Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Prairie Grove Wins League Opener
PRAIRIE GROVE — Going into Friday’s contest against Huntsville, Prairie Grove coach Danny Abshier had never defeated his mentor, Huntsville head coach Tommy Tice, who got Abshier started in the business 25 years ago.
That changed at Tiger Den Stadium with Prairie Grove routing Huntsville, 35-7.
Abshier broke into the coaching ranks as an assistant when Tice was at Harrison where he built a perennial power going 217-97-5, which made Tice the second winningest coach in Arkansas football history. Abshier learned the Wing-T offense which both he and Tice are still running.
The competition between mentor and protege’ has been on Prairie Grove’s radar for a long while. On media day in August, Craig Laird, Prairie Grove defensive coordinator mentioned this game noting, “A lot of good coaches have come up from Tommy Tice.”
Then joking as an aside to Abshier, he said, “I wish we had one of those.”
Abshier laughed, but Tiger fans need not have worried despite the absence of starting running back Bobby Catt, out with an ankle injury. Eli Lopez broke a 78-yard touchdown run with three minutes and nine seconds left in the first period giving Prairie Grove a 7-0 lead, which the Tigers built on with a 22-point explosion in the second quarter. Orrin Hacker caught a 11-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Marrell, Blake Faulk added a 6-yard scoring run and Dylan Soehner grabbed a 10-yard touchdown toss from Marrell 12 seconds before halftime.
“Eli Lopez (12 carries, 142 yards) and Blake Faulk (13 carries, 138 yards) both went over 100 yards rushing and Ryan Marrell ran the offense very well,” Abshier said acknowledging solid play offensively bolstered by the return of starting center Boyd Sparkman
but still missing Catt and a starting tackle.
Prairie Grove twice converted for 2-points after a kick failed on their second score. Marrell threw to Sam Dodd and reserve quarterback Zeke Laird passed to Zach Downey as the Tigers went in front, 29-0, at the half. The Tigers tacked on another score on Reed Orr’s 9-yard run at the 4:32 mark of the third quarter. From then on the game was played with a mercy- rule running clock.
Huntsville finally got on the scoreboard with 8:17 left in the fourth quarter when Levi Elsey ran 71 yards for a touchdown. The Eagles got the ball back one more time and moved near midfield but Prairie Grove forced an incomplete throw on a play where Tiger defensive backs had a better chance of intercepting the football than Huntsville receivers did of making an reception.
Abshier singled out Dakota Hutchison for his play on the defensive side of the ball and praised defensive coordinator Craig Laird for having the Tigers prepared to defend Huntsville’s Wing-T.
“It was orchestrated correctly tonight. Coach Laird did a great job.”
The coaches have met twice previously, both in nonconference games with Tice and Harrison ( 4A West) defeating Abshier and Prairie Grove ( 3A-1), 31-12, on Sept. 5, 2003; and then the teams played to a, 14-14, draw in a rematch a year later on Sept. 6, 2002 when Abshier’s son, Robbie, was a sophomore. Abshier is now 8-5 versus Huntsville since becoming head coach at Prairie Grove in 1994. The Eagles’ last win in the series dates back to an 18-14 victory on Sept. 8, 2000. With the win on Friday, Prairie Grove has won six in-a-row in the series.
“Coach Tice is one of the finest men I ever met. I can’t say everything I learned is from him,” Abshier said. “He showed me how to be a good coach, then I learned little things along the way that helped me out.”
“He’s a great guy. He’ll give you the shirt off his back, but if you work for him, he’ll ask for yours. I admire him. I’d like to repay him for all he gave to me and there’s no way I can.”