Football: Warren's fast start ends Prairie Grove's season

Isaac Disney (2) of Prairie Grove hauls in a pass over D’Shawn Jackson of Warren on Friday at Tiger Stadium in Prairie Grove.
Isaac Disney (2) of Prairie Grove hauls in a pass over D’Shawn Jackson of Warren on Friday at Tiger Stadium in Prairie Grove.

PRAIRIE GROVE -- When Prairie Grove scores at least 28 points in a football game, things usually go its way.

Hayden Lassiter, Treylon Burks and Keemontrae McKnight made sure that didn't happen Friday night.

[HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL SCOREBOARD: Full results + recaps, photos and more]

Warren 48, Prairie Grove 28

Warren^21^7^13^7^—^48

Prairie Grove^0^14^6^8^—^28

First quarter

Warren — Burks 32 pass from Lassiter (Yepes kick), 10:45.

Warren — McKnight 56 pass from Lassiter (Yepes kick), 6:55.

Warren — Burks 44 pass from Lassiter (Yepes kick), 4:16.

Second quarter

Warren — McKnight 41 pass from Lassiter (Yepes kick), 10:33.

Prair — Disney 35 pass from Laird (Laird kick), 7:47.

Prair — Laird 1 run (Laird kick), :20.

Third quarter

Warren — Lassiter 8 run (Yepes kick), 8:15.

Prair — Cooper 30 pass from Laird (kick fail), 4:56.

Warren — Burks 37 pass from Lassiter (run fail), 3:00.

Fourth quarter

Warren — Burks 40 pass from Lassiter (Yepes kick), 10:19.

Prair — Laird 1 run (Laird pass to Fidler), 4:16.

TEAM STATISTICS

^Warren^Prair

First Downs^21^18

Rushes-yards^32-128^38-184

Passing yards^437^236

Comp-Att-Int^18-22-1^17-36-0

Punts^0-0^3-32.3

Fumbles-lost^1-1^1-1

Penalties-yards^1-10^2-10

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING Warren — Daniels 16-86, Person 5-31, Lassiter 10-15, TEAM 1-(minus 4). Prairie Grove — Johnson 14-74, Sam 9-60, Burton 4-24, Laird 8-18, Orr 3-8.

PASSING Warren — Lassiter 18-22-1-437. Prairie Grove — Laird 19-36-0-236.

RECEIVING Warren — Burks 8-202, McKnight 6-143, Hargis 3-40, Daniels 1-22. Prairie Grove — Disney 4-96, Fidler 4-50, Cooper 4-45, Sam 3-5, Johnson 1-13, Burton 1-10, Orr 1-9, Higgins 1-6.

MISSED FIELD GOALS None.

Lassiter passed for 437 yards and ran for a touchdown, while Burks and McKnight combined for six touchdown receptions as Warren claimed a 48-28 victory during a Class 4A state playoff semifinal battle between unbeaten teams at Tiger Stadium.

"It didn't take long," Lassiter said. "We came in with a good game plan and executed. Those young guys, they really made it easy for me. They worked their tails off."

Lassiter misfired on his first pass, but connected on his next eight and had already compiled 245 yards to help Warren (14-0) take an early 28-0 lead. He connected with Burks for touchdown passes of 32 and 44 yards in the first quarter, then added a 56-yard TD pass to McKnight in the first quarter.

His fourth touchdown pass, a 41-yarder to McKnight, came on the fourth play of the second quarter, and Sergio Yepes' PAT kick gave the Lumberjacks their 28-0 cushion with 10 minutes, 33 seconds before halftime.

"That's something we wanted to do," Warren coach Bo Hembree said. "We wanted to throw the football coming into this game. We knew we had some matchups that we really liked, and I thought we did a really good job.

"I'm every excited for these kids. I've been there before, and some of these kids haven't. It will be a fun experience for them, and hopefully we can get prepared."

Prairie Grove entered the game having won 53 of its last 54 games when the Tigers had scored 28 points. The last time it happened was a 49-32 setback against Nashville in the 2014 state playoffs.

The Tigers, however, never found a way to get out of the early hole. Prairie Grove was able to cut Warren's lead to 28-14 before the first half ended as Zeke Laird hit Isaac Disney with a 35-yard touchdown pass, then Anthony Johnson's interception set up Laird's 1-yard run for a score with 20 seconds before halftime.

Prairie Grove then had the ball to start the second half with a chance to make it closer. The Tigers drove to midfield before they tried a pass, but Dustin Burton was hit by two Warren defenders and couldn't hold on to a fourth-down pass.

"We just couldn't score," Prairie Grove coach Danny Abshier said. "We hadn't punted the ball in a while and had to punt the ball three times in this game. We just couldn't pull it off. They were pretty good.

"We were ready. I think our guys were ready to play. I think we were pretty physical. I don't know if we were ready for some of the stuff they had."

Lassiter made sure the Tigers wouldn't get another chance to get any closer. He ran 8 yards for one touchdown, then threw touchdown passes to Burks for 37 and 40 yards, with the latter giving Warren a 48-20 lead with 10:19 remaining.

Lassiter completed 18 of 22 passes and only one interception, with Burks -- a 6-foot-3 sophomore -- catching eight for 202 passes. McKnight, another sophomore, added 143 yards on six receptions for Warren, which will play Pea Ridge in the Class 4A state championship game next week in Little Rock.

Laird, on the other hand, completed 19 of 32 passes for 236 yards and hit eight different receivers.

Sports on 12/03/2016

Upcoming Events