Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Junior Tigers Take Down Saints 36-0 On Oct. 3
PRAIRIE GROVE — Prairie Grove stormed past Shiloh Christian, 36-0, on the junior Saints’ home field at Champions Stadium in Springdale on Oct. 3.
Rhett Marrell scored on a pair of runs of 5 and 8 yards, which with Ethan Miller’s 2-point conversion run tacked on, gave the junior Tigers a 14-0 lead at halftime.
“Rhett Marrell had some big runs. He was just breaking tackles and carrying people. The touchdown heading north, I think it was in the second quarter, he carried a couple of people in the end zone. He was just wanting it,” said Prairie Grove head junior high coach John Elder. “It was impressive. He had a great night, too.”
Elder classified getting a shutout win on Shiloh Christian’s home field as sweet, especially after last season.
“Last year was tough. We thought we could have beat them in the conference championship. We just had a couple of mistakes in the game that cost us and we lost the game, that championship to them so we were definitely wanting this one to get them this time,” Elder said. “It felt really good. That’s kind of nice, too.”
Prairie Grove invoked the mercy-rule which is a rarity for Shiloh Christian to experience, particularly playing at home in Champions Stadium at Springdale. The junior Tigers put three touchdowns on the scoreboard during the third quarter.
Miller broke loose on a 46-yard touchdown sprint. A 2-point run failed, but Marrell soon added another 1-yard plunge. This time Gavin Butler ran in the 2-point conversion pushing Prairie Grove’s lead to 28-0.
Later in the third Miller exploded for a 61-yard scoring gain leaving all sorts of Saint defenders in his wake.
“It was meant to be a sweep and he found a little seam there and cut back against a few players and their top player he kind of juked him. He was one of their last players (to have a shot at Miller). He kind of juked and cut back left. It was a real impressive long, kind of a long run, too,” Elder said. “The most impressive thing was he was pretty tired just from playing. That was a really hard-fought game that the guys played and he was huffing and puffing. He ended up cramping up in the end zone after he scored because he had been running so hard playing. It was a good run by him.”
Marrell carried the ball in for a 2-point conversion activating the sportsmanship rule with a running clock.
Elder said the team hasn’t gotten as much conditioning as he would like due to scheduling, but they gave their all on the field.
“We don’t have the luxury of time. We practice in the morning before school. We don’t have a lot of time so we don’t get much conditioning. Of course, our games aren’t long like high school. We only have eight minute quarters so that helps a little bit. Yeah, those guys played hard. They were all tired and left everything out there on the field,” Elder said.
Defensive Containment
Elder praised the careful game preparation of defensive coordinator Mason Pinkley, noting “No. 10, (Shiloh Christian’s Sam Alexander) he’s so good that he can almost score at will against you sometimes so we left our guys in there and let them play and let them finish out the game,” Elder said. “We subbed a few guys in, but not a lot. We just didn’t go wholesale.”
Pinkley appreciated the response from the junior Tigers as the defensive coordinator coached them to shut down Shiloh Christian’s offense.
“We put a lot of time and effort into the scheme, the kids really bought in on film study and played their hearts out,” Pinkley said. “They knew what to do and they did it as hard and as well as anybody I’ve ever had.”
Like Elder, Pinkley said a bitter taste of two defeats at the hands of the junior Saints last season motivated the junior Tigers.
“We had a little bit of a chip on our shoulder because they beat us twice last year, once in the regular season and once in the conference championship. The kids were well-motivated. I didn’t have to do much.”
Pinkley praised all three levels of defense noting the defensive ends avoided getting out-leveraged and maintained their containment assignments. He said Shiloh’s quarterback may be the best athlete he’s ever seen in junior high, but the junior Tigers never allowed him to get loose.
“We did a pretty good job of forcing him to the sidelines,” Pinkley said.
At defensive tackle, freshman Ryder Orr held his own against the Saints’ offensive line.
“Ryder Orr is a big kid and he played hard and he probably played more snaps than he needed to, but he didn’t want to come out of the game and I didn’t want him out,” Pinkley said.
Another player playing every defensive down from inside linebacker was Marrell.
“He played all snaps offensive and defensive,” Pinkley said. “He played really well, played hard.”
Miller, the speed guy, matched up 1-on-1 when Shiloh Christian split their quarterback Alexander out as a wide receiver.
“He did a good job of denying them their best athlete on the field,” Pinkley said. “Our inside linebackers played great. Conner Whetsell contained and hit. It was awesome.”
PRAIRIE GROVE 36, SHILOH CHRISTIAN 0
P. Grove 8 6 22 0 — 36
S. Christian 0 0 0 0 — 0
FIRST QUARTER THIRD QUARTER
Prairie Grove — Rhett Marrell 5-yard run (Ethan Miller run).
SECOND QUARTER
Prairie Grove — Rhett Marrell 8-yard run (run failed).
Prairie Grove — Ethan Miller 46yard run (run failed). Prairie Grove — Rhett Marrell 1-yard run (Gavin Butler run). Prairie Grove — Ethan Miller 61yard run (Rhett Marrell run).