Fake punt seals Lions’ victory

Gravette comes out ahead in wild season closer against Prairie Grove on Friday

— When Gravette’s Jeremy McGarrah took a direct snap on fourth down and barreled forward for a 27-yard gain, the first down didn’t just seal the Lions’ 38-28 victory over Prairie Grove, it showed exactly why they won.

In a game that featured a successful onside kick in the first half, a back-footed, across-the-field touchdown pass and a kicker hitting a clutch field goal in his first-ever high school game, it was only fitting that McGarrah - a 6-foot-2, 243-pound lineman - delivered the dagger when he took a direct snap and ran for a first down on a fake punt.

“It was a wild game to say the least,” Gravette coach Bill Harrelson said. “I was so proud of the way our kids played. We couldn’t execute it any better. Our quarterback made somegood plays improvising. And our defense, when you hold those guys to what we held them to, they couldn’t play much better.”

With the win, Gravette makes the playoffs as the No. 4 seed from the 4A-1 Conference, while Prairie Grove will be the No. 2.

Running back DarrickStrzelecki, who finished with a bruising 163 yards rushing, and quarterback Clayton Alexander, who had four touchdown passes, helped Gravette dominate much of the first half. And by midway through the third quarter, the Lions (8-2, 5-2) had a comfortable 31-14 lead.

But Prairie Grove (7-3, 5-2) did its best to fight back. Jared Murphy blocked a punt that led to an easy Weston Bartholomew touchdown run. And after finally stopping the Gravette offense, Tigers’ quarterback Cooper Winters connected with Landon West on a 47-yard touchdown pass to pull Prairie Grove within 31-28 with 2:16 left in the fourth quarter.

On the ensuing possession, the Tigers defense forced Gravette into a fourth-and-4 at the Prairie Grove 43-yardline, and the Lions brought the punt team onto the field. Mc-Garrah lined up just a few yards behind the line of scrimmage to block when suddenly he was snapped the ball. He ran up the middle to the Prairie Grove 16-yard-line, and two plays later Alexander found Tyler Greenhaw for an insurance touchdown pass.

“We messed around andit didn’t seem like we were halfway ready,” Prairie Grove coach Danny Abshier said. “It didn’t look like we even practiced this week. They were ready to romp, and we weren’t. We started too late. They didn’t make very many mistakes, and we made a ton of them. We drove a little bit and had a few things happen, but we started too late.”

Gravette’s defense held Prairie Grove to just 111 yards in the first half, including just 50 on the ground. Meanwhile, Alexander completed 8-of-14 passes for 231 yards - most of which came on plays where he escaped potential tacklers and got the ball off just in time.Kicker Kevin Amezcua, in his first-ever high school game, had a 23-yard field goal, was a perfect 5-for-5 on extra points and recovered his own onside kick in the first half.

Gentry finishes season

Editor's Note: The Gentry Pioneers finished their regular season with a Friday-night loss to Ozark, 40-13. The Pioneers ended their season with a record of 1 and 6 in conference play and 1 and 9 overall. No stats were available at press time on the final game of the regular season.

Sports, Pages 9 on 11/09/2011