Wolves escape Dollarway, 23-22; advance to round 3

PRESCOTT – It was a tale of two halve, with the Wolves losing the first half, but winning the second for a 23-22 victory over the Cardinals of Pine Bluff Dollarway Friday night.

The first half saw Prescott play as bad a game as possible and go the locker room at the break trailing 22-0. The Wolves simply could do nothing right in the first 24 minutes of the game, while the Cards pretty much ran at will. With neither team going to the air, the first half didn’t take long to complete as it lasted less than an hour.

Prescott won the toss and deferred. Dollarway returned the kick to the31 and drove 69 yards in 10 plays. The Cards made it look easy and overcame three motion penalties. The touchdown came on a 15-yard run with 6:01 left in the first as the visitors played ball control football all night. Having no kicking game, the Cards went for two, successfully, and led 8-0.

Prescott fielded the kick at the 37 and drove to the Card 25 before the drive stalled and the Wolves turned the ball over on downs.

Dollarway only needed five plays to cover 75 yards, as the Cardinals ate huge chunks of turf on every play. The score came on a 13-yard run with 1:30 showing. The try for two was no good, but the score was 14-0.

Tywan Thompson fielded the kick at the Prescott 35, bobbled the ball, but managed to get to the Card 49.

Derriun Thompson gained four, followed by Jacobi Nolen adding two. On third and four, Thompson broke free to the 20, but lost two on the final play of the first quarter. The second opened with what looked like a promising drive for the Wolves. Prescott made it to the Cardinal five before everything blew up in the Wolves’ face. On third and goal, Jaylon Hopson lost five yards. Nolen went back to pass on fourth down, but a bad snap saw him dropped at the 29, giving the ball to Dollarway with 9:09 to go in the half. However, The Cardinal offense had scored its last for the game.

It was three and out for Dollarway, with the punt basically going straight up and rolling to the Card 35 where Prescott took over.

The Wolves should have been able to score in short order, but got hit with a holding call on first down, followed by an illegal motion penalty two plays later, forcing Prescott to punt. Murphy showed up on fourth down as the snap was literally rolled back to the punter, who was dropped at the 49.

Dollarway was hit with an illegal block call on first down, moving the ball to the Prescott 47, nullifying a big gain. From there, the Cards made it to the 35 before turning the ball over on downs with 2:22 to go in the half.

Prescott took over at its 26 and immediately went backwards five yards on another procedure call. Nolen went to the air and hit Thompson, who battled to the 31. Staying on the ground, the wolves got to the Card 41 before Nolen hit Thompson for a short gain to the 36. With 42 seconds on the clock, Nolen dropped back, scrambled and was picked off with the interception returned for six with :20 left. The two-point conversion gave the Cards a 22-0 lead.

The kick was returned to the Dollarway 38, but Prescott fumbled with the Cards recovering at the Dollarway 33 with :03 to go.

Prescott, in the first half, did not look anything like the team that averaged roughly 50 points a game and dominated opponents. However, the game didn’t end in the first half. Whatever the coaches said at the break lit a fire under the Wolves because a different team came out for the third quarter.

The Wolves received the kick, taking over at the Prescott 36. Using an up-tempo offense, the Wolves drove down the field in 10 plays, scoring on a five yard run by Thompson with 9:06 on the clock. The two-point conversion cut the gap to 22-8.

The ensuing kick rolled into the end zone for a touchback, putting the ball on the 20.

Prescott’s defense stiffened as the Wolves stacked the box and gave Cardinal backs nowhere to run. It was three and out after Dollarway lost 10 yards in three plays. Again, the punt had more up than out and went to the Card 23 with 6:31 showing.

Three plays later Hopson went in from 19-yards out. The two-point conversion made it 22-16.

Once again, the kick went into the end zone and the Cards set up shop on the 20.

Dollarway’s offense showed signs of coming to life as the team moves to the Prescott 27 as the third quarter came to an end. The final 12 minutes opened with Dollarway facing a fourth and seven. The Cards came up a yard short, giving the ball to Prescott.

This break was all Prescott needed as the Wolves drove down the field in 13 plays, overcoming a sack in Cardinal territory. Prescott also had to overcome a fourth and four play, with Nolen connecting with Caleb Harris to the Card 28 to keep the drive alive. Alex George barreled in from the six to tie the game at 22-22 with 7:32 left in the game. Luis Rabadan iced the game with the extra point.

Dollarway returned the kick to its 26 and drove to the Prescott 29 before turning the ball over on downs with 3:14 to go

It was Prescott’s turn to milk the clock. The Wolves took advantage of Card defenders trying to strip the ball to make big gains. However, a third down holding call killed the drive and forced Prescott to punt.

Dollarway took over at its 26 with 36 ticks left in the Cards’ season. A first down pass fell incomplete. The quarterback scrambled on second down, losing five yards and using up so much of the clock the Cards couldn’t line up before the clock showed 0:00.

Prescott will be at home for the third round of AAA playoffs as Hoxie dropped Booneville, 34-28.