Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Wolves offense potent in 32-19 win over De Queen

Prescott racked up 492 yards of total offense en route to a 32-19 win over the De Queen Leopards Friday night at Cummins Field.

The Leopards entered the contest with a 3-2 record, identical to Prescott's, but would leave at 3-3. The Wolves are now 2-1 in 7AAA conference action.

And, with Ashdown's 21-7 win over Nashville, the Wolves have the chance to be able to share the conference title. However, this will take wins over Fountain Lake and Mena on the road the next two weeks, beating Fouke in Homecoming on Nov. 1, and ending the season with a win over the Ashdown Panthers on Nov. 8.

It can, however, be done.

"It feels great to be 4-2 and 2-1," said Prescott Head Coach Greg Smith. "But at this point, we need to take care of business every week."

The Wolves took care of business against De Queen from the outset.

Prescott won the opening toss and deferred to the second half, giving the Leopards the ball.

De Queen began at its 19, ran five plays and punted.

Prescott's offense took over at the Wolf 19 following the 44-yard punt.

The Wolves needed three plays in order to put points on the board.

Zach Martin hit R.J. Vanhook with a screen to open play, with Vanhook gaining 10 and giving Prescott some breathing room.

Play two saw Vanhook lose a yard. On the third play, Martin hit Joe Stueart with a 68-yard scoring pass to make it 6-0 with 7:13 left in the first.

The point after was no good.

After the kick, De Queen started at its 30, ran three plays and punted again.

Starting at the Wolf 31, Martin again dropped back to pass, was heavily rushed, evaded several potential tacklers, found an opening and ran 69 yards for Prescott's second touchdown of the quarter with 5:21 showing.

The two-point conversion was unsuccessful, but the Wolves were up 12-0.

The Leopards took the field for the third time at the De Queen 25.

Going to the air, Trey Williams found Brooks Miller with a 26-yard pass, then connected with J.J. Lopez for another 11 yards, moving into Prescott territory at the 38.

The Leopards would get to Prescott's 12 before the Wolf defense stiffened and forced De Queen to turn the ball over on downs with 3:33 to go in the first.

The best the Wolves could do would be get to the Prescott 41 before punting to the Leopard 27.

With 21 seconds left in the quarter Williams again took to the air, finding Stueart with his second pass. Stueart may have been Williams's favorite receiver as the two connected three time in the contest, in spite of the fact Stueart was wearing maroon at the time.

Stueart made the pick at the Leopard 30, returning it to the 22 with 10 seconds remaining.

Smith went to his bag of tricks, having Martin hand off to Vanhook, who gave the ball to A.J. Lewis. Lewis found Jason Butler all by himself for six as time expired.

The two-point conversion made it 20-0 as the teams exchanged sides of the playing field.

Starting at the De Queen 25 after the kickoff, the Leopards struck quickly as Williams hit Miller for a 75-yard touchdown to get the second quarter underway.

The PAT was wide left, but the score had been cut to 20-6.

De Queen squib kicked the ball on every kickoff. This type of kick is difficult to handle, but Prescott managed quite nicely during the game.

Jarrod Norwood took the kick at the Wolf 25, returning it to the 30.

The Wolves showed the ability to move the ball and use the clock on this drive, but came away empty as Matin fumbled on a fourth down play at the Leopard 16.

Neither team did much in the second quarter until Stueart intercepted his second pass with four-tenths of a second left in the half.

The pick was made at the Leopard 47. Lewis took over under center, rolled to his left and hit Stueart with a 53-yard touchdown to end the first half of play.

The PAT was no good, but Prescott now led 26-6, with the Wolves to get the ball at the start of the third quarter.

"We had a mental letdown in the third quarter," Smith said.

This has been the case since the Bismarck game, when the starters played one quarter and Smith substituted heavily the rest of the game.

The letup in this case was defensive, as the Wolf offense started at the Prescott 34, used 5:42 in a 11-play drive capped by a two-yard plunge by Damaricus Craven with 6:18 to go.

The try for two was no good, but Prescott's lead was now 32-6.

The Leopards faced Prescott's second string much of the third period, as several starters were having problems with cramped muscles.

Still, the second crew forced De Queen to punt after three plays on its first possession.

An illegal block in the back put the Wolves at midfield and in prime position to add more points to the board, something Prescott would not do the remainder of the game.

The drive ended quickly when a Martin to Lewis pass would be fumbled with De Queen recovering at its 41.

Williams led his team to its second score in a six-play drive which ended with Zach Jones scoring on a 15-yard run.

De Queen's try for two was no good, and the score stood at 32-12 with 2:54 left.

Starting at the Prescott 40, the Wolves would do a three and out, with the punt being fielded at the Leopard 30 and returned to the 36 with 1:06 to go.

Williams moved the Leopards to the Prescott 32 as time expired in the third.

De Queen would need five plays at the start of the fourth to finish scoring in the game.

Williams connected with Lopez on a 23-yard touchdown pass with 9:17 showing. The point after made it 32-19.

From there, it was a defensive battle as neither offense was able to move into scoring position.

As time was winding down the Leopards had the ball at the De Queen 38.

Williams hit Jones with a pass, moving to the Leopard 48.

On the next play, Stueart made his third pick of the game, intercepting the ball at the Prescott 40 with 1:35 left.

The Wolves moved the ball to the Leopard 29, eating seconds off the clock to preserve the win.

Unofficially, the combine of Martin and Lewis were 13-19 in the air for 266 yards, while Williams was 11 of 26 for 2286 yards.

Prescott's ground game added another 226 yards, while the Wolf defense allowed only 69 rushing yards.

The Wolves were flagged five times for 35 yards, while De Queen was penalized three times for 16 yards.

Prescott fumbled three times, losing two, while the Leopards didn't fumble in the contest.

Prescott's offense tallied 20 first downs, with De Queen getting 15.

Martin was sacked twice by Leopard players, while Williams was sacked once.

In all, the Wolves ran the ball 42 times, with De Queen rushing 21 times.

Vanhook was the leading ground gainer with 121 yards on 20 carries.

Martin added 75 yards on seven runs.

"We faltered against Nashville," Smith said, "and didn't show up. But, we learned a lot from it.

"We need to show up each week. We've set ourselves up with a better position for the playoffs. Our main goal from the start was to make it to post-season play and we're one week closer.

"De Queen was a step in the right direction," he continued. "We know we need to play four quarters of football to win the conference."

Smith said the team will be working to eliminate mental mistakes made against De Queen.

The Wolves will be on the road Friday night as Prescott travels to Fountain Lake to take on the Cobras in another important conference game.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.