PRAIRIE GROVE -- Craig Laird's impassioned pep rally speech and Zeke Laird's on-field performance led Prairie Grove to a 61-13 victory over Central Arkansas Christian on Friday in the Class 4A football playoffs.
[HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL SCOREBOARD: Full results + recaps, photos and more]
The Tigers (11-0) advance to host Gosnell in the quarterfinals Friday.
Laird, the Tigers' fiery defensive coordinator, ignited the student body during the pep rally when he spoke about graduating from CAC in 1988. His late father, Bill Laird, coached the Mustangs' football program and was instrumental in getting the track program off the ground.
"This was a big game for us," Craig Laird said. "It was pretty fun to talk about. It's important to me, but I was a little emotional because my dad would've been here. He wouldn't have missed this game."
Zeke Laird, Craig Laird's son and the Tigers' senior quarterback, threw two touchdown passes, rushed for two more and recovered a fumble. He completed 7 of 9 passes for 156 yards and had touchdown runs of 1 and 25 yards.
"My family's got a lot of history [at CAC], so I was excited for the game and we came out on fire," Zeke Laird said. "[Craig Laird] got us pumped at the pep rally and said a little more in the locker room, so we came out fired up and ready to go.
"It was just a fun game all around."
Prairie Grove scored twice before CAC's offense touched the ball. A 26-yard pass from Laird to Demarkus Cooper set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Anthony Johnson.
After an onside kick recovery by Justis McNatt and a 26-yard run by Reed Orr, the Tigers went up 12-0 on a 1-yard run by Laird.
CAC's offense went three-and-out on its first possession thanks to a pass deflection by Issac Disney on third down. Prairie Grove successfully gambled twice on fourth down, the first time from the CAC 24, on a drive that was capped by a 19-yard touchdown pass from Laird to Johnson to give the Tigers a 20-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Mustangs finally put together two scoring drives that were sandwiched around a 33-yard touchdown pass from Laird to Dustin Burton. Kameron Vick's 1-yard run and Noah Evans' 21-yard pass to Grant Wood made it 27-13 midway through the second quarter.
A variety of screen passes allowed CAC to move the ball well on both drives before Craig Laird made a defensive adjustment.
"Our safeties were playing a little deeper than we wanted them, and they got us with some motion," Craig Laird said. "We knew they were going to try to outflank us, but we were able to keep most of it in front of us and make plays."
The Tigers scored two more times -- on 14-yard runs by Orr and Kyle Sam -- to make it 41-13 at halftime. They extended the lead on a touchdown run by Laird and a 15-yard touchdown pass from Laird to Cooper to convert a fourth down.
Disney created the final margin when he scooped up a fumble and raced 80 yards for a touchdown.
After a subpar performance during a Week 10 victory against Lincoln and a first-round bye, the Tigers were eager to get back on the field after a two-week layoff.
"We played really bad against Lincoln," Zeke Laird said. "But we worked on the things we needed to work on and came out and executed much better."
Prairie Grove racked up 520 yards, including 364 rushing. Sam led the way with 16 carries for 102 yards while Orr had 9 carries for 98 yards and Johnson rushed 14 times for 92 yards.
Sports on 11/19/2016