Prairie Grove Demolishes Gravette 55-0

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

— The Prairie Grove Tigers claimed the outright 4A-1 conference title with a resounding 55-0 victory over the Gravette Lions on Friday at Prairie Grove’s Tiger Den Field.

The win preserved the Tiger’s undefeated season (9-0, 7-0), gives Prairie Grove one of the numberone seeds and secures a home game, for at least three weeks if the Tigers continue to win, for the state playoff s beginning this week.

With a capacity crowd in attendance celebrating Senior night, the Tigers put an exclamation point on their blemish-free regular season with a nearly flawless display of football domination. Prairie Grove’s potent offense, combined with their teeth-rattling defense, helped the Tigers build a 21-0 lead before 6 minutes had run off the game clock and a 48-0 lead by intermission.

“We seemed pretty focused,” said Tigers’ coach Danny Abshier. “Then, we made some plays and it kind of snowballed from there.”

Weston Bartholomew, who had 2 rushing touchdowns and 1 receiving touchdown capped off the Tigers’ 79-yard opening drive with a 26-yard run, bouncing like a pinball off Lion defenders until he found the end zone. Landon Allen tacked on the fi rst of his career high 7 P.A.T.’s, giving the Tigers a 7-0 lead.

Prairie Grove’s defense, highlighted by the play of defensive lineman Creyton Ledbetter, took center stage on Gravette’s first two possessions of the game. On the Lion’s first series, Ledbetter tipped a pass which allowed Logan Bartholomew to intercept the throw and take it to the house 22 yards away, giving the Tigers the 14-0 advantage. A bobbled snap by the Lion’s punter on their second possession bounded into the end zone and wasrecovered by Ledbetter for a touchdown, which gave the Tigers a 21-0 advantage with 6:44 left in the opening qtr.

A Nick Sugg interception and 44-yard return early in the second frame, gave the Tigers the ball at the Lion’s 19. Prairie Grove then proceeded to lose yardage, and faced a fourth and 25 from the 35-yard line.

Forgoing a long fi eld goal attempt, the Tigers instead elected to roll the dice. The result was Cooper Winters hitting Weston Bartholomew in stride, down the middle of the field for a 35-yard touchdown pitch and catch, swelling the lead to 28-0. Winters had a near perfect day passing the ball, fi nishing the contest with 120 yards and 1 touchdown on a 5 of 6 eff ort.

A Jacob Kahl fumble recovery on the next Lion’s possession, led to a 20 yard touchdown run by J.D. Speed on the fi rst play following the turnover, which increased the lead to 35-0. Weston Bartholomewpunched in a 3-yard touchdown with 7:29 to play before halftime to make the lead 42-0, and Jacob Storlie, on in relief of Winters, scampered 35 yards on a quarterback keeper, which extended the Tiger’s advantage to 48-0 with 39 seconds before intermission.

With the aptly named “mercy-rule (continuouslyrunning clock)” in place and Tiger starters spectating from the sidelines, Prairie Grove was still able to maintain the defensive shutout. The Tigers added one more touchdown when Eli Lopez punched it in from 12 yards out with 3:17 left in the game, which brought the final score to 55-0, capping off the Tigers’undefeated season.

“It feels awesome,” Kahl said. “It feels like it did when we went undefeated in junior high, only a lot better.”

The Tigers will host the Crossett Eagles, the fifth place finisher in the 4A-8, on Friday in the fi rst round of the state playoff s. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Sports, Pages 8 on 11/07/2012