Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Resilient Lincoln Wolves Pester No. 2 Ranked Pea Ridge Blackhawks
LINCOLN — Pea Ridge (5-0, 2-0 4A-1) ranked No. 2 in 4A defeated a pesky Lincoln squad in a high-scoring, 48-32, game Friday at Wolfpack Stadium.
Pea Ridge was able to get separation after the game was tied, 13-13, early in the second quarter on Caleb Lloyd’s 2-yard touchdown run for Lincoln and Abraham Calvillo’s point-after kick.
According to Lincoln coach Don Harrison injuries played a factor. With their starting tailback out, the Wolves shifted Yue Phen Lee from wide receiver to ball-carrier and there were two fumbles on the exchange.
“We came up a little short. We had a good week of practice,” Harrison said. “We came into this game playing a really high-ranked team. We knew how good they were. We made too many mistakes. There were a couple of fumbles on the exchange. Because of injuries a kid moved from wide receiver to tailback and that happens.”
Drew Winn, who had 10 carries for 202 yards at halftime, got 90 on a long jaunt that broke the tie. Evan Green booted the P.A.T. for a 20-13 Blackhawk lead. They moved ahead by two scores on Jakota Sainsbury’s 23-yard pass to Jordan Witcher and with the kick added on stretched their lead to 27-13.
Lincoln answered with Lloyd’s 17-yard completion to Braden Umberson for a touchdown. The P.A.T. kick again made the contest a one-score game of 27-20. The game got away from Lincoln during the final four minutes of the first half when Pea Ridge scored twice. Sainsbury found Hayden Holtgrew for a 44-yard touchdown. The pair hooked up again in the final minute to complete a 23-yard scoring pass.
Holtgrewe caught 4 passes for a whopping 171 yards and 3 touchdowns in the first half. Pea Ridge racked up 383 yards of total offense on 20 plays while Lincoln had 201 yards on 49 plays. The Blackhawks led 41-20 at the half.
Winn’s 37-yard rushing touchdown and Green’s kick lifted the Blackhawks to a commanding 48-20 lead in the third quarter, but Lincoln wasn’t finished. On their next possession the Wolves scored on a well-executed wide receiver screen pass from Lloyd to Umberson. Umberson made the reception with blockers out front. He made a move toward the sideline at the 30 and benefited from solid blocking downfield. One of his teammates smacked Pea Ridge sophomore safety David Jarr off his feet as Umberson crossed the Blackhawk 45. That was the block that sprung him and he ran the distance for a 77-yard Wolf touchdown trimming the deficit to 48-26 midway through the third period.
Lincoln mounted a lengthy 88-yard touchdown drive late capped by Lee’s 9-yard run. The Wolves had a 31-yard completion from Lloyd to Cam Brown, coupled with Brown’s 10-yard gain on a rushing play and Lloyd’s 21-yard quarterback draw to get inside the red zone. A pass interference penalty on Pea Ridge moved the ball inside the ten and set up Lee’s touchdown with 2:42 left in the game.
Pea Ridge recovered an onside kick and used three runs by Winn to get in position to down the ball as the clock ran out.
“That’s a good football team,” Pea Ridge coach Stephen Neal said of the Wolves (1-4, 0-2 4A-1). “There was a whole bunch of people, who played tonight. We got a lot of our developing kids playing time which will help us down the road.”
“Lincoln gave us fits all night long. Their quarterback is an outstanding quarterback. Lincoln did a good job against our defense tonight. Their quarterback threw really good and their receivers were catching the ball. We had them covered really well at times and they still made plays. They played really well and so did we. We’ll continue to get better. We’re still gaining steam. We’re not as good as we want to be, but we’ll get there. Our effort has been fantastic in games and in practice.”
Lincoln goes on the road to Berryville Friday.