Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Curley Wolves Score In All Four Quarters Over 7AAA Panthers

Al Johnston, quarterback for the PHS Curley Wolves, rushed for 91 yards, scored one touchdown and passed for two more to lead Prescott in a 27-12 victory Friday night at Ashdown against the Panthers.

Catching the two passes from Johnston was Ross Cowling.

Tight end/defensive end Cedric Flemons provided the other TD for the Curley Wolves in the third period, when he took the handoff from Ashdown quarterback John Harless, running 92 yards for the touchdown.

Mike Fountain added three of four extra point tries after each of the TDs.

Before the game was over the balmy weather had slowed both teams down, with players getting sick on both sides. However, it was the Panthers who were weather-beaten, as Prescott controlled the tempo.

The Panthers scored first, on a Prescott turnover early in the game, but the Wolfgang D was able to keep them from scoring again until the fourth period, when coach Eddie Jackson had put auxiliary players in the game.

It was the positive action of the Prescott team that kept the Wolves going after the Panthers scored in the first quarter. The defense provided the extra opportunities, and the offense was able to do something with them.

Ashdown took the opening kick-off, but had to punt after six plays and 17 yards.

On first down, Prescott's Sam Marlow picked up 10 yards, but coughed up the ball at the Prescott 48 when he was hit. Striking fast, the Panthers had a score three plays later.

Doug Dunn picked up one yard on the first play, then Rocardo Muldrew added three more on the next. Harless then hit Damon Grant around the 20, and Grant easily made the end zone for the six points.

The point after try was blocked by Cedric Flemons, who is following his practice from last year.

Ashdown's defense stopped the Curley Wolves on their next series, but Prescott's special team created the momentum by playing heads-up football.

It was almost like the receiver could hear their cleats pulling turf as he attempted to catch the ball at the Ashdown 36. He fumbled the ball with a pack of Wolves around him with Heath Duke making the recovery for Prescott.

So, although Prescott had to punt, it was just like a outstanding run or a long pass. Playing heads-up makes a tean look good.

Marlow picked up three yards on first down, Rashad Johnson managed two more, then an interference call against the Panthers gave the Wolves a first down at the Ashdown 16.

Carlos Vanhook got the call and gained four yards, then Johnston was sacked for a four-yard loss. Johnston then passed to Jarrod Yates on the sidelines, who overthrew an intended receiver in the end zone on a halfback pass.

There was no doubt, coach Jackson elected for the Wolves to go for the score on fourth and 10 from the 16. This time Johnston went to the right for a pass, but opted to run into the end zone himself for the score.

The extra point try was good and Prescott led, 7-6, with two minutes left in the first period. The Wolves were back on track.

The Panthers managed to get within 11 yards of scoring again, but turned the ball over on downs at that point.

Prescott had another turnover on its next series. After getting to the Ashdown 25, a deflected pass intended for Flemons was caught by Doug Sehon of Ashdown. However, the Panthers had to punt on fourth down with Prescott getting the ball at the Ashdown 45.

The Wolves were ready to strike again.

Marlow gained three yards on the first play with Duke getting one more on the next. Then Johnston connected with Rashad Johnson for a first down at the Ashdown 22-yard line.

Tracy Stafford rushed to the 19 on the next play, Marlow gained four more, and Duke got the first down at the 10-yard line.

Duke got the call again, but lost a yard; again he got the call and gained two for the Wolves. Johnston then rolled to pass, but was chased, and it looked like he was going down. However, he found Ross Cowling in a group of Panthers and hit him with a pass for the TD.

Fountain added the extra point to make it 14-6 with 1:57 left in the half.

Prescott took the kick-off to begin the second half, and managed to get into Ashdown territory before another deflected pass was intercepted.

At this point, Ashdown's driving offense pushed the Prescott defense back. It looked like the Panthers were going to score again. The Panthers managed to get inside the Prescott five-yard line before they were stopped.

Ashdown had the ball at the Prescott 18, was able to move it to the 12, where it appeared they were stalling. On fourth and four, Harless completed a pass to Duke Dunn at the five. A late hit moved the ball half the distance to the goal line.

But the Prescott defense was determined. The Wolves kept moving the Panthers back, first to the six, then the 11, before Ashdown managed to get the ball back to the 8.

Flemons, who had nearly stolen the ball from quarterback Harless earlier in the game, did it this time. Harless, constantly pressured by the Prescott defensive line, had been slow on some of his hand-offs.

Flemons, one of the Wolves' faster players, politely took it from the hands of Harless, whose feet were tangled up with somebody's arms. The third down play was never completed for Ashdown. Flemons took the ball 92 yards for the TD.

The extra point by Fountain was missed, leaving the score 20-6 with 4:39 left in the third period.

Once more, after working the ball inside Prescott territory, the Panthers had to give the ball up on downs at the Prescott 24.

After making one first down the Wolves stalled and punted the ball to Ashdown, with the receiver taking a pounding as he was knocked out-of-bounds by three Prescott players.

Taking the ball at their own 30-yard line, Jamie Williams sacked Harless for an eight-yard loss. Then Harless threw an incomplete pass. Next Flemons sacked Harless for another eight-yard loss, setting up a punt from the Ashdown 14.

Rashad Johnson took the punt in his own territory, started down one side, was met by a host of Panthers, so he turned toward the other side of the field and moved the ball deep inside Panther territory before he was stopped at the 13-yard line.

The punt was a net of minus one yard for Ashdown.

On the first play of the series Vanhook was stopped for no gain, then Shane Pipkin lost two on a sweep. Prescott was then penalized on a delay even though 25 seconds had not run off the clock.

However, the deficit did not phase the Wolves. Johnston easily connected with Cowling in the end zone for the fourth TD.

The extra point by Fountain was good, and Prescott led 27-6 with 5:43 left in the game.

Part of coach Jackson's success is based upon the principle of letting the young Wolves play -- a good