PRAIRIE GROVE --
-- The last three classes have each outdone their predecessors when it comes to winning varsity games in the annals of Prairie Grove football.
Prairie Grove 34, Berryville 6
Berryville^0^0^0^6^—^6
Prairie Grove^14^7^13^0^—^34
First Quarter
Prairie Grove — Anthony Johnson 45-yard run (Ben Beason kick), 10:35
Prairie Grove — Stone Bryant 11-yard pass from J.D. Elder (Ben Beason kick), 3:55
Second Quarter
Prairie Grove — Anthony Johnson 33-yard run (Ben Beason kick), 9:58
Third Quarter
Prairie Grove — Aaron Preston 13-yard run (Ben Beason kick), 6:02
Prairie Grove — Garrett Heltemes 11-yard run (kick failed), 4:30
Fourth Quarter
Berryville — Cale Heithold 1-yard run (kick failed), 11:55
TEAM STATISTICS
Prairie Grove^Berryville
First downs^20^14
Rushes-yards^43-330^46-107
Rush average^7.67^2.33
Passing yards^53^65
Comp-Att-Int^3-11-0^3-13-1
Fumbles-Lost^0-0^1-1
Penalties-Yards^2-20^5-25
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Prairie Grove, Anthony Johnson 10-147, Garrett Heltemes 6-81, Aaron Preston 7-46, Jared Harger 7-30, Trevor King 3-9, Kaine Caswell 1-8, Dustin Burton 2-8, Colin Bryant 2-8, Ethan Scates 1-1, J.D. Elder 4-(-8). Berryville, Charles Archer 18-76, Brett Parsons 11-37, Isaac Brown 4-10, Cale Heithold 12-10, Ariel Orlellana 1- (-26).
PASSING—Prairie Grove, J.D. Elder 3-11-53-1-0. Berryville, Cale Heithold 3-13-65-0-1.
RECEIVING—Prairie Grove, Stone Bryant 2-43, Dustin Burton 1-10. Berryville, Byran Mcintosh 1-31, Wyatt Poe 1-30.
MISSED FIELD GOALS—Prairie Grove, Ben Beason 27 yards.
Classes with most football wins at Prairie Grove
Rank^Class^Sophomore Record^Junior Record^Senior Record^Total Wins
No. 1 — Class of 2017^13-2^12-1^8-1^33
No. 2 — Class of 2017^7-4^13-2^12-1^32
No. 3 — Class of 2015^10-2^7-4^13-2^30
No. 4 — Class of 2012^4-6^8-4^12-1^24
The Class of 2018 is no exception. Friday's 34-6 win at Berryville lifted the current Tigers into first place with 33 total victories, one more than the Class of 2017, which had 32 total wins. Prior to that, the Class of 2016 which concluded their career with the school's only appearance to date in the state finals, held the school record with 30 wins.
Prairie Grove coach Danny Abshier doesn't keep up with which class has the most wins, yet admits he could see how that could happen. The Class of 2018 benefitted from the success of the last two senior classes because those win-loss records -- 13-2 in 2016 and 12-1 last season accounted for 25 wins by the Class of 2018. Not withstanding the Class of 2018 contributed as sophomores to the 2016 run to the state finals with Anthony Johnson, John David Elder, Tyler Davidson, DeMarkus Cooper, Dustin Burton, Stone Bryant, Colin Bryant, Stormi Hankins, Joe Reynolds, Will Hawkins, Landon Waldrop, Clay Spinks and James Mayers on the roster.
The same were core players last year as the Tigers advanced to the state semifinals for the third time since 2012. This season those 13 key players remain dedicated to the gridiron and the tradition head coach Danny Abshier has established with long-time assistants John Elder and Craig Laird at Prairie Grove. Newcomers to the Tiger staff, Mason Pinkley and Nik Paroubek, are part of the legacy. With this nucleus of coaches and players Prairie Grove has become one of the premier programs in Arkansas at the 4A level.
The Class of 2018 has been bolstered by a trio of classmates. Speedy Aaron Preston (5-8, 145) returned to the program after a one-year hiatus as a junior and switched from halfback to fullback where he earned a starting position as a senior. Ben Beason (5-9, 175) traded golf as a junior for football as a senior. He adds a dimension as a place-kicker and also plays guard on the offensive line and frequently disrupts offenses from his defensive end spot. Rylan Shrum (5-8, 154) came out as a senior, playing wide receiver and cornerback.
Berryville coach Doug Shott knew his team was an underdog coming into Friday's contest against No. 5 ranked Prairie Grove (8-1, 5-1 4A-1). As the school prepared for senior night, "great effort" was what Shott sought from his Bobcats against Prairie Grove on an emotional night.
"We talk about playing with great effort every time out," Shott said. "Our record (1-8, 0-6 4A-1) is obviously not what we want it to be. It's the last senior high football game that will be played at Clark Field. We're getting a new football stadium. We talked about it all week."
Former football head coach Ronnie Clark won 211 games at Berryville between 1964 and 1994. Shott wasn't sure, but thinks the new stadium may also bear the name Ronnie Clark Field. Ground is expected to be broken in December and the new stadium projected to ready for the 2018 fall football season.
"We're seeing a good opponent," Shott acknowledged. "They are well-coached. We want to play with great effort."
After giving up a 4-play, 53-yard scoring drive to Prairie Grove capped by Johnson's 45-yard scoot to the end zone on the opening possession of the game, the Bobcats played hard. They held the ball 10 plays and advanced 47 yards to the Tiger 21. Burton sacked Bobcat quarterback Cale Heithold to bring up fourth-and-19 and a Tiger defensive back wisely dropped an interception inside the five. The smart play gave the Tigers good field position at their own 33.
Prairie Grove went 67 yards lickety-split. Garrett Heltmes had a 16-yard run before Stone Bryant caught passes of 32 and 11 yards from J.D. Elder. The latter was a touchdown and Beason's kick put the Tigers ahead, 14-0. In the second quarter Johnson broke a 33-yard run to the house following Stone Bryant's interception.
Junior Chuckie Edwards, a transfer from Ozark, Mo., caused and recovered a Bobcat fumble, but Berryville twice forced a turnover on downs limiting the Tigers to 21 first half points. Prairie Grove scored twice in the third quarter when Preston's 13-yard run capped a 72-yard march. On the next series a fourth down a snap sailed over the head of Berryville punter Ariel Orlellana, who was smothered at the Bobcat 11 after losing 26 yards on the play.
Heltemes promptly punched the ball in and the Tigers led 34-0.
Heithold, a 6-0, 176-pound sophomore starting quarterback, completed a 30-yard pass to Wyatt Poe to set up the Bobcats' lone touchdown in the fourth quarter. Heithold carried the ball over from the one.
"Doug Shott is going to be good for that community from what I hear," Abshier said. "If you're not going to playoffs, you want to have a good showing on senior night."
As for the Tigers, Abshier said they didn't play as well as they could and took responsibility, saying the team has been working on some things.
"We let our kids call their own plays on the first series. We haven't done that very often. They scored. We like the end result, but we don't like what we've got going. We didn't make the right reads. We didn't make the right calls."
"This week has a lot to do with the guys on the other side of the ball. When they're not as good you don't play as well as you could. Maybe we were a little bit flat, but we got the job done and sometimes it's that. You're expected to hang turbo on them. You're expected to win by 35. We did win the game and won by 13 points which is what you need for the playoffs. That's the goal and we did that."
Sports on 11/01/2017