Tigers Cruise Past Crossett
Logan Bartholomew, a Prairie Grove junior, carries the ball as Crossett junior Imani Sias reaches to make the tackle Friday during the first half at Tiger Stadium in Prairie Grove.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
PRAIRIE GROVE — Nic Sugg needed just two plays to record an interception for Prairie Grove on Friday night. But for Sugg and the rest of the Tiger defense, one wasn’t enough.
As visiting Crossett quickly found out, Prairie Grove is known for its stingy ways on the defensive side of the ball. So when Sugg dove for a second interception in the second quarter — to go along with two more interceptions by teammate Jon Halbert in the first half — the Eagles found out the hard way in a 52-0 loss just how tough the Tigers defense can really be.
“We take major pride in our defense,” Sugg said. “A shutout is a major thing and we make sure that whoever is in there playing, we want that shutout.”
GameBreaker
Prairie Grove 52, Crossett 0
Why the Tigers won
Prairie Grove intercepted four Crossett passes in the first half and contained Eagles tailback Dominic Williams the entire night. On offense, the Tigers’ Wing-T offense gave was effective from the start, allowing quarterback Cooper Winters to hit big pass plays against a suspect Eagles defense.
Why the Eagles lost
Crossett made too many costly mistakes on offense early in the game, giving Prairie Grove great field position time and time again. The Eagles also had no answers for the Tigers offensive attack, resulting in a mercy-rule affair.
Prairie Grove (10-0), the top seed from the 4A-1 Conference, made quick work of Crossett (4-7), the fifth-seed from the 4A-8, not only with defense but also with its Wing-T offense that seemed to confuse the Eagles on more than one occasion. The Tigers built an 18-0 lead after one quarter, mixing a strong rushing attack led by Weston Bartholomew and J.D. Speed in with a big play passing attack which resulted in three touchdowns on the night thrown by quarterback Cooper Winters.
“This is the first time we had seen a straight Wing-T team and they were tough to stop,” Crossett coach Mark Kelley said. “They showed a lot of different formations and did a lot of good things.
“They’re just a very solid team.”
The Tigers built their lead up to 38-0 by halftime, enforcing the mercy rule in the second half. But while Prairie Grove went mostly with reserves after intermission, Crossett still never came close to scoring, amassing just 140 total yards and six first downs in the game.
“It’s always scary in the playoffs when you’re playing somebody from a different area of the state and you don’t have any real comparisons to go off of,” Prairie Grove coach Danny Abshier said. “Their running back, my goodness, he was really fast and our defense was able to hem him up.
“The defense did a really good job.”
Prairie Grove advances to face Pottsville (10-1) at home next week.