Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Prescott Mistakes Equal Hope Victory

The Hope Bobcats may have won the game, but they knew that the Curley wolves had a hold of them.

Mistakes plagued the Wolves as they lost 33-22 to the much larger Hope team.

If it had not been for a few mistakes by Prescott and good luck by the Bobcats, the win very well could have been the Wolves'. In fact the first two scored by Hope was caused by mistakes made by Prescott.

The first was on the fourth play of the game, when Prescott was punting on fourth and 23 from their own end of the field. The punt was blocked by Hope's Isaac Hendrix, who ran it in for the TD. The kick after was good and Hope led 7-0.

Prescott rushed for 33 yards and three first downs the first quarter while the Bobcats came up with 26 yards and only one first down. Yet the Bobcats led the Curley Wolves by one touchdown going into the second period.

The Curley Wolves were on the move in the second period, getting two first downs before a fumble gave the Bobcats another score. This time David Williams scooped it up and went around 35 or 40 yards for the TD. The kick made it 14-0 with 7:13 left in the half.

The kick-off by Michael Neathery was excellent with Brad Harris falling down with it on his six-yard line. Four plays later he had to punt from the five. The ball was partially blocked and Hope took over on the Prescott 19.

Decosta Holyfield, who rushed for 119 yards during the game, got the touchdown on his second attempt, from the Prescott 16. The kick after was missed, but the Bobcats led 20-0.

The next series for Prescott was argued by coach David Bennet, but nonetheless, the Curley Wolves had to cough up the ball.

Starting at their 24 after the kick-off, the Wolves picked up another first down, then quarterback Josh Bullock had to scramble instead of passing on a third and 15. He picked up enough yardage for the first down, but the officials claimed he was stripped of the ball for a turnover. Bullock told his coach he was out of bounds and held the ball out for the officials. Hope had a first down at Prescott's 13-yard line after the argument ended with the officials winning.

Holyfield went left and gained five yards; then on the next play he went right and gained six more for the first down at the two.

He lost three on the next play, but took it in for the score on the next. The PAT was good and Hope led 26-0.

This time Neathery's kick-off was shorter than usual and Fred Hopson took the ball around the 30. With a determined grip on the ball he went through tacklers, weaving and high-stepping it 70 yards for Prescott's first TD. The Wolves went for two extra points and Bullock's pass to Rafael Marlow was good to make it 26-8 with only a minute left in the half.

Prescott's total offensive yardage the first half added up to 103 with six first downs. Hope had a total of 84 yards (Holyfield rushed for 77) and four first downs.

Each team had two first downs the third period with only Hope scoring. That TD came late in the quarter when Prescott's offense failed to cover a lateral pass and Hope recovered it at the Prescott 35.

Holyfield gained nine yards on the first play and Reggie Johnson managed one on the next before quarterback Justin Watson connected with Paul Wilson for the TD. The point after try was good for Hope to take a 33-8 lead.

Hopson took the Hope kick-off at his 16 and wasn't stopped until he reached the 43. From that point it was nothing but good playing for the Curley Wolves.

Calvin Flemons, who was Prescott's leading rusher offensively, got the first call and picked up five yards. He then caught a screen pass from Bullock that turned into a 25-yard play.

Bullock then connected with Marlow for a gain of nearly 10 yards, coming up two inches shy of a first down. Perhaps for surprise Coach Bennett elected for Bullock to pass again. Bullock narrowly escaped from being sacked, but managed to get the pass away, incomplete.

However, on the next play the quarterback went straight up the middle on a sneak and gained two yards for the first down.

Flemons tried to sweep left and lost a yard on the play, then Bullock hit Andrew Fellows for the TD. Once more the two-point try was successful with a Bullock to Flemons pass, making the score 33-16 and 10:04 left in the game.

Two attempts at an offsides kick-off was unsuccessful as Prescott was called for illegal procedure on each. Eventually the Wolves kicked from their 30 with Hope beginning its series at the 49.

Prescott's defense was fired up and went after the Bobcats with a vengeance, forcing a punt on fourth down. After a penalty against the Bobcats, Prescott took over on their own 24.

A good pass intended for Flemons was interfered with, but Prescott got the first down after Hope was penalized 15 yards.

Two passes, one intended for Ronnie Nolen and another for Fellows fell incomplete. Then it appeared that Bullock went back for the long bomb. This drew all of the Hope squad toward him. He threw a screen pass to Bryan Joseph who was not stopped till he reached the Hope 12-yard line, setting up a TD.

Hopson took the handoff and swept to the right for the score. The two-point conversion attempt failed but now Prescott was only 11 points behind, 33-22.

However, other opportunities to score ended on interceptions.

Bullock attempted 22 passes, completing 10 for 174 yards. He had two interceptions and 10 incomplete. Harris attempted one pass that was incomplete.

In all the Curley Wolves rushed for 72 yards, which gave Prescott a total of 246 offensive yards. One must remember Hopson's 70-yard run-back, too.

Prescott ended the game with 16 first downs to Hope's six.

The Bobcats rushed for 123 yards and Watson completed three of eight passes for 39 more yards, making a total of 162 yards for Hope.

Prescott was penalized seven times for 35 yards. The Bobcats were penalized 10 times for 90 yards.

Of course the big problems was turnovers. The Curley Wolves committed seven while Hope had none.

This week the Curley Wolves will travel the short distance to Gurdon to face the Class AA Go-Devils in their new stadium, which was only used for the first time last week. Lake Village took a 15-12 victory home.

The week before, Gurdon had defeated Fouke, Prescott's conference opponent on October 29.

Bismarck was defeated by the Lakeside Rams Friday night, 34-22. Prescott will host Bismarck on September 24 in a conference game.

Nashville let Ashdown score first Friday night, but won 20-7. This week the Scrappers will host the Hope Bobcats. That game could give some hint of what to expect of Nashville on October 1 when the Scrappers come to Prescott.

De Queen, Prescott's conference opponent on October 8 (there), ran away from Stamps, 56-15, Friday night.

Fountain Lake defeated Jessieville 20-14. Fountain Lake will be Prescott's homecoming challenger on October 15.

Mena, another conference team, was run over by Booneville, 47-14. Prescott will host Mena October 22.

Fouke, Prescott's opponent October 29, took care of Lewisville, 20-6 Friday night.

Fordyce, which will close out the season with a home game against Prescott on Thursday, November 4, lost to powerhouse Sheridan, 27-0. The week before, the Redbugs tied with arch rival Rison, 42-42.