PRAIRIE GROVE — Prairie Grove earned a share of the 4A-1 Conference title by virtue of its 56-25 drubbing of Lincoln on Friday in the final game of the regular season. Prairie Grove’s win coupled with Shiloh Christian’s 17-14 upset of Pea Ridge gave the Tigers (9-1, 6-1) a share of the league title, but Prairie Grove will be the No. 2 seed from the conference for the state playoffs. Lincoln tried an onside kick to start the game, but Ethan Guenther recovered for the Tigers. Nine plays later Anthony Johnson scored the first of his three rushing touchdowns to put the Tigers ahead. Johnson added scoring runs of 4 yards in the second and 25 yards in the fourth quarter. He also caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from John David Elder in the second quarter. On the first play after Lincoln turned the ball over on downs, Elder threw to tight end DeMarkus Cooper for a 31-yard touchdown. Ben Beason booted the second of 8 successful extra-point kicks and Prairie Grove led 14-0 with 5:21 left in the first period. Lincoln did later recover an onside kick and capitalized on a short field. The Wolves drove 50 yards in 14 plays aided by a roughing-the-kicker penalty against Prairie Grove on a missed field goal attempt. Caleb Lloyd ran the ball in from 8 yards out and Paul Frogg kicked the extra-point to narrow Prairie Grove’s lead to 14-7 with 1:59 left in the first quarter, but that was half of the points Lincoln’s offense could produce.
— Mark Humphrey