One is enough in defensive battle

Lions hold Wolves scoreless, pick up one TD

Gravette junior Cody Robinson powers ahead for a few extra yards in play against Lincoln on Friday.
Gravette junior Cody Robinson powers ahead for a few extra yards in play against Lincoln on Friday.

— Chase Brody looked over the line and stepped back into shotgun formation.

The Gravette offense had struggled against a swarming Lincoln defense most of the night, and the Lions’ season was coming down to this third-down play at their own 35-yard line.

Brody took the snap and fired a quick slant to receiver Tristan Kahanek, who battled his way for a 9-yard gain and just got the nose of the ball across the first-down marker. The key play put in motion a gameclosing 15-play drive that saw Gravette chew up the final 8 minutes, 12 seconds of the game that sealed a6-0 win at Lions Stadium on Friday.

Defense dominated the key 4A-1 Conference game from start to finish as both teams were battling for one of the final playoff seeds as the season heads into the final two weeks.

“I played it so tight offensively because we were playing so well defensively,” said Gravette coach Bill Harrelson. “I thought it was going to come back and bite us that we were playing so tight offensively. No doubt about it, I was too conservative offensively.”

The Lions (3-5, 2-3 4A-1) pounded the ball on the ground for 203 yards, led by Cody Robinson’s 111 yards on 25 carries. Robinson scored the game’s only touchdown in the secondquarter, and that was all the Lions’ defense needed as the unit held Lincoln to 154 total yards.

“We played probably the best game defensively this year,” Gravette defensive coordinator Duke Mobley said. “We’ve had some games where we’ve given up some big plays and they’ve hurt us. But tonight we didn’t give up any big plays and the kids played with a lot of intensity.”

Gravette’s only touchdown drive came with Brody on the bench after a hard hit on a keeper. Kahanek stepped in and connected with Shay Shimer on a 21-yard pass that moved the ball inside the Lincoln 5, and Robinson scored two plays later from the one with 6:04 left in the first half.

Sports, Pages 11 on 10/24/2012