PRAIRIE GROVE -- Prairie Grove manufactured a scoring drive when it needed it the most Friday night.
The Tigers, who had seen an 18-point lead evaporate down to two points in the fourth quarter, marched 69 yards for a score with 1 minute, 25 seconds remaining, and that score iced a 34-24 victory over Ashdown in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs at Tiger Stadium.
Prairie Grove 34, Ashdown 24
Ashdown^0^6^6^12^—^24
Prairie Grove^6^12^8^8^—^34
First Quarter
Prairie Grove — Soehner 10 pass from Dodd (pass failed), 4:39.
Second Quarter
Prairie Grove — Faulk 4 run (run failed), 9:04.
Prairie Grove — Johnson 10 run (pass failed), 4:03.
Ashdown — Hill 2 run (pass failed), 1:00.
Third Quarter
Ashdown — Hill 1 run (run failed), 5:31.
Prairie Grove — Heltemes 20 pass from Dodd (Faulk run), 0:49.
Fourth Quarter
Ashdown — Green 1 run (run failed), 10:23.
Ashdown — Green 10 run (pass failed) 6:10.
Prairie Grove — Walker 1 run (Faulk run), 1:25.
^Ashdown^Prairie Grove (6 letters max)
First Downs^11^25
Rushes-Yards^26-156^59-324
Passing Yards^124^135
Comp-Att-Int^9-20-0^9-18-2
Punts^3-35^0-0
Fumbles-Lost^2-0^0-0
Penalties-Yards^5-40^4-38
Individual Statistics
Rushing — Ashdown, Green 11-93, Northcross 7-40, Hill 5-7, Bishop 2-14, Threadgill 1-2. Prairie Grov, Faulk 24-144, Dodd 10-41, Sam 8-41, C. Walker 8-36, Heltemes 5-34, S. Walker 2-19, Johnson 2-9.
Passing — Ashdown, Hill 9-19-0-124, Bishop 0-1-0-0. Prairie Grove, Dodd 9-18-2-135.
Receiving — Ashdown, Solomon 2-54, Green 2-21, Bishop 2-20, Northcross 2-17, Alexander 1-12. Prairie Grove, Soehner 5-65, Disney 2-46, Heltemes 2-24.
Missed Field Goals — None.
"I'm glad we didn't cramp up. We hadn't played a full game in a little while," said Prairie Grove coach Danny Abshier. "Ashdown gave us a war."
Cole Walker's 1-yard plunge and Blake Faulk's two-point conversion set the final score as the Tigers improved to 11-1 overall. Prairie Grove will host Star City at 7 p.m. Friday in the Class 4A quarterfinals after Star City rallied to win at Pocahontas 33-28. Had Pocahontas won, the Tigers would have had to travel to Northeast Arkansas.
"Getting to play at home again that's way better than traveling across the state," Abshier said.
Ashdown pulled within 26-24 with 6:10 left in the game on an 18-yard run by Tre Green, but Cameron Solomon was unable to hang on to the two-point conversion, which would have tied the game.
Prairie Grove took over at their own 31-yard line needing to run the clock and get some insurance points.
The Tigers kept the ball on the ground the whole way.
Sam Dodd ran for 11 yards to pick up a first down, and Faulk followed up with runs of 25 and 14 yards to the Ashdown 16-yard line.
Walker ran for four to the 12, and Faulk picked up another first down with a seven-yard run down to the five. Dodd kept on a quarterback keeper to the one-yard line, and two plays later Walker bulled it in for a 32-24 lead with 1:25 left. Faulk ran in the two-point conversion to set the final score.
The Tiger's defense, which gave up 280 yards of offense, held Ashdown to a turnover on downs, and the offense returned to end the game with victory formation.
"They're a great football team," said Ashdown coach Matt Richardson. "I mean they're an 11-1 football team. They finished the job off -- great football team."
Prairie Grove led 18-0 in the first half after scoring three touchdowns.
Sam Dodd found big, tight end Dylan Soehner for a 10-yard pass for the Tigers' first score and a 6-0 lead in the first quarter. Soehner caught three passes for 37 yards on the drive, which took 12 plays and covered 89 yards.
"People don't realize what a key he is," Abshier said of Soehner. "He is a huge key for us."
The Tigers defense forced an Ashdown punt and Prairie Grove took over at its own 20-yard line for its next drive. Walker ran three times for 12 yards, and Dodd rushed 19 yards into Ashdown territory.
Dodd hit Soehner for 17 yards down to the 15, and Sol Walker rushed for 11 yards down to the 4, which set up Faulk's four-yard TD run with 9:04 left in the second quarter.
The Tigers forced a third straight punt from Ashdown and punched in another score with 4:03 left in the first half, and the Tigers did it all on the ground.
Faulk had a 10-yard carry and Kyle Sam had 35 yards on three carries on the drive. Anthony Johnson scored from 10 yards out to give the Tigers a 18-0 lead.
Ashdown (8-4) cut the lead to 18-6 at halftime on a Jaden Mills touchdown run and, after an interception, pulled within 18-12 in the third quarter on another touchdown run by Hill.
The Tigers answered with a scoring drive to go up 26-12 in the third on a 20-yard pass from Dodd to Gavin Heltemes and a two-point conversion from Faulk.
But Ashdown would answer twice.
Tre Green scored a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter, and his second TD pulled the Panthers within 26-24 with 6:10 left to play. Richardson was proud of his team for fighting back.
"We got it down to that two-point conversion and dropped the ball in the end zone," said Ashdown coach Matt Richardson. "We should have tied the ballgame. It hits him in the hands and he should have caught the ball, but shoot he's a 17-year-old kid and kids do that right? But like you said we're very proud. We were down 18-0. Three scores down. ... Shoot, they fought back. Very proud of them."
Prairie Grove finished with 459 yards of offense, including 324 rushing yards on 59 carries. Faulk led with 24 carries for 144 yards.
"Before the game we said eat your bananas and drink your pickle juice, because you're going to carry it more times," Abshier said of Faulk. "It was tough yardage."
Dodd went 9 of 18 for 135 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Dodd also rushed for 41 yards on 10 carries.
"Sam Dodd made a couple of humongous runs for first downs," Abshier said.
Hill passed for 124 yards, while Green ran for 93 yards on 11 carries to lead Ashdown's offense.
Sports on 11/25/2015