First-Half Blast Rockets Tigers

Prairie Grove Roars Past Gravette 44-19

PRAIRIE GROVE -- Scoring on every first-half possession except one, Prairie Grove built a commanding 36-13 lead at intermission over Gravette and went on to nail down a second straight conference win.

An extremely-effective passing game has become the rage at Prairie Grove with the Tigers, a traditional Wing-T running team, demonstrating big-play aerial strike capability. Senior quarterback Sam Dodd threw back-to-back touchdown passes of 63 and 59 yards as Prairie Grove exploded for 22 second-quarter points and never looked back in Friday's 44-19 win on "Gold-Out" night in honor of freshman Jarren Sorters, who is fighting cancer with an entire community backing him.

The coaching staff sported Pray4Jarren T-shirts as did many fans boldly proclaiming, "We came to win,

to win,

to conquer,

to thrive,

we came to win

Cause no one fights alone."

Friday's victory keeps Prairie Grove in first place among 4A-1 teams with a 2-0 league mark. The Tigers have reeled off four consecutive victories since a season-opening 28-12 loss at Farmington. Big plays have become a trademark of the 2015 team and on Friday Prairie Grove showcased their offensive talent behind the field generalship of Dodd. On the Tigers' first two drives, Dodd hooked up with Dylan Soehner twice on second-and-10 to move the chains. He also threw complete to Isaac Disney for 9 yards on a slant pattern and the Tigers went up 14-0 on a pair of Blake Faulk touchdown rushes.

In the second period Gravette scored on a 42-yard touchdown pass by Lion signal-caller Bryce Moorman. Dodd then engineered an 83-yard scoring drive that reached the end zone in four plays. He ran for 8 yards, then Solomon Walker picked up 17 more on a double hand-off. Facing first-and-15 after a penalty, Dodd executed perfectly rolling out to his right on a long-developing play. Concerned that he might run the ball, the Lions froze momentarily and Dodd saw Gavin Heltemes breaking long. Patiently, he waited until the right moment, then threw a touchdown pass to Heltemes that went 63 yards.

Despite an offsides flag thrown against the Tiger defense, Gravette was forced to punt after three plays. The Tigers started at their own 46, then went backwards 5 yards with a false start. Offensive coordinator John Elder sent Faulk deep as a pass receiver and he thrilled Tiger fans by outrunning Gravette's coverage, making a catch and running the ball in for a 59-yard touchdown. Faulk ran in the 2-point conversion putting the Tigers ahead, 28-7, with 8:03 remaining in the first half.

Gravette's hopes of getting back in the contest were dashed with a fumble on the kickoff which was recovered by the Tigers and Dodd called out signals from the Lion 24 before throwing towards Soehner, who was held up on the sideline as the ball sailed overhead. Pass interference was called and Prairie Grove was awarded a first-down by penalty at the Lion 12. Faulk scored from 3 yards out before Dodd passed to Heltemes coming open on the right side. His momentum briefly carried him out of the end zone as he curled back to make the reception, but Heltemes wasted little time in stepping back across the goal line to tack on the 2-point conversion.

Gravette cut into Prairie Grove's 36-7 lead in the last 6:09. The Lions drove 82 yards using a series of screen passes, setting up Jordan Burnett alone on the right flank with triplets to the left. Burnett hauled in a short Moorman pass and went 35 yards which paved the way for Jackson Soule's stretched out grab of an 8-yard Moorman touchdown pass. A botched extra-point left Prairie Grove with a 36-13 advantage which was the score at halftime.

Both teams added one touchdown in the second half but Prairie Grove's big first-half presented too large of a deficit for Gravette to overcome and the Tigers won easily, 44-19. The loss dropped Gravette, which beat Lincoln in week four, to 1-1 in conference play. On Friday, Prairie Grove hosts Shiloh Christian which is also 2-0 in the league after winning over Berryville. The game will determine which team remains in first place.

Sports on 10/07/2015