Lions race past Huntsville, 43-14
GRAVETTE — The Gravette Lions held back a mild Huntsville threat to roll on to a 43-14 4A-1 Conference victory at Lion Stadium.
The Lions (3-3, 2-1) got some help from a big bounce against the Eagles (0-6, 0-3) in the second quarter when, leading 130, Gravette quarterback Rhett Hilger’s pass was deflected by a Huntsville defensive back into the hands of Gravette receiver James Marta at the Huntsville 45-yard line. Marta took it the rest of the way for the touchdown and, after Liam McGuire’s successful extra-point attempt, the Lions were in front, 20-0.
“That was a fortunate bounce for us,” said Gravette head coach Kelby Bohannon. “We’re glad to get those. They haven’t always gone our way but we’re glad to see that it did and that we were able to capitalize on it.”
Huntsville head coach Matt Williams said, “I thought when we made a great play on the ball and tipped it up and their guy catches it and runs it in and scores … that took a little bit of the wind out of our sails.”
The Eagles proceeded to lose their next possession on a fumble but held the Lions scoreless the rest of the half, keeping the deficit at 20-0 heading into the intermission.
Huntsville opened the second half with another defensive stop, then found its way into the end zone on its first drive, which was capped by a 45-yard touchdown run by Dugger Tipton with 8:24 left in the third. Phillip Litterell’s PAT made it a 20-7 game.
The two teams then traded punts and the game seemed to fall into a stalemate with neither wanting to grab the momentum.
As for his Lions, Bohannon said, “I think we kind of lulled ourselves to sleep at times and maybe took our foot off the gas. But give credit to Huntsville because they continued to play.”
The Lions then regained control with a six-play, 66-yard drive punctuated by a Gabe Holmes 3-yard scoring run with 2:27 left in the third. McGuire added the PAT for a 27-7 Gravette lead.
Two plays into the fourth quarter the Eagles recovered a fumble by the Lions at the Gravette 16 and, on second down, Tipton slipped through the Gravette defense for an 11-yard score. Litterell’s kick was again true and, with 10:42 left in the third, the Eagles had trimmed the deficit to 27-14.
“I thought we fought back a little bit in the second half and fought hard to stay in it,” said Williams. “Gravette’s got a good football team. They’re much improved, and they’ve got some strong kids. You can tell their linemen are bigger and stronger. They played a really good game.”
The Eagles then forced another punt, but the kick rolled out of bounds at the Huntsville 1, pinning the Eagles deep in their own territory.
Two plays later, the big kick paid off when Tipton was tackled in the end zone for a safety, putting Gravette in front by a 29-14 margin with 8:32 left in the game.
“I thought we had a lot of momentum until they pinned us deep and got the safety,” said Williams. “That was a big turning point in the second half.”
Feeding off the momentum, the Lions added a 10-yard scoring carry by Holmes with 7:28 remaining and an 18-yard TD run by Josiah McGee with 2:51 left. McGuire made both PATs for the 43-14 final.
When asked about the message he sent to his players after the victory, Bohannon said he told them “to just enjoy it,” adding, “We’ve worked really hard over the last several years to get to this point and I think we’re finally coming into the fruits of our labor. We want them to enjoy it but not be satisfied. We want to build off of this and get momentum as we go further into the season.”
The Lions scored on their first possession of the game on a 35-yard run by Holmes and McGuire PAT with 9:07 left in the opening quarter.
After forcing a punt later in the second, the Lions put together a six-play drive that covered 52 yards for their second score, a 1-yard sneak by Hilger for a 13-0 advantage with 6:40 to play in the first half.
The Lions rolled up 229 yards on 37 carries with Hilger rushing 19 times for 102, Holmes eight for 69 and McGee nine for 33. Will Betz added 25 yards on one carry.
Hilger completed nine of 21 pass attempts for 181 yards with Marta catching two for 73 yards, Betz three for 50, Holmes three for 36 and Mason Meeker two for 22.
Huntsville gained 139 yards on 35 carries with Tipton accounting for 107 on 21 carries.
Eagle quarterback Amos Mayes completed eight of 21 passes for 54 yards.
The Lions travel to Berryville for their next game, while the Eagles play at Lincoln.