Moving forward, Lions won't forget teammate

— Gravette won its fourth football game of the season Friday night, but the story only begins there says the team's head coach.

"Football was such a small part of what Friday was all about, really," says fourth-year Lions coach Bill Harrelson.

Gravette left the field at LionStadium with a 24-0 win against Pea Ridge, a victory none in the town are soon to forget. Only two days earlier, Gravette student Casey Russell, a junior offensive lineman, died at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock following complications that arose from a staph infection.

The homecoming game and everything surrounding it wasa tribute to Russell's memory, involving the Gravette crowd and those from Pea Ridge as well.

The visitor's support, as much as anything, was impressive to Harrelson.

"I can't tell you how much we appreciated the people of Pea Ridge," he says. "Their players, staff, fans; they couldn't have been more : I don't even know the right word to say. They were really great."

Russell's funeral was Monday afternoon and the team practiced Tuesday morning because of parent-teacher conferences scheduled later in the day. It was the team's first pull-pad practice in almost a week and now the task will be to return to some sense of order following a tumultuous week.

Harrelson knows, though, there's likely not going to be any such thing as normal the remainder of the year.

"It's never going to be the same," he says. "I don't think we dodge the subject; I don't think that's what they (the players) need. We just try to cope basically. You use football as an outlet. When we're out there running plays and playing on Friday nights, it's a little bit of a distraction from everything we've been through.

"But you won't forget it or put it out of your mind."

The Gravette defense posted its second shutout of the season last week, holding the Blackhawks to just 171 yards total offense. In its previous game, Pea Ridge beat Greenland 40-21, the school's highest-scoring game since 2003.

With a stingy scoring average of 4.4 points per game, the Lion defenseis gearing for a new challenge this week against Gentry. That's because of Pioneers senior quarterback Caleb Ramsey.

"We've not seen a team like Gentry this year," Harrelson says. "They're a full Spread, wide-open team offensively and Ramsey makes them a threat every snap, either for a long run or a long pass.

"Gentry is playing hardand they're a lot better team than they have been."

NOTES: Trey Tyner, out with a high ankle sprain since late August, made his season debut Friday against the Blackhawks with no problems. "He's back full speed," Harrelson says. Tyner, one of the team's fastest players, was to begin the season as a two-way starter at wide receiver and cornerback.

Mistakes keeping Gentry in check

BENTONVILLE - Gentry's defense is giving the Pioneers a chance to win ballgames, head coach Brian Little said.

Now it's time for the offense to step up and do its part.

"Our defense is doing a good job of trying to keep us in ballgames," Little said.

"They can only do so much.The offense has got to contribute more and get some points on the board and keep the game balanced up score-wise to give us a chance late in the game."

After scoring 45 points combined in the their first two games, the Pioneers have only scored 13 in their last two.

The Pioneers (1-3, 0-1) have lost three straight to Class 3A No. 1 Charleston (36-21), Class 5A Siloam Springs (38-7) and perennial 1-4A Conference power Farmington (27-6).

Gentry's lone score against the Cardinals came on a 19-yard touchdown pass from Caleb Ramsey to Justin Stewart to cut the deficit to 15-6.

Facing a stingy Gravette Lions defense Friday at Pioneer Stadium won't make it any easier for Gentry to get back on track offensively.

The Pioneers are averaging roughly 270 yards of offense per game and have shown a nice balance with their pass-to-run ratio. But they're also averaging nearly 70 yards of penalties per contest.

"Mistakes in general is what's keeping us from getting things done offensively," Little said."If we can just get a score or two here and there we can keep (Gravette) a little bit off-balance and not make things quite as difficult on our defense.

They're always very active and aggressive, very quick, athletic on both sides of the ball. Certainly that's what their defense is known for."

The unbeaten Lions (4-0, 1-0) have allowed 22 points this season and posted two shutouts, including a 24-0 win against Pea Ridge last week.

Defensively, Little said the Pioneers are playing hard and it shows up to the fans and on film.

"I still enjoy watching our kids hit defensively," he said."I really think if you're a spectator of the game we're certainly doing that and doing a good job of it. It hasn't resulted in a victory yet for us but I know ultimately it's going to pay off for us."

Junior linebacker Eathen Ramsey leads the team with 40 total tackles. Little praised Ramsey and fellow inside linebacker Tyler Rosenthal's efforts against Farmington.

"(Ramsey) had a really, really good game," Little said."He and Rosenthal both, our inside 'backers, they're very active.There were some things there that were certainly pleasing." - Graham Thomas

News, Pages 9, 10 on 09/30/2009

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