Football: Lassiter leads Warren to 4A title

Pea Ridge receiver Hayden Holtgrewe (23) catches a pass for a fourth-down conversion while D’shawn Jackson (10) of Warren makes the tackle Friday at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
Pea Ridge receiver Hayden Holtgrewe (23) catches a pass for a fourth-down conversion while D’shawn Jackson (10) of Warren makes the tackle Friday at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.

LITTLE ROCK -- Pea Ridge did all it could, but eventually Warren simply had too many weapons.

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Pea Ridge running back Zaine Holley (2) reaches the end zone Friday during the 4A state championship game at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.

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Pea Ridge tackle Beau German (left) consoles quarterback Jakota Sainsbury on Friday during the 4A state championship game at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.

The Lumberjacks scored four consecutive touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters to turn a close game into a 54-37 win during the Class 4A state football championship game in War Memorial Stadium.

Class 4A State Championship

Warren 54, Pea Ridge 37

Pea Ridge^0^19^6^12^—^37

Warren^6^20^14^14^—^54

First Quarter

Warren — Daniels 6 run (Kick failed), 8:38.

Second Quarter

Pea — Holley 8 run (Kick failed), 9:47.

Warren — McKnight 31 pass from Lassiter (Kick failed), 7:19.

Pea — Holtgrewe 40 pass from Sainsbury (Pass failed), 4:14.

Warren — Daniels 4 run (Yepes kick), 3:38.

Pea — Holtgrewe 75 kickoff return (Green kick), 3:20.

Warren — Daniels 4 run (Yepes kick), :39.

Third Quarter

Pea — Winn 2 run (Kick failed), 7:11.

Warren — Person 2 run (Yepes kick), 4:33.

Warren — Daniels 2 run (Yepes kick), :16.

Fourth Quarter

Warren — Lassiter 1 run (Yepes kick), 5:24

Warren — Burks 19 interception return (Yepes kick), 5:10

Pea — Winn 8 run (Pass failed), 2:57.

Pea — Holley 2 run (Pass failed), :31

TEAM STATISTICS

^Pea^Warren

First downs^20^24

Rushes-yards^41-157^50-295

Passing yards^139^208

Comp-Att-Int^11-20-2^10-12-0

Punts^1-15.0^0-0

Fumbles-lost^3-2^3-2

Penalties-yards^5-28^11-87

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING Pea Ridge, Holley 20-106, Winn 17-75, Weber 1-1, TEAM 1-0, Sainsbury 2-(minus 25). Warren, Daniels 28-189, Lassiter 13-64, Person 9-42.

PASSING Pea Ridge, Sainsbury 11-19-1-139, Holtgrewe 0-1-1-0. Warren, Lassiter 10-12-0-208

RECEIVING Pea Ridge, Holtgrewe 7-96, Higgins 2-30, Winn 1-7, Caudill 1-6. Warren, McKnight 5-83, Burks 3-95, Hargis 1-17, Reep 1-13.

MISSED FIELD GOALS None

Warren (15-0) capped an unbeaten season as senior quarterback Hayden Lassiter passed for 208 yards, ran for 64 yards and intercepted a pass in a dominating performance to earn Most Valuable Player honors. He even returned a couple of kicks and had eight tackles for the Lumberjacks.

"He's an unbelievable athlete, an unbelievable player," Warren coach Bo Hembree said of Lassiter. "He's just a competitor and he's a winner."

He wasn't the only Warren player who Hembree could say that about. Senior running back Dennis Daniels was also a star Friday night, rushing for 189 yards on 28 carries and four touchdowns.

Warren ran the read-option to near perfection the entire game, piling up 503 yards of offense, including 295 on the ground.

"That is a very difficult play to defend," said Pea Ridge coach Stephen Neal. "There were a couple of series where we did a pretty good job of containing it, but in the end they just had a lot of offensive weapons."

Warren opened the game with a 61-yard scoring drive -- all on the ground -- as Daniels gained 47 yards and ended the drive with a 6-yard touchdown run with 8 minutes, 38 seconds left in the first half for a 6-0 lead.

Pea Ridge responded in epic fashion. The Blackhawks started their first drive at their 15-yard line and slowly moved down the field. Pea Ridge used the remainder of the first quarter and more than two minutes of the second quarter, executing a 20-play drive that featured two successful fourth-down conversions.

Senior Zaine Holley, who ended a stellar career Friday night with 106 yards on 20 carries, finally ended the methodical march with an 8-yard touchdown run off the left side to tie the game at 6-6.

That set in motion a back-and-forth scoring run for both teams that saw the game tied at 19-19 when Hayden Holtgrewe returned a Warren kickoff 75 yards with 3:20 left in the first half.

Pea Ridge's defense finally stopped a Warren drive, but a costly fumble deep in Blackhawks territory gave the Lumberjacks new life and Warren capitalized on a Daniels 4-yard run and a 26-19 halftime lead.

The Blackhawks opened the third quarter with another long drive, this one for 63 yards that used 4:49 off the clock. Drew Winn ended the march with a 2-yard run, but the Blackhawks missed the PAT try and trailed 26-25.

Pea Ridge never got closer than that.

Warren drove 68 yards to go ahead 33-25, then drove 53 yards to extend its lead to 40-25 to end the third quarter. Another scoring drive of 67 yards, capped by Lassiter's 1-yard keeper was the dagger.

"We ran the football well and we threw it well," Hembree said. "And we had a key stop right there when they got in the spread in the third quarter.

"This one's special, especially with the adversity we had to overcome. Week 4 we had seven starters out and we lost three or four for the year, so we had a lot of guys have to step up and play and they just kept getting better and better."

The Blackhawks were hurt by four turnovers in the game that led to three Warren touchdowns.

Pea Ridge added two late scores as Winn and Holley found the end zone to end the scoring.

"We knew coming in we could not give them extra possessions and we did," Neal said. "There's a reason they are the 4A state champions.

"It wasn't our night tonight. It was Warren's night tonight."

Sports on 12/10/2016

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