PRAIRIE GROVE - Gentry (6-3, 4-2 1-4A) scored twice in the final four minutes to defeat Prairie Grove (4-5, 2-4) by a score of 21-17 and earn its first trip to the playoffs since 1998.
Austin Millsap hit Justin Stewart with a 37-yard touchdown pass with 3:55 left in the game, then sealed the victory for Gentry with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Dylan Ochs with 27 seconds left.
Ethan Ramsey scored Gentry’s other touchdown on a 1-yard run with 45 seconds left in the first half.
Prairie Grove scored its first touchdown on a 36-yard pass from Cooper Winters to Landon West with 8:04 left in the first quarter. Weston Barthlomew scored its other touchdown on an 11-yard run in the fourth quarter, and Landon Allen kicked a 35-yard field goal.
“It was not what you would consider a ‘pretty’ win, but a win nonetheless - one of the biggest wins around here in a long time,” Gentry head coach Brian Little wrote in his game summary in Gentry Pioneer Football 2010.
“The Tigers shut down the Gentry running game, allowing only 41 yards on the ground. They stacked ‘em in there on us and got off the ball fast ... we knew they would. As a result, the Pioneers had to loosen up the Tiger attack by going back to their most recent roots - the spread passing game,” Little wrote.
“More than once this year, we’ve had to spreadthings out and throw the ball around, and in most cases it has paid huge dividends for us,” Little said.
Quarterback Austin Millsap completed 65 percent of his 23 passes for 179 yards.
“The last time the Pioneers made the state play-offs in football was the 1998 season; the current players would have been between 3 and 6 years of age. Needless to say, it’s been too long, and after Friday night, the decade long dry spell has come to an end,” Little wrote.
“With the victory over Prairie Grove (the third consecutive), the Pioneers have secured no less than the fourth seed in this year’s bracket, and a win next week would give Gentry the third seed and home-field advantage. Itis uncertain who the opponent will be in either case. What we do know is that if we are at home (third from the 1-4A) we will play the fourth seed from the 2-4A. If we are on the road (fourth seed from the 1-4A) we will face the third seed from the 7-4A,” Little wrote.
Gentry’s last play-off appearance was in the 1998 season when the Pioneers traveled to Truman. Gentry lost the game 20-6. Since that time Gentry has only had one winning season, and that was a 5- win year in 2005.
4A-1 Standings Team Rec. Conf. Pts.
Shiloh 8-1 6-0 78 Gravette 8-1 5-1 54 Gentry 6-3 4-2 31 Ozark 5-4 4-2 34 Prairie Grove 4-5 2-4 26 Farmington 4-5 3-3 19 Pea Ridge 1-8 0-6 0
Sports, Pages 12 on 11/03/2010