Gravette holds on for payoff win

Lions will play at home against Dollarway in the state quarter-finals on Friday night

Gravette senior Clayton Alexander breaks up a pass play against Warren on Friday.

Gravette senior Clayton Alexander breaks up a pass play against Warren on Friday.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

— Gravette football coach Bill Harrelson watched a sizable lead shrink Friday night, but he was still able to enjoy the 5 1/2-hour drive home.

The Lions built a 22-point lead in the third quarter and then withstood a late rally by Warren to pull out a 48-33 victory in the second round of the Class 4A state playoffs.

Running back Darrick Strzelecki scored four touchdowns to help Gravette continue its post season run with an upset on the road. The Lions (10-2) will host Dollarway in this Friday’s quarterfinal round.

“We’ve got a lot of seniors on our team. They want to keep playing, and that’s a huge thing,” Harrelson said. “If your seniors get tired of playing, you don’t have much of a chance. They want to keep playing.”

Gravette’s upperclassmen kept their season alive by building a 41-19 lead in the third quarter and then holding tight down the stretch after Warren (8-3-1) cut the Lions lead to 41-33 with 7 minutes remaining.

“Our offensive line, I think, was the difference inthe game,” Harrelson said. “They just controlled the line of scrimmage all day. They did a good job run blocking, and they did a good job pass blocking.”

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Gravette senior Brandon Meek closes in on a Warren ball carier on Friday night.

Gravette’s big win was a combination outstanding offensive attack coupled with stingy defense by a fired-up group of Lions. No Lumberjack statistics were available to include in this brief summary.

Offensively, the Lions amassed 201 yards through the air and a whopping 313 yards on the ground to overwhelm the Bradley County team. Clayton Alexander connected on 11 of his 15 passes for 147 yards while suffering only 1 interception. Dallas Kerley added 54 yards with his single aerial bomb.

Rushing was mostly Strzelecki. He roared for 248 yards on 47 carries while Cody Robinson had 34 yards on 9 carries, as the offensive line opened the holes. Strzelecki accounted for 4 of the 7 Lions TDs. Alexander ran for one of these and Jordan Lundholm and Kerley each added one from the air.

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Gravette junior TJ Holt blocks while senior Darrick Strzelecki receives the ball from senior Clayton Alexander during play against Warren on Friday.

Kicker Kevin Amezdus hit 6 of 7 extra-point boots to complete the scoring barrage.

On the defensive side, Glenn Overturf had 2 sacks and an interception and Brandon Meek had 1 sack among his 3 tackles. Nine other Lions had individualsacks with Kevin McDougal in on 7 and Alexander on 6.

Adam Roberts caught 3 passes for a total of 76 yards. Robinson had 3for 39; Kerley 2 for 47 and Lundholm 2 for 26. Tyler Greenhaw’s single reception was for l3 yards.

Gravette, 10-2 for the season, goes into Fridaynight’s game against Dollarway from Pine Bluff. Gravette fans should be out in force as the Lions compete in the state quarter-finals.

Sports, Pages 9 on 11/23/2011