NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — Prairie Grove stuck to the basics last week in its 35-14 victory at West Fork, and odds are it will do the same this week against Ozark in the teams’ 1-4A Conference opener.
After a 40-14 loss to Cassville, Mo., the previous week, Prairie Grove held West Fork without a first down until midway through the second quarter on its way to a 28-14 halftime lead.
“We blocked, tackled and just did the fundamentals better than we did [the previous week],” Prairie Grove Coach Danny Abshier said.
“We passed better, caught better and tackled better, that sort of thing.”
Weston Bartholomew ran for 80 yards and 2 touchdowns on 13 carries against West Fork to give him 295 yards and 5 touchdowns rushing on 44 attempts this year. Cooper Winters threw for 186 yards and 1 touchdown to push his season totals to 392 yards and 4 touchdowns with only 1 interception.
Defensively, Colby Elkins and Kristian Denton had interceptions, and Dalton Curtsinger recovered a fumble forced by Noah Hunter.
Prairie Grove also had a key play on special teams when Bartholomew returned a kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown.
The Tigers (2-1) face a tough test against Ozark ( 3-0), but Prairie Grove has a good idea of what to expect Friday night.
“They pretty have much same bunch back, but so do we,” Abshier said. “We’ve got a better shot this year if we don’t make stupid penalties or turn the ball over.
They’re big and they’ve got good speed, good passers, catchers and runners.
They’re 3-0 for a reason.” BOONEVILLE
Napier full speed
It looks like Anthony Napier is back to his old form, which is bad news for the rest of the 4-4A Conference.
Booneville’s bruising fullback is coming back from a torn knee ligament that forced him to miss the final eight games of last season, and he appears to be getting warmed up just in time for conference play.
Booneville (2-1) opens 4-4A Conference play Friday night at Subiaco Academy (0-3), and the Trojans can expect another big dose of Napier.
Coach Scott Hyatt said Napier is doing everything he did before going down with the injury last season.
In addition to being the featured back in the offense, Napier also plays linebacker and handles punting duties.
“We were concerned about how well he would handle the pounding he takes at fullback, and up to this point he’s handled it well,” Hyatt said. “He rehabbed real hard in the offseason and got that knee strengthened up, and he’s kind of took up where he left off last year.”
Napier, 5-11, 220 pounds, carried 33 times for 210 yards and 4 touchdowns Friday night in Booneville’s 41-28 victory over De Queen.
He scored on a 6-yard run in the first quarter, then took over in the second quarter when he scored on runs of 11, 43 and 2 yards.
“I can’t remember the last time a kid from Booneville carried the ball that many times,” Hyatt said.
It was by far Napier’s best game of the young season. He ran for 92 yards and two touchdowns in a 17-14 victory over Fountain Lake in Week 2, and he had one touchdown and 86 yards rushing in a 21-7 loss to Ozark in the season opener.
“He’s just your typical Booneville fullback, a hardnosed kid who runs tough,”Hyatt said. “He’s a big part of our offense.” SHILOH CHRISTIAN On the bright side...
Coach Josh Floyd is trying to find any positive he can out of Shiloh Christian’s 55-0 loss at Greenwood lastweek.
The Saints (1-2) managed to stop Greenwood’s offense five times in the first half, either forcing the Bulldogs to punt or to turn the ballover on downs. But Shiloh Christian committed five turnovers of its own and took five sacks in the first half as the Bulldogs stormed out to a 42-0 lead.
“Typically for us, if we stop somebody five times in the first half, we’re going to have a pretty good chance to win the game, but that’s obviously assuming your offense is playing well,” Floyd said. “Offensively, there’s two things. We’ve got to do a better job of running the football, and more than anything we’ve got to protect the ball.
“If you turn the ball over five times and try to beat a program like Greenwood, it’s just not going to happen.”
The Saints are also trying to heal up as they approach their 1-4A Conference opener against Berryville (0-3) on Friday at Champions Stadium.
Sophomore running back Chris Cox (foot), freshman cornerback/running back Chandler Smith (knee) and senior center Joseph Paulino (sprained ankle) have missed at least one game so far. Paulino played last week and Cox should be back this week, but Smith will likely need another week or two before he returns.
Super Six glance CLASS 4A TEAM (CONF.) REC. 1. PULASKI ACADEMY (7-4A) 3-0 Friday vs. Maumelle 2. HEBER SPRINGS (2-4A) 3-0 Friday vs. Lonoke 3. STAR CITY (8-4A) 3-0 Friday at McGehee 4. GRAVETTE (1-4A) 3-0 Friday vs. Pea Ridge 5. ASHDOWN (7-4A) 3-0 Friday at Pulaski Robinson 6. MALVERN (7-4A) 2-1 Friday at Bauxite
Sports, Pages 20 on 09/22/2011