THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Enumclaw High School Athletics

SPRINGDALE -- A pair of border state heavyweights fought to the final play of Thursday's one-half scrimmage at Wildcat Stadium. As the game clock expired, Springdale Har-Ber defensive back Matt Scirto's open-field tackle inside the Wildcats' 10 sealed a 17-10 win against Oklahoma power Bixby. Minus one blemish, coach Chris Wood walked away pleased with the effort. "Against a real good Bixby group, I thought our defense played really well," he said. "We had the one series with the personal fouls -- and that's unacceptable. But we'll grow from that." Leading 10-3 midway through the second quarter, Har-Ber was hit with three 15-yard, dead-ball penalties following a kickoff return that ended near the Bixby sideline. One unnecessary roughness and two unsportsmanlike flags later, the Spartans were inside the Wildcats 20. A handful of plays later, Bixby running back Tucker Pawley knotted the score with under six minutes to play. But on the ensuing possession, quarterback Grant Allen (117 yards, 2 TD) and the Har-Ber passing game got going. Allen hit Brock Pounders for 20 yards and Bryton Cook for 14, pushing the Wildcats into Bixby territory. A bit of good fortune then intervened as an Allen pass was deflected back into his hands at the Bixby 6, where he gathered himself and scampered in for the game-winning score. "Offensively, I thought we put some real good possessions together," Wood said. "Yeah, it was kind of a fluke play where we get it batted back into our hands, but I thought our guys were resilient, played hard. We've got a lot of things to get better at, but I liked the resilience of the group." Pounders finished as Allen's top target in the win, collecting five catches for 64 yards and a touchdown. A penalty negated Pounders' first touchdown grab in the first quarter, but three plays later, Allen found him again to put Har-Ber up 10-3. Nick Parchman also caught a pass for 33 yards. Special teams played a big role for Har-Ber as well. Wildcats placekicker Jesus Zizumbo was steady throughout the night, regularly booming kickoffs for touchbacks. His 40-yard field goal in the first quarter handed Har-Ber an early 3-0 lead. And to open the second quarter, Matt Phipps created a turnover, forcing a fumble on Bixby's kickoff return. Recovered by Scirto, the takeaway set up a short field and led the way to Pounders' scoring grab.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Enumclaw High School Athletics

HAR-BER EDGES BIXBY IN INTENSE SCRIMMAGE

SCOTTIE BORDELON

NWA Online | 8/25/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: David Beach