Prairie Grove pulls away from Bobcats

The Berryville Bobcats remained winless in conference play with a 63-21 loss to Prairie Grove on Friday, Oct. 10, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t some bright spots for the Bobcats.

“We definitely showed a lot of fight, a lot more than the week before,” Berryville coach Macklin Chermak said. “The kids set their goal to bow up to Prairie Grove and do everything they could.”

Berryville was within striking distance for most of the first half, thanks to a 50-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback CT Hicks on a fourth-down play late in the first quarter and a 14-yard touchdown run from junior John Butler midway through the second.

Butler’s touchdown run — the first of two — got the Bobcats within 29-14 with 6:55 remaining in the first half.

“We got a big play here and there,” Chermak said. “I know the kids are feeling much better about it this week than they were last week.”

Prairie Grove responded with 34 consecutive points to open up a 63-14 lead and bring the sportsmanship rule and continuously running clock into play, but Berryville wasn’t quite done yet.

Butler ripped off a 69-yard touchdown run on a counter play with 2:26 remaining for the game’s final score.

Berryville (3-3, 0-3 4A-1) faces another challenge in conference play this week as the Bobcats travel to Gravette. The Lions (5-1, 3-0) are coming off a 55-7 victory over Huntsville. Gravette defeated Berryville 57-0 last year. In fact, Chermak noted that Berryville has not scored against Gravette since he became the Bobcats’ head coach before the 2023 season.

“The kids know the challenge coming up and they know how good Gravette’s been,” Chermak said. “Their offense is a little different than it has been the last couple of years. They’re really doing a lot of different things, a lot of different formations and we’re just looking to slow them down a bit.”