1-4 A CONFERENCE : Gravette rebounds against Pea Ridge
Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2008
PEA RIDGE — The start of 1-4 A Conference play made for a convenient motivating tool for Gravette.
Fresh off a late collapse in a three-point loss to Wellington, Kan., in the final nonconference game the previous week, the Lions got well at Pea Ridge on Friday. This wasn’t an aesthetic 43-13 victory, but style points aren’t necessarily in demand at this point.
The Lions (3-1, 1-0 ) were efficient on offense, finding the end zone on big plays. On the other side of the ball, Gravette mostly prevented the Blackhawks (0-4, 0-1 ) much space from which to operate.
“We came back from a tough loss. We had some good leadership tonight step up,” said Gravette Coach Bill Harrelson. “I don’t think we played with the intensity we had the first three games, and that’s what we’re going to have to play with all season if we’re going to be successful.” That made Friday an important statement for Gravette, the defending 1-4 A winner expected to get a significant challenge from newcomer Shiloh Christian and others. Even Harrelson called the victory “a great night for the Lions”.
Gravette pulled away after taking a 23-7 halftime lead, with the Lions’ offense having too much speed for Pea Ridge. The advantage was evident on firsthalf touchdowns of 41, 20 and 30 yards.
Quarterback Ethan McKinzie threw a 41-yard scoring pass to David O’Brien; running back Quintin Eden broke through the middle and cut back for a 20-yard run; and McKinzie kept the ball on an option run and beat several Pea Ridge defenders to the outside and over the goal line from the Blackhawks’ 30.
“Watching them run the ball is like watching them run a twominute offense the whole game. They step up and throw, and before you know it they’re 20, 30 yards down the field in two plays,” Pea Ridge Coach Mark Laster said. “It’s tough to compete against that when you don’t have the speed to match up with it.” Eden had three rushes for 55 yards, scoring a touchdown during each covering 20, 21 and 14 yards. His brother Travis Eden also caught a 20-yard touchdown from McKinzie, and steady tailback Teddy Selby ran for 93 yards on 14 attempts. McKinzie was 12 of 16 for 176 yards.
“The speed is usually our advantage on teams in our conference, and we’ve got to take advantage of that because we definitely don’t have a size advantage,” Harrelson said. “We try to get those guys in space.” Pea Ridge quarterback Kip Kelly came up with two key pass plays to reach the end zone late in the first half. He found Ryan Walker for a 19-yard gain to the Gravette 2 after a defensive back just missed an interception.
And on third-and-goal at the 1, Kelly rolled out and fired to the back of the end zone. Tyler Ramsey made a juggling catch and kept his foot in bounds as he was tackled. The touchdown with 29 seconds left pulled the Blackhawks within 16 points at halftime.
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