1-4A CONFERENCE

Prairie Grove intercepts victory

— Farmington and Prairie Grove battled back and forth and down to the wire in a rivalry that sent the Prairie Grove to the top of the 1-4A Conference standings.

Cardinals quarterback Keaton Austin’s fifth interception finished off Farmington in Prairie Grove’s 27-21 victory at Tiger Stadium.

“To tell you the truth it felt like from the start of the game when we gave them a gift fumble to almost the end of the game, it took the whole game to get the momentum back,” Prairie Grove Voach Danny Abshier said. “They played almost a flawless game, it seemed like.

“OK, we got some [interceptions] and stuff and I’m sure Coach [Mike] Adams and Farmington don’t feel like they played a perfect game. But we just couldn’t get a break and they meant business. They came to play, but, of course, we did to.”

After a Weston Bartholomew fumble on the first play led to an early 7-0 lead for Farmington, The Tigers (4-0, 1-0) quickly found their offensive groove behind Bartholomew.

But Farmington (4-1, 1-1) never let the Tigers out of their sights.

Despite falling behind 21-13 early midway through the third quarter, the Cardinals used a reverse-pass touchdown and strong defense in the fourth quarter to keep close.

At times, Farmington even had chances to take the lead late in the game, before Austin was intercepted on the team’s final three possessions.

“We just made too many mistakes,” Cardinals Coach Mike Adams said. “Early in the ballgame, we missed some tackles that allowed them to get some big plays on us. Then we played better defensively in the second half. And offensively we moved the ball and got down there in the red zone, but we got flustered and made some critical mistakes.”

Bartholomew finished with 169 yards and 2 touchdowns on 17 carries and Logan Bartholomew added 69 yards on 11 carries for the Tigers.

Spencer Boudrey paced Farmington with 26 carries for 182 yards. Michael Ingram also had 72 yards receiving and two touchdowns for the Cardinals.

Sports, Pages 24 on 09/29/2012

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