LINCOLN -- An extra set of eyes comes in handy.
Veteran Gravette varsity head coach Bill Harrelson spotted a flaw in the Lions' defense in the closing moments of Thursday's junior high game, won by Gravette in a come-from-behind 28-26 victory at Lincoln's Wolfpack Stadium.
"The middle is wide-open," Harrelson said while yelling and motioning to Trenton Durham, "Stay in the middle."
Harrelson's hunch was correct. On the last play of the game from the Lions' 47, Lincoln ran a route up the middle, but Durham was there to deflect the ball away from Cade Redfern, who jumped offside out of the slot when the Wolves first broke the huddle.
The penalty cost Lincoln five yards from where freshman Daytin Davis returned Gravette's squib kick, getting out-of-bounds with three-tenths of a second left on the game clock.
Explosive Third Quarter
Lincoln led 26-14 after an explosive performance in the third quarter by Davis. Lincoln took the second-half kickoff and on the first play from scrimmage Davis scored a 55-yard touchdown after catching a short pass from quarterback Tyler Brewer.
Lincoln head junior high coach Reed Mendoza was disappointed in the outcome, yet recounted big plays by the junior Wolves.
"We busted a big one on a wide receiver screen to Daytin Davis," Mendoza said.
Lincoln was penalized five yards on the extra-point attempt and a pass failed to convert, leaving the score 20-14, only 33 seconds into the third.
Gravette's offense went backward on its ensuing possession. A snap in the shotgun went past quarterback Cy Hilger, who wisely fell on the ball, taking a 23-yard loss back to the Lions' 10-yard-line. Lincoln defensive tackle Jaime Garcia held a run for no gain on third down, setting up fourth-and-31. Gravette punted from its own 12 and in a flash Davis was in the end zone again.
He fielded the ball off a bounce at the left hashmark, then cut across the grain to score standing up. Lincoln again went for two, but another pass failed to convert the touchdown. The Wolves settled for a 26-14 lead with 5:07 to go in the third.
Gravette couldn't answer and punted. This time Lincoln's offense went in reverse. Johnny Dunfee recorded back-to-back sacks of Brewer with help from Ian Drake on the second to put Lincoln in a third-and-25 hole at their own 13. Gravette got a good punt return to the Lincoln 47 as the third period wore down.
Gravette Rallies
The junior Lions used 8 plays to cover the distance. Hilger ran for 9 yards on a keeper. Durham picked up the first on a sweep, and a couple of carries by Isaac Dann moved the ball to the Wolves' nine. From there, Hilger hit Durham on a short pass. He carried would-be tacklers into the end zone for the score. Hilger dropped back to pass on the conversion, then saw the corner open and outran the Wolves to the right pylon for a 2-point conversion, pulling Gravette within 26-22 with 5:50 left in the game.
Garcia fell on an onside kick and Lincoln nearly capitalized on a short field after starting from their own 44. Noe Avellenada carried the ball three straight times, including a 33-yard dash before he was pushed out-of-bounds at the Lions' 13 with 4:07 remaining. Another Avellenada run netted four yards, and Eli Rich gained three more on a jet-sweep. Lincoln was knocking on the door with third-and-three at the Gravette six. Brewer ran the ball in at the right pylon for a touchdown, but the score was negated by a holding penalty.
Key Defensive Stop
That flag would be Lincoln's undoing and opened the door for Gravette's late-game heroics.
The penalty yardage moved the ball back to the 15. Then Brewer was sacked at the 20. Gravette called a time-out, stopping the clock with 2:03 showing. A pass fell incomplete on fourth-and-17, turning the ball over to Gravette on downs.
"That defensive stop was huge," Cole said. "It was our defensive line and our linebackers pushing them back. We got their quarterback down for negative yardage. A penalty on them played into that."
Game Winning Drive
The Lions were 80 yards away with 1:58 and two time-outs to work with. After an incompletion, a second-down pass interference penalty moved the ball to the 35. Hilger than executed a naked bootleg brilliantly. With the flow going to the left, Hilger pivoted and went right, cutting upfield and reaching the Gravette 49 before he was hauled down.
Gravette avoided a turnover on the next play. Hilger dropped a snap deep in the shotgun, yet scooped the ball up and ran forward, limiting the loss to five yards. Gravette was forced to burn their second time-out at that juncture, facing second-and-15 with 49 seconds to play. The next pass fell incomplete but on third down, as Hilger rolled right, some of the defensive linemen broke off pursuit and stopped running after him.
He had time to stop and plant his feet, throwing a Hail Mary pass that Dunfee caught in traffic and almost bulled his way into the end zone. He was tackled at the four and an injury time-out worked against Lincoln with the clock frozen at 32.9 seconds.
"We ran an out-and-up and their defensive back covered it," Cole said. But our quarterback knew it was time to make big plays so he just let that one go. Johnny went up and outfought their defensive back for it."
"Johnny made a lot of plays all night. He made one of our touchdowns in the first half. He had a handful of sacks on their quarterback to make that play possible."
On first-and-goal Hilger was stood up for no gain. Gravette used their last time-out, keeping 19.2 seconds for their offense. Hilger ran another bootleg and hit the right pylon. Nonetheless he was ruled out at the one with 14.6 seconds remaining in the contest.
Gravette coaches didn't panic. Neither did they get caught up in protest. They kept the offense focused on the task at hand.
"It's all right," coaches said as they sent in the next play.
Hilger ran to the left pylon this time and scored with no more than 9 seconds left. A pass failed on a 2-point try, but the Lions were in front, 28-26.
The game-winning drive was very satisfying for Cole, who praised the offensive execution and clock management on the field.
"We caught the ball, we made first downs, we got out-of-bounds. We stopped the clock when we could."
Halftime Tie
The game was tied, 14-14, at halftime. Lincoln held Gravette to a three-and-out after kicking off, then scored on their first possession.
"We busted a big one to get us here," Mendoza said, describing a 50-yard run by Avellenada to the Lions' five.
On second-and-goal Avellenada took a handoff and punched the ball in for the score. The conversion failed. Lincoln's second touchdown came off a sustained drive capped with Brewer's 15-yard touchdown toss to Levi Wright. Cade Redfern added the 2-point conversion by making a catch from Brewer on an out route.
Gravette scored twice in the first half after sustaining drives. Hilger scored on a 4-yard quarterback sneak and passed to Dunfee in the corner of the end zone for the other touchdown on fourth-and-goal from the Lincoln five.
Mendoza thinks the junior Wolves will overcome the loss that dropped them to 0-1 in league play.
"I told them I was proud of the way they played," Mendoza said. "They gave a lot of effort all night. They never quit. It's a tough one to handle, but we can still do what we wanted to do this year."
"We've got to bounce back. It's not the end of our season. The kids are going to have to come back and work. I believe they will."
Sports on 09/27/2017