Prairie Grove holds off Elkins

ELKINS — In a battle for second place in the 4A-1 Conference, Prairie Grove survived a toe-to-toe fight from Elkins, holding on for a 28-20 victory.

The opening-round matchups in the state playoffs have yet to be determined.

“We knew that they were a very good team, so we expected to be in a fight tonight,” Prairie Grove coach Danny Abshier said. “Coach (Bryan) Hutson has done a real good job with those guys, and they never quit battling. But we made some mistakes tonight that hurt us a little bit, so those are things we have to work on moving forward.”

Prairie Grove (9-1, 6-1) did most of its damage on the ground, rushing for 262 yards on 44 carries, with only 89 yards through the air. Elkins (7-2, 4-2) relied heavily on the passing game, as quarterback Kain Johnson completed nine passes for 258 yards. The Elks managed just 43 yards on the ground, including minus 21 in the second half.

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“We had some different schemes planned offensively, but we were able to run the ball pretty good, so we just said, ‘Keep running it,’” Abshier said. “Our line did a good job opening some holes for those guys.”

Prairie Grove’s first drive stalled at the Elkins 10, as the Tigers were unable to covert on fourth down. But they quickly got the ball back when Knox Laird pick off a pass at the Elks 28. Two plays later, Laird, who also plays quarterback, connected with Landon Semrad for a 22-yard touchdown.

Elkins took a huge gamble near the end of the first quarter, when the Elks decided to go for it on fourth and 7 from their own 33. But it quickly paid off as Johnson appeared to drop back into punting formation, but took the snap and tossed downfield to Cody Drummond for a 32-yard gain inside Tiger territory.

Johnson then completed another fourth-down heave to Trevor Shumate for 18 yards to the Prairie Grove 5. On the following play — the 13th of the drive — Johnson scampered into the end zone for the score. After a failed 2-point conversion attempt, the Elks trailed 7-6 with 9:30 remaining in the first half.

“They had a good scheme for us defensively and pressured our quarterback, but he got out of some tight situations and made some big plays for us,” Elkins coach Bryan Hutson said.

Prairie Grove responded with a 12-play, 57-yard drive that ended with a 5-yard touchdown run by Laird. Then after forcing Elkins into a quick three-and-out late in the half, Laird completed passes of 34 and 23 yards to get the ball to the Elks’ 1. Foster Layman then scored the first of his two touchdowns in the game to put the Tigers up 21-6 at the intermission. Layman finished with 114 yards on 20 carries.

“This was two good football teams that went after it tonight,” Hutson said. “It was really the first team we played this year that’s (had the quarterback) under center, so it was hard to simulate that in practice, and their running game is hard to stop.”

Elkins tightened things up midway through the third quarter. After an errant snap by Prairie Grove, Shumate pounced on it in the end zone for an Elkins touchdown.

The Tigers then fumbled on the first play of the ensuing drive, setting the Elks up at the Prairie Grove 23. After a 12-yard sack, Johnson threw a pass that deflected off a Tiger defenders’ hands into the waiting hands of Shumate in the end zone. The Tiger lead was cut to 21-20 with 4:25 left in the third quarter.

Layman extended the lead to 8 midway through the fourth quarter on a 4-yard run.

Elkins drove down to the Prairie Grove 10 late in the game but was unable to complete three straight passes, turning the ball over on downs.

“Prairie Grove is well-coached and did a great job, but our kids never gave up,” Hutson said. “We had our chances at the end of the ball game, but it was just a play here or there that didn’t go our way. I just told our guys that I am not disappointed in their effort. They never gave up and fought all the way ’til the end.”

FOUR DOWNS

• Prairie Grove outgained Elkins 351-301 in total offense.

• This was the first time these two teams have met as members of the 4A-1 Conference. Elkins was elevated up a classification before this season.

• Coming into Friday night’s game, each team had suffered just one defeat, both at the hands of conference champion Shiloh Christian.

• Next week, both teams will get a bye in the state playoffs, then host a game on Nov. 20, but matchups are still to be determined.