Caden Elsik Comes Out Of Elsewhere

FARMINGTON — With Pea Ridge defenders keying on Farmington tailback Devonte Donovan the junior Cardinal offense looked to Caden Elsik, who came out of elsewhere to run for 117 yards and two touchdowns.

Elsik put the first score of the game on the board for Farmington with a 15-yard run in the first quarter and added an insurance 1-yard touchdown plunge following a muffed punt bookending the junior Cardinals’ 28-22 hard-fought triumph over Pea Ridge Thursday at Allen Holland Field.

Elsik’s final touchdown was set up by the junior Cardinal defense following a 31-yard punt that was unreturnable, pinning the junior Blackhawks inside their 20. Trailing 22-14 with 4:41 left in the contest, Pea Ridge began at its own 16. Farmington defensive lineman Jackson Boudrey knocked down a pass. The junior Blackhawks tried to set up a screen on second down, but the pass fell incomplete. On third down, Marcus Clevenger deflected a pass in the secondary with the same result — another incompletion for Pea Ridge.

Disaster struck the junior Blackhawks when the punter couldn’t handle the snap and was tackled at the two by a swarm of fast-charging Farmington defenders eager to get to the ball.

“We talk about that, we need to watch the punt and when it’s ball or something we’re going and attacking it,” Farmington coach Cody Napier said. “That’s exactly what our boys did. We practiced that this week.”

An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Pea Ridge moved the ball to the one, where Elsik carried it over the goal line. A 2-point conversion failed and Farmington settled for a 28-14 lead at the 4:04 mark of the final period; but the game was far from over.

An offsides flag on the kickoff cost Farmington, which had a deep kickoff and good coverage on the initial kick. On the rekick, Pea Ridge got a fine return of 27 yards and started in junior Cardinal territory at the 48. Six plays later the junior Blackhawks scored on a 15-yard pass that was nearly intercepted by Farmington with a defender just missing a read on the ball. Instead Pea Ridge’s receiver raced in untouched. The junior Blackhawks ran a jet sweep left to right scoring a 2-point conversion on an inside handoff and run up the middle. That cut Farmington’s lead to 28-22 with 2:35 remaining.

Pea Ridge got the ball back with an interception on third-and-10. They moved the ball to Farmington’s 27 where the junior Cardinals had chances for interceptions on first and second down. Both Elsik and Tate Pickens got a hand on the ball, but neither came up with a pick. A screen pass fell incomplete and on thirdand-15 Pea Ridge suffered the same fate Farmington had earlier with junior Cardinal Kyler Petree’s interception halting the drive.

Farmington held Pea Ridge to 38 yards rushing for the game on 18 attempts.

“That’s our defensive philosophy, stop the run, defend the pass. We did a good job of stopping the run tonight, very proud of them,” said Napier.

Pea Ridge tested Farmington through the air.

“Our secondary did a good job, we were covering, we were giving them some of the stuff underneath,” Napier said. “They started going where we were stopping the run so they opened up the pass and we had a couple that were really close. Towards the end our boys just were in position and got the pick and kind of sealed the deal and end the game there. Very proud of them, they stepped up when we needed them to step up and held them there.”

Donovan raised Farmington spirits when he punched the ball in from two yards out with only three seconds left in the first half. The score put the junior Cardinals up 22-6.

“Big time going into the half, that was big time getting in there and putting one in the end zone right before you go to the half,” Napier said.

Pea Ridge trimmed Farmington’s lead to 22-14 with short rushing touchdown and 2-point conversion in the third quarter setting the stage for fourth quarter heroics.

“Towards the end some things didn’t go our way and we kept digging and kept digging and our defense did a good job towards the end, they played tough,” Napier said.

Alec Duncan led the defense with 4 solos, 3 assists, and 2 tackles for loss while Clevenger had 6 solo tackles.

MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER Farmington freshman Alec Duncan tackles the junior Blackhawks’ punter on a mishandled snap inside the 5-yard line. Farmington converted the turnover on downs into what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown in a tough contest against Pea Ridge on Thursday, Sept. 13. The junior Cardinals were victorious, 28-22, in a game that wasn’t decided until a Farmington interception in the closing seconds.