Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Wolves take Lions, 42-8

The Prescott Curley Wolves took another conference win against the Horatio Lions with a final score of 42-8.

Another beautiful Friday night in Southwest Arkansas brought two communities together for a well played game by both teams. The Prescott Curley Wolves traveled due West about as far as one can in Arkansas to play the Horatio Lions in the third game of the conference season. As the sun set, the Horatio Lions poised for a fight that lasted the whole game. Do not let the score fool anyone into false senses of doubt; the Horatio team was only a few players away from making this a battle-royal.

The opening kick-off gave the Curley Wolves a moment of pause as the Lions on-side kicked the ball into a front line player and recovered the ball near the 50 for the first drive of the night. A ball kicked from a tee must travel at least ten yards before either team has rights to it. A kick-off is different than a punt in that either team may recover the ball; this is known as a free ball. Once the ball bounced off of a Prescott player, it did not matter whether or not the ball traveled ten yards, it became free. Horatio commenced to drive the ball in short gains down the field. Seventeen plays later, they faced a fourth and goal from the 2-yard line. The Prescott defense dug deep, as it has many times this year with its back to the wall, and forced Horatio to turn the ball over on downs at the 2. Prescott took over in perilous territory, but managed to move the ball out of a deep hole to score first. Prescott began the night in the Wild Wolf formation (there are no Hogs here) with DeMarcus Collier taking the shotgun snap for the first two plays of the drive. On third and 11 from the 2, Termaine Henderson hit Tony Gillard for a 12-yard pick-up to give the Wolves some breathing room. Things opened up then as Collier carried gains of 1 and 33 before B. J. Haynie scrambled 40 yards for the touchdown. The extra point was good by Jordan Banks, to make the score 7-0 with1:53 to play in the quarter. The Horatio Lions were unable to do anything on their next drive, and punted the ball away to Prescott .

James Threadgill got the call on this drive and started off with a nice 4-yard gain up the middle. But two plays later the Curley Wolves lost a fumble deep in Horatio territory. Horatio mounted a seven play drive, but did not get out of the hole far enough as Prescott blocked the punt to set up first and goal on the Horatio 5-yard line. A flag on Prescott and two good runs put the Wolves in the end zone on Kalin Halls 5-yard run. Banks was good on the kick, and Prescott held a 14-0 lead with 5:39 to play in the half.

Horatio again took the kick-off and mounted an impressive nine play drive stopped short by the nasty Curley Wolf defense on the 2-yard line. Prescott answered with a 40-yard pass reception from Henderson to Jermaine Henderson to get the ball back to mid-field. But another untimely fumble stopped the drive short. Horatio looked ready to drive the field again, but Prescott s Michael Hamilton snagged an interception to give the ball back to the offense. Four plays later Henderson connected with Micah McCoy for a 27-yard touchdown with :3.9 seconds to play in the half, to move the score to 20-0. Banks was good again (I will write this three more times), and the score was 21-0 to end the half.

Horatio took the opening kick-off of the second half, but only managed a negative two yards and were forced to punt. Prescott had great field position on this drive, but again lost a fumble to give it right back to Horatio. Horatio then went three plays for one yard before attempting a fake punt on fourth and 9. A flag negated the gain, and Prescott took over on the Horatio 45-yard line. Drew Loe, came in at quarterback and immediately went to the air. Scrambling to his left (he is left handed), and with the receivers covered, Loe scrambled for a 6-yard gain highlighted by him delivering the blow to the Lions tackler. On the next play, Loe connected with Gavin McCauley for a 19-yard completion to the 19-yard line. Loe scrambled again for a first down to give Prescott first and goal on the Lion 9-yard line. Haynie and Threadgill finished the drive with Threadgill blasting in from the 3-yard line for a touchdown. Banks was good (I told you so), and Prescott held a 28-0 lead with 5:14 to play in the third quarter. Horatio started again driving the ball, but the final nail in the coffin came with Hamilton intercepting and returning the ball 30 yards for a touchdown to give Prescott a 35-0 lead with 1:04 to play in the third. With the play clock now under the mercy rule, the game seemed to fly away from Horatio. Prescott forced Horatio to give the ball back, and began their last scoring drive of the night. Jordan Williamson quarterbacked this drive fro eight plays and a touchdown strike to Ivan Young for a 5-yard touchdown with 5:40 to play. Banks was good (last time) and Prescott held a 42-0 lead.

Horatio would not go away, and mounted a drive to finally score on a 9-yard run with :51 seconds remaining. The swinging gate extra-point try was good, and Horatio had closed the gap to 42-8.

Prescott showed outstanding effort, and the coaches got a good look at several players in the process. All of them will be needed as Prescott hosts Lafayette County this Friday in a game that has play-off implications written all over it.

The Junior High Curley Wolves will take their perfect 3-0 conference record to Stamps on Thursday night in pursuit of another Junior High 7-3A title.