PEA RIDGE -- As the final seconds ticked off the clock, Pea Ridge fans debated storming the field before deciding against it.
It would have been understandable if they had.
[HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL SCOREBOARD: Full results + recaps, photos and more]
Class 4A Semifinal
Pea Ridge 30, Shiloh Christian 24
Shiloh Christian^7^17^0^0^—^24
Pea Ridge^3^14^7^6^—^30
First Quarter
Pea — FG Green 36, 4:24.
Shiloh — Nelson 15 pass from Reece (Williams kick), 3:16.
Second Quarter
Pea — Winn 56 run (Green kick), 11:24.
Shiloh — Berus 2 run (Williams kick), 9:27.
Shiloh — Thomson 3 pass from Reece (Williams kick), 4:40.
Pea — Higgins 43 pass from Sainsbury (Green kick), 2:35.
Shiloh — FG Williams 27, :05.
Third Quarter
Pea — Winn 24 run (Green kick), 10:47.
Fourth Quarter
Pea — Winn 31 run (Kick failed), 9:10.
Team Statistics
^Shiloh^Pea
First Downs^23^18
Rushes-yards^37-155^39-248
Passing yards^301^169
Comp-Att-Int^17-33-1^10-17-0
Punts^2-27.5^4-33.7
Fumbles-lost^1-0^0-0
Penalties-yards^3-23^2-156
Individual Statistics
RUSHING Shiloh Christian, Reece 14-68, Berus 17-62, Russ 5-22, B. Moore 1-3. Pea Ridge, Winn 14-130, Holley 21-109, Sainsbury 3-5, Brewer 1-4.
PASSING Shiloh Christian, Reece 17-33-1-301. Pea Ridge, Sainsbury 10-17-0-169
RECEIVING Shiloh Christian, Nelson 6-105, Thomson 4-31, Russ 3-35, Berus 2-74, Neal 1-45, Tutt 1-11. Pea Ridge, Holtgrewe 4-65, Higgins 3-60, Holley 1-33, Caudill 1-7, Winn 1-4.
MISSED FIELD GOALS Pea Ridge, Green 25
Pea Ridge earned the school's first trip to the state football championship game by holding off 4A-1 Conference rival Shiloh Christian 30-24 Friday night in a Class 4A state semifinal game at Blackhawks Stadium.
Pea Ridge (13-1) will take on Warren in the state finals next Friday night in War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. Warren knocked off Prairie Grove in the other semifinal Friday night.
The Blackhawks made two second-half touchdowns stand by shutting out Shiloh Christian (11-3) in the second half as the Pea Ridge defense turned in a stellar performance with several crucial stops late in the game.
The biggest came with just under five minutes left when Pea Ridge stopped the Saints short on a fourth down and seven play at the Blackhawks' 22, clinging to a six-point lead.
"That was the season," said Pea Ridge coach Stephen Neal. "We knew if we could come up with a stop there, we could maybe get the ball out and run the clock down some, and we did.
"But it wasn't just that play. It was play-after-play-after-play tonight."
Pea Ridge trailed 24-17 at halftime after Shiloh Christian's Patrick Williams kicked a 27-yard field goal just before intermission, but it could have been worse had the Blackhawks not clamped down after Shiloh Christian moved inside the 15-yard line on a 10-yard keeper by quarterback Connor Reece.
The Blackhawks Justin Koon made a huge play on the opening kickoff of the second half as the sophomore went high to catch an attempted onside kick, giving Pea Ridge the ball at the Saints' 43. Three plays later Drew Winn raced 24 yards for a touchdown, tying the score at 24-24 with 10 minutes, 47 seconds left in the third quarter.
"That was a huge, huge drive," Neal said. "They had the momentum going in at halftime. We figured we could run the ball a little bit on them, but that was a huge deal. Koon recovering that onside kick was big to give us that great field position."
Pea Ridge had a chance to take the lead late in the third quarter, but missed a short field goal try. The Blackhawks had a spectacular 100-yard interception return by Winn negated by a block in the back penalty at the end of the third quarter.
But the Blackhawks managed to take the lead early in the fourth quarter, marching 85 yards in 8 plays, keyed by an 18-yard pass from Jakota Sainsbury to Hayden Holtgrewe, and Winn capped the drive with a 31-yard burst up the middle and a 30-24 lead after the extra-point try was blocked.
That missed PAT loomed large when the Saints moved from their own 40 to inside the Pea Ridge 20 with just over five minutes left. Reece and Broc Berus keyed the drive with hammering runs, including a 5-yard run by Berus that moved the ball to the Pea Ridge 25.
After Berus gained seven yards to the Pea Ridge 18, he was dropped for a four-yard loss by Robby Pickthall and Wyatt Webber on third down. On fourth and seven, Reece's pass to Jaret Russ resulted in a loss of three yards and Pea Ridge took over.
"We never really thought about (a field goal)," Shiloh Christian coach Jeff Conaway said. "Our offense has been real explosive all year long and we felt like we needed to get a touchdown early because three points were not going to win it. We need a touchdown and we lost by six."
The Blackhawks moved to the Shiloh Christian 40 before punting the ball away as Pickthall's punt pinned the Saints back at their own 9 with no timeouts left and under a minute to play. Reece hit Berus for 26 yards, but Seth Trammell came up with two big sacks of Reece and the clock ran out.
The first half was filled with explosive plays by both teams, especially Shiloh Christian's passing game as Reece threw for 205 yards. Reece ended the night 17-of-33 for 301 yards.
Pea Ridge countered with a steady run game with Winn (14-130) and Zaine Holley (21-109) leading the way, but the Blackhawks also found success with the passing game as Sainsbury finished 10-of-17 for 165 yards and a touchdown to Ryan Higgins.
Sports on 12/03/2016