Lions iron kinks out of kicking game following first victory
Posted on Sunday, September 7, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/bcdr/Sports/65490/
GRAVETTE — Two guesses what 4 A sixth-ranked Gravette stressed last week after its 27-16 victory Tuesday night against the explosive Clarksville Panthers in the Hootens. com Kickoff Classic in Bentonville.
And offense and defense don’t count: those areas were solid.
Try the kicking game.
“ For sure, that’s what we’ve been mostly working on the last two days, ” Gravette third-year coach Bill Harrelson said Friday. “ We’ve got to get better in that area.
“ The good news is, we have a good kicker but we didn’t cover very well one time. Watching film, it looked like we covered at a different speed that one time. We didn’t get after it like we did the other times. ”
The Lions (1-0 ) had several breakdowns in the kicking game — a PAT kick blocked on their first touchdown. They had a kickoff returned 85 yards for a touchdown. The Panthers recovered an onside kick. A high snap to Gravette’s punter on the Lions’ first possession of the second half set up the Panthers on the
’ 11 yard line. A high snap on next possession led to a safety.
“ On the snaps over the punter’s head, Lincoln Parker is our snapper, ” Harrelson said. “ He’s going to do a great job for us. I have all the confidence in the world in him.
“ It was a wet night; it was his first varsity game. It all kind of got to him at one time. He’s snapped great in practice this week. He’s our man. ”
The Lions’ offense was unstoppable the first half. It scored its first four possessions, driving 58 yards in seven plays, 56 yards in five plays, 85 yards in 14 plays and 70 yards 13 plays.
“ That’s the way we want to play, obviously, all the time, ” Harrelson said. “ I really liked our tempo and the pace we played. We were running play after play as quick as we could. The ball was snapped within the 25 second clock no later than at 18 except when we ran motion. ”
But fatigue caught up with the team, Harrelson said.
“ The bad thing was we didn’t play at that tempo the whole game, ” he amid a 13-play drive from the 9 with under 2 minutes left.
“ I thought the defense played great; it looked even greater on film, ” Harrelson said. “ Brett Meek played that middle linebacker position all night, did a great job. Quintin Eden, too. We had guys step up and play well, others, young guys, fill in for us. ”
He said Clarksville has as explosive an offense as the Lions will see all year.
“ I have no doubt about that, ” he said. “ They’ve got a lot of different weapons. I thought their quarterback, playing his first varsity game, did an outstanding job. ”
Gravette plays at home Friday against McDonald County, Mo., which was thrashed 56-7 by Grove, Okla., in its season opener. said. “ We weren’t in shape enough to do that. We’ve got to get in that shape. ”
With its offense slowed in second half, the defense came to the rescue. It forced Clarksville three and out its first possession. Hayden McAfee intercepted a pass on its second possession. David O’Brien intercepted a pass the first play after CHS recovered an onside kick. The defense stopped CHS on downs from the Gravette 11, stopped CHS at the 5 on a fumble recovery by Quintin Eden after losing a fumble and stopped CHS on downs