Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Curley Wolves Stay Alive In 7AAA

Prescott's defense was able to hold off the Fountain Lake offense only 34 yards away from a game-go-ahead touchdown early in the fourth period to take its second conference win.

The Curley Wolves come out with a 17-14 win over the Cobras. The win now has Prescott tied with Mena and Bismarck in the 7AAA Conference. The Curley Wolves will go to Mena Friday night to settle that situation; they have already defeated the Bismarck Lions.

Leading the conference, of course, is Nashville, which is also ranked fourth in the state in Class AAA, behind Ozark, Fordyce and Warren. Prescott fans should be proud the Redbugs are now in the 8AAA Conference in eastern Arkansas. Friday night they defeated Warren.

De Queen is 10th in the state in Class AAA. Prescott fell victim to the Nashville Scrappers and the De Queen Leopards.

The Mena Bearcats were 40-7 victors over the Fouke Panthers Friday night. Fouke has a 1-3 conference record. Going to Mena, then, will be a big challenge for the Curley Wolves. While the Prescott team is by no means the biggest in the conference, it very well could be the scrappiest. The team just doesn't give up easily. So the Curley Wolves could very well be the biggest surprise that ever hit Mena.

If the Curley Wolves can muster a win against the Bearcats, Fouke should be a win and that leaves the Ashdown Panthers, whose overall record is the same as Prescott and Fouke, 2-5.

First are the Bearcats (they fight like their namesake), then Fouke, then Ashdown  one game at a time  then the state play-offs. All Prescott has to do is finish in fourth place, but with these wins it would boost them to third. They can do it if they continue their determination they have illustrated in other games. It won't be easy, but it can be done.

If the team had wanted to give up they could have done so Friday night against Fountain Lake. Early in the first period Rafael Marlow was stripped of the ball just 26 yards away from a touchdown. Brad Bassett politely ran it all the way back for a score instead for the Cobras. The kick after was good for Fountain Lake to go ahead 7-0. That would have been a good place to quit, if the Curley Wolves were quitters. But they are not.

Prescott provided the Cobras another opportunity on Fountain Lake's next possession by jumping offsides three times. The drive went into the next quarter and ended when Joseph Stueart intercepted a Cobra pass, a thing that is not new to him. The sophomore knows how to do that reasonably well. The turnover set up Prescott's first touchdown for the game.

With a good block from Decolon Prater Marlow went 47 yards on first down. He was finally put down at the Fountain Lake 8.

Marlow gained five yards on the next play and went in for the TD on the next. The point after kick by Jesse Wright hit its mark and the Curley Wolves were tied 7-7 with the Cobras.

Although Wright was off his mark the last two games, the sophomore is on target most of the times, especially if he can keep defenders out of his eyesight. Friday night he kicked two extra points and one field goal.

Prescott's second touchdown against Fountain Lake wasn't long in coming. The Curley Wolves were able to contain the Cobras on their next possession, forcing them to punt on a fourth and nine situation.

A reverse play on the punt reception didn't fool the Cobras long, with Prescott starting its offensive drive near the Curley Wolf 45-yard line.

Marlow picked up five yards on the first play, then Bryan Joseph managed three more. On third down Marlow was stopped for no gain. Then Josh Bullock got the first down yard on a quarterback sneak.

Bullock then did what he does best. He hit Joseph with a 45-yard TD pass. The extra point kick made it 14-7 in favor of the Wolves, which is how the half ended.

However, the Cobras did put a scare into the hearts of Prescott fans and the team and coaches as well. Just after Prescott's TD the Cobras began a drive that almost resulted in a score.

They began at the Prescott 45-yard line. Castleberry picked up eight yards and on the next play the Curley Wolves were flagged for a face mask penalty that gave Fountain Lake a first down at the 32-yard line of Prescott.The Curley Wolves helped them out with a minor penalty on the next series of downs, which was accomplished at the 21.

Prater knocked down a pass that could have been a touchdown, then Castleberry gained 16 yards for a first down at the Prescott five.

At this point the Prescott defense tightened up and didn't give an inch. If anything the Cobras lost yardage. On fourth and five (or fourth and goal to go) the Cobras elected to try a field goal. It was blocked with a punctuation mark with the Wolves capturing the ball on their 10-yard line to stop the drive.

Prescott's third score came with 6:58 left in the third period.

The Curley Wolves took the opening kick-off in grand style. Joseph caught Chris Castleberry's kick near the 15 and returned it 42 yards, to the Fountain Lake 43-yard line.

Marlow picked up two yards on first down; Mark Jones got four on second down; and Joseph got three on third down. The Curley Wolves faked a punt with the ball going to Joseph instead of Bullock, the kicker. Joseph gained nine yards on the play and a first down at the Cobras' 25-yard line.

On the next first down Marlow was stopped for no gain on the first play, then Bullock connected with Jones for 15 yards and a first down at the 10-yard line of Fountain Lake.

Bullock was stopped for no gain on the next play and then Marlow lost a yard. A pass for Joey Wyman fell incomplete, bringing up a fourth and 11 for a touchdown.

Coach Kirk Armitage elected to go for a field goal and sent Wright in to do the honors. He found the uprights and the Wolves led 17-7.

Coach Armitage was confident that his team could recover an onsides kick. However, according to the officials, the kick by Marlow only traveled nine yards, not the required 10. So the Cobras took over on the Prescott 49-yard line, within striking distance.

Fountain Lake scored 13 plays later, moving the ball in a time span of just over six minutes. It was Castleberry going in from two yards out for the TD. The extra pont made it 17-14 with 40 seconds left in the quarter.

The third period was full of errors for the Curley Wolves, first an intentional grounding the ball was called against the Prescott offense, then two major ones against the defense. Ultimately the Wolves were able to stop the Fountain Lake drive at the Prescott 34.

The Cobra punt fell dead at the Prescott 15. Now enter an offense that knew how to kill time. Coach Armitage had his crew make every play on the ground with the clock grinding down.

Five first downs netted Prescott 65 yards before another mistake was made by the Wolves. A holding penalty against Prescott moved the ball back to the Fountain Lake 28. On third and 14 Bullock attempted a pass that was intercepted in the end zone for a second mistake of the drive.

The defense, however, went to work and on fourth and 12 the Cobras had to punt. From that point Bullock ended the game by dropping to the ground on the next two play as time ran out.

Bullock attempted seven passes for 60 yards and one touchdown. He had four fall incomplete and another one intercepted.

Prescott had a total of 240 yards, 180 on the ground and the 60 through the air.

Marlow was game's biggest rusher with 111 yards net. Castleberry was Fountain Lake's leading rusher with 69 yards.

Prescott finished the game with 14 first downs to 13 for Fountain Lake.

In all the Curley Wolves had two turnovers, as did Fountain Lake.

The Curley Wolves were flagged nine times for 90 yards while the Cobras were set back five times for 45 yards.

Although Mena is a long trip, Prescott fans need to show up in number. It is also a long trip for the team, band, cheerleaders and coaches. At this point your support needs to be demonstrated by your attendance.