PRAIRIE GROVE -- Prairie Grove manufactured a scoring drive when it needed it the most Friday night.
The Tigers, who had seen an 18-point lead evaporate down to two points in the fourth quarter, marched 69 yards for a score with 1 minute, 25 seconds remaining, and that score iced a 34-24 victory over Ashdown in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs at Tiger Stadium.
Prairie Grove 34, Ashdown 24
Ashdown^0^6^6^12^—^24
Prairie Grove^6^12^8^8^—^34
First Quarter
Prair — Soehner 10 pass from Dodd (pass failed), 4:39.
Second Quarter
Prair — Faulk 4 run (run failed), 9:04.
Prair — Johnson 10 run (pass failed), 4:03.
Ash — Hill 2 run (pass failed), 1:00.
Third Quarter
Ash — Hill 1 run (run failed), 5:31.
Prair — Heltemes 20 pass from Dodd (Faulk run), 0:49.
Fourth Quarter
Ash — Green 1 run (run failed), 10:23.
Ash — Green 10 run (pass failed) 6:10.
Prair — Walker 1 run (Faulk run), 1:25.
Cole Walker's 1-yard plunge and Blake Faulk's two-point conversion set the final score as the Tigers improved to 11-1 overall. Prairie Grove will host Star City next Friday in the Class 4A quarterfinals after Star City rallied to win at Pocahontas 33-28.
"I'm glad we didn't cramp up. We hadn't played a full game in a little while," said Prairie Grove coach Danny Abshier. "Ashdown gave us a war."
Prairie Grove led 18-0 in the first half after scoring three touchdowns.
Sam Dodd found big tight end Dylan Soehner for a 10-yard pass for the Tigers' first score and a 6-0 lead in the first quarter, and Faulk and Anthony Johnson each ran for touchdowns in the second quarter.
Ashdown (8-4) cut the lead to 18-6 at halftime and pulled within 18-12 in the third quarter on Jaden Hill's second touchdown run of the game.
The Tigers answered with a scoring drive to go up 26-12 in the third on a 20-yard pass from Dodd to Gavin Heltemes and a two-point conversion from Faulk.
But Ashdown would answer twice.
Tre Green scored a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter, and his second TD pulled the Panthers within 26-24 with 6:10 left to play.
However, Ashdown's Cameron Solomon was unable to hang on to the two-point conversion pass and it fell incomplete and the Tigers maintained their lead and set up their final scoring drive.
"We got it down to that two-point conversion and dropped the ball in the endzone," said Ashdown coach Matt Richardson. "We should have tied the ballgame. It hits him in the hands and he should have caught the ball, but shoot he's a 17-year-old kid and kids do that right? But like you said we're very proud. We were down 18-0. Three scores down. ... Shoot, they fought back. Very proud of them."
Prairie Grove finished with 459 yards of offense, including 324 rushing yards on 59 carries. Faulk led with 24 carries for 144 yards. Dodd went 9 of 18 for 135 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Ashdown finished with 280 yards of offense. Hill passed for 124 yards, while Green ran for 93 yards on 11 carries.
Sports on 11/21/2015