Gentry picks up first win

Gentry senior Tanner Coy gets behind Berryville defenders and pulls in an Ochs pass during play on Friday.
Gentry senior Tanner Coy gets behind Berryville defenders and pulls in an Ochs pass during play on Friday.

— Berryville’s Bobcats were no match for the Pioneers in Friday's league challenge. Gentry celebrated homecoming with a 33-7 victory, their first win of the season.

The first quarter struggle between the two winless teams was scoreless, but Gentry took the lead in the second quarter with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Dylan Ochs to Kolby Rankin. Though the kick failed, Ochs threw to Rankin again in the third quarter for 34 yards and another touchdown. A conversion run by Jarod Cousins made it 14-0. In another pass from Ochs in the final seconds of the third quarter, this time to Cousins for 67 yards, the Pioneers increased their lead to 20. The extra-point kick failed.

In the fourth quarter, Gentry added two more touchdowns. With 10:38 left in the game, Ochs ran one in 26 yards for another 6. The kick failed a third time. With 4:17 on the clock Ajay Beach carried the ball 26 yards for one final Pioneer touchdown. Enrique Zamora’s kick was good, making it 33-0 Gentry.

But the Bobcats didn’t leave without a scream. With 2 minutes left in the game, Dalton Jacobs caught an 18-yard pass from Cody Powell for 6 points, andSelvin Reyes added another with his extra-point kick.

“Victory at last!” Gentry head coach Brian Little wrote in his weekly football update. “The Pioneers closed out a week of homecoming festivities with a convincing win over the Berryville Bobcats.”

“I am very proud of this team,” Little wrote. “They have battled hard all season long; they deserve to win one. The Pioneers have been competitive in nearly all of their games this season, only to ‘run out of gas’ in the second half of many of them, due to injuries and lack of depth. Through it all, the attitude and commitment of the players has been positive, and Friday night they got some reward for their efforts.”

“Gentry’s defense was solid from start to finish. Berryville’s lone score came late in the fourth quarter against Gentry’s reserves,” Little said. “Despite the fact that the Bobcats kept the ball for 32 of the 48 minutes in the game, they rarely threatened to score on Gentry’s first unit.”

“Offensively, the Pioneers were sluggish early, but managed to generate 33 points in their 16 minutes of possession despite three missed points after touchdowns,” Little wrote.

Gentry Pioneers (1-7) will honor the 2011 senior football, band and cheerleaders and their parents Fridaynight as they host the Prairie Grove Tigers. Ceremonies will begin at 6:30.

The Tigers come into the 4A Region 1 challenge with a 6-2 record. In their last challenge, Prairie Grove shut out Pea Ridge 13-0 in a league challenge.

The Bobcats now hold a 0-8 record and will host Gravette for a 4A Region 1 challenge on Friday. Berryville will meet a Lions team coming off a 16-14 league loss to Shiloh Christian. The Lions record now stands at 6-2.

Sports, Pages 9 on 10/26/2011