Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Prairie Grove Football Team Holds Umberson In Check
Lincoln’s offense struggled against a tenacious Prairie Grove defense in the regular season finale, won 56-25 by the Tigers Friday.
The Wolves’ main offensive threat, senior wide receiver Braden Umberson, who took several direct snaps in the Wildcat Formation, did not find the end zone. He did contribute to Lincoln’s only two scoring drives.
Lincoln tried to keep the ball away from Prairie Grove’s potent offense. The Wolves tried an onside kick to start the game, but Ethan Guenther recovered for the Tigers. Nine plays later Anthony Johnson scored the first of his three rushing touchdowns to put the Tigers ahead.
Trying to keep pace, Lincoln went for it on fourth down, but was unsuccessful. On the next play, Prairie Grove quarterback J.D. Elder passed to tight end DeMarkus Cooper for a 31-yard touchdown. Ben Beason booted the extra-point kick and Prairie Grove led 14-0 with 5:21 left in the first period.
Lincoln recovered an onside kick and drove 50 yards in 14 plays. Umberson caught a 12 yard pass on fourth-and-7. The drive was kept alive on another fourth down by a roughing-the-kicker penalty against Prairie Grove on a missed field goal attempt. Caleb Lloyd ran for an 8-yard touchdown and Paul Frogg kicked the extra-point to narrow Prairie Grove’s lead to 14-7 with 1:59 left in the first quarter.
Johnson added scoring runs of 4 yards in the second and 25 yards in the fourth quarter. He also caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from Elder in the second. Prairie Grove led 42-13 at halftime.
Lincoln received the third quarter kickoff and mounted an 81-yard drive featuring four runs by Umberson. Lloyd passed to Hunter Phelan, who broke a tackle and went 38 yards for a touchdown to trim the Tiger lead to 42-19. Prairie Grove came back with Colin Bryant’s 56-yard run for a touchdown and the remainder of the game was played with a running clock.
Lincoln scored twice on defense. Phelan returned a fumble recovery 37 yards for the Wolves’ final touchdown and Cordelle Whetsell returned an interception 85 yards for a touchdown.
Umberson finished with 93 pass receptions for 1,105 yards and 12 touchdowns on the season. He averaged 11.9-yards-percatch and also ran the football 72 times for 310 yards, averaging 4.3 yards-a-carry. Despite those numbers, Lincoln coach Don Harrison doubted Umberson will get enough votes to be named All-State.
“I’ve been in this conference four years now and if you don’t finish in the top three they won’t vote for you,” Harrison said.
Votes or no votes, Umberson gave a good account of himself on the football field for the Lincoln Wolves as a senior.