Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Wolves and Bears tie in '07 season opener

The 2007 Sr. High season opener for the Prescott Curley Wolves and Spring Hill Bears finally arrived on Friday night at Spring Hill High School as both teams took the field with high hopes. Prescott is the defending 7-3A District Champions, and the 2006 state Runner-up after inspiring 2006 season capped by impressive home victories in the play-offs against tough North Arkansas teams. But the great thing about Friday nights in Arkansas is that you start over every week and every season.

Prescott received the opening kick-off and started the 2007 season on their own 47. Quarterback Termaine Henderson connected with split-end Jermaine Henderson on a wide-out screen pass for a 21 yard gain to put the Curley Wolves in Bear country right from the start. However, the drive stalled at the Spring Hill 29 with a lost fumble.

The Bears opened up with a naked bootleg keeper from quarterback Steven Cox for a 19 yard gain to pump life into the Spring Hill team. Running backs Colby Powell and Jeremy Aaron then pounded the ball at Prescott until the Curley Wolves defense dug in and stopped Spring Hill on downs at the Prescott 15 yard line.

Spring Hills defense returned the favor and held Prescott , forcing a punt from the 11. The Bears took possession on the 50, but again the Wolves defense held and Spring Hill turned the ball over on downs after only five plays.

Prescott took over at mid-field, and on the fourth play of the drive, T. Henderson took a busted play and scrambled 50 yards for the first score of the night. The point-after attempt by Ray Smith failed, and Prescott held a 6-0 lead with :52 seconds remaining in the 1st quarter.

The second quarter had no scoring as both offenses punted and turned the ball over on downs to end the half.

The third quarter opened with Spring Hill taking the opening kick-off to their own 21 yard line. The Bears put together an impressive drive to the Prescott 13 yard line. On 2nd and 13, Colby Powell scrambled in for the score, and with the successful two-point conversion Spring Hill took the lead 8-6 with 6:30 remaining in the quarter.

Prescott answered on their next possession with an eight play drive capped by a 22 yard touchdown pass from T. Henderson to J. Henderson. The two-point conversion was good as T. Henderson found tight-end Tony Gillard in the end-zone for a 14-8 lead with 2:11 to go in the 3rd.

Spring Hill stalled on their next drive, and punted the ball away. Prescott took over, but on the second play of the drive, a Prescott pass was intercepted by Spring Hill defender Steven Cox and returned 42 yards for the score. The two-point conversion was good by Aaron, and Spring Hill took a 16-14 lead with 11:50 to play in the game.

Prescott s next possession stalled on the Spring Hill 23 yard line, and the Bears took over on downs. The next two possessions by both teams resulted in punts.

Spring Hill took over on the 50, with the Curley Wolves forcing a 3rd and long, when the Bears Brandon Otis picked up a loose ball and sprinted 46 yards for the score. The Curley Wolves were able to hold the line aided by Bo Jester finishing the runner off just shy of the goal-line to stop the two-point conversion. With 1:28 left in the game, Spring Hill led the Curley wolves 22-14.

Prescott took over after the kick-off and mounted a scoring drive for the ages. Trailing by eight, with less than a minute and a half to go, T. Henderson was able to cap the drive off with a 3 yard run for the touchdown. After the score, Prescott trailed 22-20 with the two-point conversion yet to come. T. Henderson took the snap and found receiver Ivan Young in the end-zone for the tie with :22 seconds remaining.

Spring Hill took the kick-off, but was unable to mount anything as time ran out in regulation. There is not a tie-breaker rule for non-conference games, thus the game ended with a tie.

This opener, like so many, was marred by mistakes from both teams, but the effort and athleticism from both teams should give pause to conference opponents as both teams had moments ofexcellence.

Prescott will host Nashville at Cummins Stadium on Friday night for the second of three tough non-conference games before the 7-3A opener on September 21 at Bismarck.