Sports

THREE BIG PLAYS LEAD CURLEY WOLVES PAST RISON ON SENIOR NIGHT

By Sean Saunders/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Saturday, November 7, 2009 12:39 AM CST

RISON — Rison coach Clay Totty came into Friday night’s contest with Prescott concerned with the Curley Wolves’ big-play potential, and it only took three big plays to build a substantial lead by halftime. Prescott then had to hold on to a 42-35 victory Friday at Wildcat Stadium to secure a 7-3A Conference Championship, the league’s No. 1 seed and a first-round bye.

Rison running back Raphael Caldwell fights for yardage as a Prescott defender tries to drag him down Friday night at Wildcat Stadium. The Curley Wolves knocked of the Wildcats 42-35. PINE BLUFF COMMERCIAL/RALPH FITZGERALD.

“Defensively, we were very slow motion,” Rison coach Clay Totty said. “We made a few adjustments there at half and we did a better job at defending them. Two or three different things was all that beat us. It was tough.”

The first big play occurred when Prescott (8-2, 7-0 7-3A) responded to Rison’s opening touchdown. The Curley Wolves recovered their own blocked punt to retain possession on fourth down, and three plays later C.J. Smith broke through the middle untouched for a 55-yard touchdown run.

The second gave the Curley Wolves a two-touchdown lead in the second quarter. On the first play from scrimmage after taking over at the 30-yard line, James Colbert raced 70 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown.

The third was close to a backbreaker for the Wildcats (7-3, 5-2). Rison appeared poised to score and cut the deficit in half before it faced a fourth-and-1 at the 4-yard line. Raphael “Rock” Caldwell appeared to be stopped in the backfield, but the junior fumbled. Keandrae Ballance scooped up the loose ball and raced 91 yards to put the Curley Wolves up 35-14 at halftime.

“That was tough to overcome,” Totty said. “You look and see that we were about to score, and then they pick it up and score themselves. That was a 14-point swing that proved to be the difference in the ballgame.”

NFL safety and former Wildcat Tyrell Johnson delivered the pregame speech, but it seemed like he delivered it at halftime. That’s because the Wildcats stormed back to cut the deficit to seven points by the middle of the fourth quarter.

“We’re very proud of Tyrell as well as all of our former players,” Totty said. “We tried to make it a special night for all of our players, and we didn’t want to lose in front of our home crowd.”

Rison’s first possession of the second half was as typical of Totty football as can be. The drive went 77 yards in 14 plays, with A.J. Smith capping it off with a 2-yard run. No play lost yards on the drive.

But then Prescott’s final big play of the game provided the right amount of points for the Curley Wolves to come away with a victory. C.J. Smith’s first completion of the game was to Ballance, and Ballance took the ball 71 yards all the way to the 1-yard line. Two plays later, Lindsey Burke pounded the ball in for Prescott’s final score.

Then Rison began its furious comeback by scoring the next two touchdowns. The Wildcats went 63 yards on 13 plays to finish the rest of the quarter, and Caldwell finished the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run.

The next Rison possession found the end zone as well, going 62 yards in nine plays. Caldwell scored his fourth touchdown of the game, this time from 4 yards out. He finished with a game-high 207 yards on 35 carries.

“Rock gave a good effort for us tonight, but our whole team did,” Totty said. “I was proud of the way our guys never quit.”

Rison forced Prescott into a three-and-out on the next series and took over at the 45. Rison had third-and-1 from the 46, but was unable to pick up the first down on two straight carries.

Then Prescott picked up an all-important first down on third-and-7 and ran out the clock from there.

“These were two great programs with lots of tradition,” Prescott coach Greg Smith said. “If you paid $4 to get into the gate tonight, it wasn’t enough. It should have been a $30 ticket.”

Prescott’s offense slid in the second half after losing Colbert at halftime. Colbert led the team in rushing with 145 yards on only seven carries while dealing with the flu.

“Our starting tailback came out at halftime,” Smith said. “He passed out and was sick and throwing up. That hurt us right there.”

Rison had 355 yards rushing while the Curley Wolves had 300.

The Wildcats host Earle next week in the first round of the playoffs.

“We’re going to have to pick ourselves up again like we did there at the half,” Totty said. “We’ll have to come back and play It’s a new season and everybody is 0-0.”

PRESCOTT 42, RISON 35

Prescott 14 21 7 0 — 42

Rison 14 0 14 7 — 35

SCORING SUMMARY

FIRST QUARTER

RISON — Caldwell 19 run (Uln kick), 9:54.

PRES — Smith 55 run (Duran kick), 5:44.

PRES — Smith 10 run (Duran kick), 3:47.

RISON — Caldwell 4 run (Uln kick), :00.

SECOND QUARTER

PRES — Colbert 1 run (Duran kick), 10:29.

PRES — Colbert 70 run (Duran kick), 7:57.

PRES — Ballance 91 fumble recovery (Duran kick), 2:20.

THIRD QUARTER

RISON — Smith 2 run (Uln kick), 4:43.

PRES — Burke 1 run (Duran kick), 3:07.

RISON — Caldwell 5 run (Uln kick), :00.

FOURTH QUARTER

RISON — Caldwell 4 run (Uln kick), 6:11.

STATISTICAL LEADERS

RUSHING: Prescott, Colbert 7-145, Smith 11-104, McCoy 6-42; Rison, Caldwell 35-207, Marshal 15-76, Smith 14-57.

PASSING: Prescott, Smith 2-3-0-80; Rison, Jones 3-8-0-18.

RECEIVING: Prescott, Ballance 1-71, McCoy 1-5; Rison, Walker 2-13, Fox 1-5.

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