our seniors, I love them. I wish we could start over right now,” lauded Abshier about his senior class after the game.
On offense, Catt and Nick Sugg complimented Bartholomew’s effort with 59 and 40 yards rushing, respectively, while Speed added 37 yards to the Tiger total. Brandon Nodier led the Tigers’ defensive effort with 11 tackles, followed by Speed, Catt and Jackson Diebold who each finished with 6 take downs, while Jack Reynolds and Jacob Storlie both pitched in with 5 tackles apiece.
The Tigers finish the season with a 10-2 record while going undefeated in the 4A-1 conference, which was good enough to earn the their second consecutive conference championship.