Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Dardanelle Steals Win From Jr. Tigers
PRAIRIE GROVE — Mistakes cost Prairie Grove as Dardanelle recovered an onside kick and scored the winning touchdown with seven seconds left in Thursday’s 32-26 junior Tiger football home loss.
The errors were varied: failure to convert extrapoints, blown pass coverages on defense, a ‘pick-six’ thrown by the junior Tiger quarterback and a botched fielding of an onside kick which allowed Dardanelle to get the ball back with 1:49 remaining in the fourth quarter and drive for the winning touchdown that came on a 9-yard pass with 7 seconds to go.
Prairie Grove took a 26-18 lead on Rhett Marrell’s 4-yard touchdown plunge and Conner Hubbs’ 2-point quarterback keeper well executed after faking a handoff. That would be the junior Tigers’ only successful conversion of the game. The score was set up by Gavin Butler’s 50-yard interception return to the Sand Lizards’ 13.
A 19-yard return on the ensuing kickoff gave Dardanelle good field position and they capitalized going 56 yards in four plays all through the air, then added a 2-point quarterback run to knot the score at 26-26 with 53 seconds on the clock.
Prairie Grove coach John Elder shouldered blame for the loss acknowledging momentum shifted when the junior Tigers were a man short on defense and Dardanelle found a receiver uncovered for a 93-yard touchdown that cut Prairie Grove’s lead in half at 12-6 going into the half.
“That was my fault. We had a kid not get out there on defense. I didn’t call time-out. That’s a poor job on my part,” Elder said. “They scored there on an open receiver. I’ll take the blame for that one.”
Prairie Grove freshman halfback Ethan Miller ran the football well against Dardanelle. Despite Miller’s sensational efforts including two rushing touchdowns, a pair of blocked extra-point kicks plus numerous tackles on defense and special teams; the junior Tigers came up short.
Miller sailed in from the edge blocking P.A.T. kicks twice, which kept the score tied at 12-12 with 3:21 to go in the third following a Sand Lizard interception runback for a touchdown; and at 18-18 on the heels of 62-yard pass play that scored Dardanelle’sfirst of three touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
Miller got to the ball so fast he nearly yanked the pigskin out of the hands of the holder before the kicker’s approach on the second block.
“That was big, real big,” Elder said. “Those PATs were big, it helped them not to be ahead each time they scored.”
Miller broke loose for a first quarter touchdown run giving Prairie Grove an early 6-0 lead. The junior Tigers took advantage of a 5-yard punt and drove 43 yards in 7 plays capped by Marrell’s 17-yard fullback dive to go up 12-0.
Matthew Velasco recovered a fumbled Dardanelle pitch and then playing tight end on offense caught a short pass and rumbled 50 yards to the Sand Lizard 20 with 1:35 to play in the first half. Prairie Grove fumbled the ball away inside the 10 which set up the Sand Lizards’ 93-yard touchdown play changing the game.
“Offensively, we had problems, fumbles, turnovers, an interception ran back for a touchdown,” Elder said, referring to a 40-yard ‘pick six’ that allowed Dardanelle to tie the game at 12-12.
Still, the junior Tigers had a chance marching 74 yards in 8 plays to regain a lead of 18-12 on Miller’s 27-yard run around left end; and replicating the feat following Butler’s interception return.
“We executed real well on that last drive, but we’ve got to play the whole game. It’s all four quarters that matter,” Elder said. “We had them. We scored twice quick and we were getting ready to score again when we fumbled it. That turned the whole thing right there.”
The junior Tigers (1-1) play on the road at Pottsville Thursday in their final nonconference game. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. at Prairie Grove’s Tiger Den Stadium.