PRAIRIE GROVE -- Dylan Soehner and several teammates emerged from the Prairie Grove locker room two hours before game time -- shirtless -- as rain fell and temperatures dipped into the upper 30s.
Soehner admitted the strategy was more psychological, proving that the cold and rain were not going to be a factor in the third-round playoff game. The big senior tight end also admitted the ploy was meant as an intimidation plan.
Star City^0^7^7^x7^—^21
Prairie Grove^14^6^8^22^—^50
First Quarter
Prair — Heltemes 25 run (C. Walkter run), 7:49.
Prair — Faulk 50 run (kick failed), 4:58.
Second Quarter
Star — Mallett 1 run (Magana kick), 11:02.
Prair — Faulk 7 run (run failed), 5:32.
Third Quarter
Star — Brown 1 run (Magana kick), 7:23.
Prair — Faulk 28 run (C. Walker run), 1:54.
Fourth Quarter
Prair — Soehner 17 pass from Dodd (Dodd pass to Disney), 10:52.
Prair — Faulk 48 run (Gauldin kick), 7:02.
Prair — Johnson 56 run (Gauldin kick), 5:22.
Star — Brown 6 run (Magana kick), 2:30.
"We like the cold," Soehner said. "We embrace it. It's a mental thing. Being cold is a mental thing. We were just out there getting used to it, and the other team see you out there with no shirts and think you're crazy."
Whatever the plan was, it worked as Soehner and the No. 4 Tigers rolled over Star City 50-21 Friday night to advance to next week's Class 4A state semifinals. The Tigers (12-1), winners of 12 straight games since a season-opening loss, will hold Arkadelphia with the winner advancing to the Class 4A state championship the following week in Little Rock.
Prairie Grove jumped on Star City (9-4) early, racing out to a 14-0 lead behind stellar senior running back Blake Faulk, who scored four touchdowns and ran for 250 yards on 14 carries. Faulk scored on runs of 50, 7, 28 and 48 yards and helped the Tigers pile up 398 yards rushing in the mercy-rule win.
"Before the game we talked about how we needed to get up on them early so that we could have more confidence in ourselves," Faulk said. "It seems like every game we play, if we can start out with the lead we play better."
Prairie Grove's defense played lights out Friday night, led by ball-hawking senior linebacker Dakota Hutchison, who recorded 14 tackles and helped shut down Star City's run game.
Hutchison also played a key role in the Tigers' ground game dominance. On Faulk's first touchdown run with 4 minutes, 58 seconds left in the first quarter, Hutchison matched Faulk stride for stride with a big clearing block that enabled Faulk to walk into the end zone for a 14-0 lead.
"Dakota is faster than Faulk is, is what the deal is," Tigers coach Danny Abshier joked.
"Not in the 100," Hutchison said.
Star City threatened only twice in the game, cutting Prairie Grove's lead to 14-7 early in the second quarter, then later 20-14 when the Bulldogs took the opening possession of the second half 71 yards, called by Tye Brown's 1-yard keeper.
After Brown's touchdown, the Bulldogs successfully executed an onside kick, with kicker Andy Magana recovering at the Prairie Grove 48. The Bulldogs drove to the Tigers' 28 before two big defensive plays, the last on fourth-and-5, ended Star City's threat.
Prairie Grove drove 72 yards on its ensuing drive, overcoming three penalties in the process as quarterback Sam Dodd twice hit the 6-foot-7 Soehner for gains of 16 and 22 yards. Faulk capped the drive with a 28-yard touchdown, hurdling over a would-be tackler in the process to give the Tigers a 28-14 lead.
The Tigers salted the game away on Dodd's 17-yard touchdown strike to Soehner on, and Faulk's 48-yard touchdown run with 7:02 left in the game.
Prairie Grove was able to overcome Star City's decided size advantage upfront, led by Arkansas offensive line commit Austin Capps, by blitzing with Hutchison up the middle. The Tigers also overcame the loss of starting defensive lineman Dakota Woods, who was injured in a car wreck earlier this week.
"Coming in we had a great game plan," Hutchison said. "We came into the game with the mentality we were going to take it over. They were clearly bigger than us, so we had to use our speed to get around them."
Sports on 11/28/2015