PRAIRIE GROVE - Turnovers and penalties plagued Prairie Grove and Morrilton throughout the game Friday, but the Devil Dogs took advantage late.
The Tigers drove into Morrilton territory before Jacob Storlie’s fumble with two minutes remaining set up Morrilton at its own 47, and Toney Hawkins passed 23 yards to Reese Heidenreich for the winning touchdown with 31 seconds left in the Devil Dogs’ 28-21 victory at Tiger Stadium.
The fumble was the second of the game lost by the Tigers (1-1). Logan Bartholomew fumbled inside the Morrilton 10 in the second quarter, one play after his 3-yard touchdown run was wiped out by a holding penalty.
Morrilton (1-1) also lost two fumbles, but it was one the Devil Dogs didn’t lose that enabled them to tie the game with four minutes left.
Facing fourth-and-9 from the Tigers’ 34, Hawkins collided with teammate Jymond English, knocking the ball to the ground. Hawkins picked it up and blindly lofted a pass that Heidenreich pulled down at the 3. Sharaz Rhodes scored from the 2 for a 21-21 tie.
“Hawkins is a great athlete,” Morrilton Coach CodyMcNabb said. “He knew it was fourth down and knew we had to have something. That was just a great play, and at the time we deserved to have something bounce our way.”
Both teams scored on their first possessions. The Tigers were marching on their second drive before Storlie was intercepted at the 4. The Devil Dogs were driving before Bartholomew intercepted Hawkins and returned it 80 yards for a touchdown with 1:08 left in the third quarter for a 13-7 lead.
But the Tigers were penalized 10 times for 68 yards, several times stalling drives because of them.
“Penalties hurt us all night,” Prairie Grove Coach Danny Abshier said. “We just didn’t get the job done tonight. That’s the bottom line. We could have, we should have, but we didn’t.”
Hawkins and Sharaz both rushed for 101 yards for the Devil Dogs. Sharaz rushed for two touchdowns. Hawkins also completed 20 of 27 passes for 327 yards and 2 touchdowns.
MANSFIELD 49, GREENLAND 6
MANSFIELD - Mansfield (2-0) took a 35-0 lead going into halftime and never was threatened in the second half as it rolled past Greenland (1-0).
Bo Patterson ran for 126 yards and 4 touchdowns on 14 carries. His touchdown runs covered 2, 6, 13 and 35 yards. Jeffrey Bartlett added 139 yards rushing on 13 carries.
Sports, Pages 26 on 09/14/2013