PEA RIDGE -- Pea Ridge (9-0, 6-0 1-4A) remained undefeated after earning a 56-28 blowout victory over Huntsville (1-8, 0-6) on Friday night at Blackhawks Stadium.
Much of the Blackhawks' offensive success against the Eagles came from the team's seniors.
"It's a fantastic senior class, and it's not just the senior class, but the senior class families," said Pea Ridge Coach Stephen Neal. "If you get a great class of kids and a great class of seniors, that means they've had a lot of great families here who've raised them in a great community."
Seniors played a role in racking up 49 points, while a special teams touchdown also came from a senior.
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Senior running back Drew Winn got things rolling for the Blackhawks with a 16-yard touchdown run with 10:01 left in the first quarter. The Blackhawks relied on the running back early, as he ran four times on the possession for 41 yards to give the Blackhawks an early 7-0 lead.
Winn ran three times before limping off the field on the team's second possession. Senior quarterback Jakota Sainsbury picked up the slack by throwing a 17-yard touchdown pass to senior Hayden Holtgrewe to increase the lead to 14-0.
Winn returned on the next drive and scored his second touchdown of the quarter on a 2-yard rush.
Junior quarterback Sean McCone got his Eagles their initial score on a 9-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter to cut the deficit to 21-7, but the Blackhawks came back with a score of their own less than two minutes later. Winn had that touchdown then added another in the third quarter on a 65-yard run.
Despite sitting out the fourth quarter, Winn ran for 164 yards and 4 touchdowns on 13 carries.
"Drew had a game that Drew has," said Neal. "You get spoiled when you have a kid like that or a special talent like that. He got some pretty good yardage so we decided to shut him down [in the fourth quarter] and let some of those other guys go."
Sainsbury had a big game as well, going 12 for 14 through the air for 242 yards and 2 touchdowns. Holtgrewe made several key catches and finished with four receptions for 76 yards and a touchdown.
Senior Robby Pickthall recovered a blocked punt and ran it in for a touchdown with seven minutes left in the second quarter as the special teams took some of the burden off the Blackhawks' offense.
It was the second consecutive blowout victory for Pea Ridge, which beat Berryville 35-0 a week ago on the road.
The Blackhawks will travel to Springdale to face Shiloh Christian on Friday in a battle of high-powered offenses.
"I don't think we have any worry about confidence but I also don't think we have any worry about overconfidence," Neal said. "Our kids are pretty level-headed and we've made it our focus this week that from here on out, no matter how long our season lasts, we're making it a goal to get better every day."
Huntsville has now lost eight games in a row after starting the season with a victory.
Sports on 10/28/2017