POCAHONTAS — Gravette picked a great night to put together one of its best games of the year.
The Lions intercepted four passes and controlled the line of scrimmage all night Friday to defeat Pocahontas, 37-27, in the first round of the Class 4A state playoffs.
Gravette (7-4) jumped out to a 27-7 lead in the first half and led, 27-14, going into the third quarter.
Pocahontas (8-3) got a 1-yard touchdown run from Travis Whiley and a 41-yard touchdown pass from Haston Orewiler to Jaden Young in the third, cutting the Gravette lead to 27-21 with 4 minutes, 45 seconds left in the quarter.
Gravette had a great response. The Lions put together a 10-play, 71-yard drive that found the end zone when quarterback Kilby Roberts tossed a 28-yard touchdown pass to Brady Moorman and a 34-21 lead.
The Lions took advantage of an interception from Austin O'Brien, who took the ball off the fingertips of a Pocahontas receiver to set up a 31-yard field goal from Childress that gave Gravette a commanding 37-21 advantage with 6:39 left in the game.
O'Brien rushed for 255 yards and three touchdowns, Roberts added 88 yards rushing and 66 yards passing and Brandon Ballard had three interceptions.
Gravette coach Bill Harrelson loved the way his team played on the road.
"I thought we played the most complete game we've played all year because I know Pocahontas has got a really fine ball club," Harrelson said. "We're just excited to be going on and these kids, especially the seniors, gave it all tonight and we had two or three of them playing hurt and they just stayed in there and kept plugging away."
Harrelson commended his team for its defensive effort against Pocahontas running back Barkley Sorg, who finished with only six yards on seven carries.
"He's a great back and I'm sure he's got a lot of college offers, so that was a big deal to us to stop him. I know he's hurt a little and that's hampered him some, I'm sure, but our guys were just tuned in on him all night because we knew we needed to stop him if we were going to have a chance," he said. "But their quarterback kept completing passes and we got him stopped and it made it a lot easier on us."
Harrelson also liked the effort he got from O'Brien.
"He played both sides of the ball and played all but maybe a half a dozen plays and just did a great job of protecting the ball," he said. "They threw away from him all night and tried to pick on Brandon Ballard and had three interceptions, so I am really proud of him."
Gravette struck first in the opening quarter after an interception. It took only two plays to go 39 yards as O'Brien scored on a 16-yard run.
Sports on 11/16/2016