Football: Waggle Opens Season With A Bang

 Special To NWA Media David J. Beach Brice Waggle of Farmington throws the ball as Orrin Hacker of Prairie Grove attempts to block it Friday at Tiger Stadium in Farmington.
Special To NWA Media David J. Beach Brice Waggle of Farmington throws the ball as Orrin Hacker of Prairie Grove attempts to block it Friday at Tiger Stadium in Farmington.

FARMINGTON -- The Farmington-Prairie Grove matchup wasn't a conference game this year for the first time in a long while.

Bragging rights were just as big as they've ever been.

Profile

Bryce Waggle

School: Farmington

Height: 6-2

Weight: 185

Class: Junior

Notable: Split time last season, but was named the starter this season. … Opened the season by leading the Cardinals to a 34-27 win over longtime Highway 62 rival Prairie Grove by completing 14 of 21 passes for 238 yards and a touchdown.

Opening the season in front of a packed house at Prairie Grove, Farmington snapped a three-game losing streak in the series with a 34-27 victory Friday.

"It was a pretty big deal, I don't think I even realized how big until after the game was over," Farmington junior quarterback Bryce Waggle said. "It was all over social media all weekend and everybody has been talking about it."

Waggle was 14-of-21 passing for 238 yards, a touchdown and a two-point conversion in the game.

"He had a very good overall game," Farmington coach Mike Adams said. "We're not a spread team that is going to pass it 40 times. We like to line it up in the Pro I-formation and run the football. But we have to keep the defense honest and have some balance with our passing game. He does a good job of that and he can run it a little bit out of the option, too, if we need him too."

In a key play to put the Cards ahead, Waggle hooked up with Michael Ingram on 61-yard touchdown pass.

"We had been running the out routes and then we got the defense to bite on a fake and try to jump the rout," Waggle said. "All I had to do was get enough air under it and let Michael run under it."

Adams said the coaches were able to get Waggle some action last year as a sophomore and then he was thrown into the fire when the starter got hurt in the first quarter in a road playoff game at Ashdown.

"That was a tough spot, and he handled it pretty well," Adams said. "He's a good-sized kid (6-foot-2, 185 pounds) with a good arm and he can run it a little bit if we need him, too. But maybe his best attribute is that nothing really seems to bother him. He doesn't get rattled and he makes good decisions and doesn't turn the ball over."

Ironically, Waggle has a long family history with the Prairie Grove vs. Farmington game as his dad, Josh Waggle, was an all-state quarterback on the other side with the Tigers in the 1990s.

"My dad, my uncle, they all went to Prairie Grove," Waggle said. "I don't know how I ended up at Farmington, to be honest, but I have been in school here since kindergarten. My dad didn't really say much about it before the game, he is one of my biggest supporters now."

"We've been going against Waggles for years," Adams said. "It's nice to have one on our side."

Prairie Grove remains in class 4A and the growth of Farmington has boosted the Cardinals to 5A, but Adams said both schools are in agreement to continue the series between the two schools whose district border each other and the towns are only a few miles apart.

"There is a line and you are either on one side or the other," Adams said. "It's one of the great rivalries around the state and you can always count on a packed house of standing-room only every time we play."

Sports on 09/10/2014

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