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Holidays in Hazen. (See page 3.)
Volume 121 Number 45 - USPS 225-680
Serving all of Prairie County and the Grand Prairie
Wednesday, November 9, 2022
Community Calendar of Events Hazen Senior Center is open from 9:00 a.m.1:00 p.m. daily. Lunch is 11:00 a.m.-12:00 noon. All Seniors are welcome. Thursday November 10 De Valls Bluff City Council Meeting City Hall 6:00 p.m. Friday November 11 Veterans Day All Local and County Offices will be closed Hazen Hornets vs Poyen Hornet Field 7:00 p.m. Des Arc Eagles vs Magazine Eagle Field 7:00 p.m. Carlisle Bison vs Mineral Springs Fred Hardke Field 7:00 p.m. Saturday November 12 Cross Roads Fire Department Deer Breakfast 5:00 a.m.-9:00 a.m. Proceeds go to Fire Department $10.00 Buffet Tuesday November 15 Des Arc City Council Meeting 6:00 p.m. Community events brought to you by Hazen Chamber of Commerce and the
Please call F&M Bank (255-3042) or The Grand Prairie Herald (255-4538) to list events.
Hazen Hornets are the 2A Conference Champions By Mark Buffalo Sports Editor Hazen rallied from a 2414 third-quarter deficit to beat the Carlisle Bison 38-30 on Friday night at Fred C. Hardke Field. With the win, Hazen earns the top seed from the conference in the Class 2A state playoffs. Carlisle will be the second seed. Hazen played the first half without starting quarterback/linebacker Luke King, who was suspended for the first half after being ejected in the first half last week. Carlisle led 16-14 at halftime. The Bison took the second half kickoff and drove 82 yards in only three plays. Carlisle running back Jason Sullivan ran 75 yards to the Hazen 2. On the next play, quarterback Holden Jones scored with 10:49 left in the third quarter. Cory Linz added the twopoint conversion to make the score 24-14. As King entered the game at quarterback, he engineered a 50-yard, nine-play scoring drive, capped off by a 15-yard touchdown pass to Justin Schlenker with 7:59 left in the third quarter. King then threw to Landon Adkins for the two-point conversion to cut the deficit to 24-22. The Bison got that touchdown back on their next possession. Linz scored on a seven-yard run with 4:51 left in the third quarter. The two-
point conversion failed, leaving the score at 3022. Two big plays on the drive included Bison receiver David Hayes. Hayes caught a 30-yard pass from Jones on the first play. Then on fourth down deep inside Hazen territory, Hazen was called for pass interference on Hayes. Four plays later, the Bison scored. Carlisle attempted an onside kick and recovered the ball when it was mishandled by a Hazen player. Carlisle was forced to punt after a block-in-theback penalty stalled the drive. Five plays later, King hit Josh Dawson with a 35-yard touchdown pass. King then threw to Braylan Anderson for the two-point conversion to tie the game at 30-30 with 11:50 left in the game. Carlisle turned the ball over on downs at its own 46. Hazen reclaimed the led on a 15-yard run by Anderson with 4:14 left in the game. King scored the two-point conversion to make the score 38-30. Carlisle turned the ball over on downs when Schlenker sacked Jones for a seven-yard loss on fourth down. From there, the Hornets ran out the clock to get the win. “I’m real proud of them,” Hazen coach Joe Besancon said. “When you lose one of your key components, it makes a difference. I was really proud of our kids accepted that challenge and dealt
with it all week long and dealt with it on Friday night. I just felt like if we kept it close, we’d be all right, and they did that.” Hazen finished with 355 yards in total offense. King completed 6 of 8 passes for 85 yards. The Hornets had 170 yards passing. Anderson led Hazen with 99 yards rushing on 15 carries. Josh Dawson had 39 yards on four carries. Schlenker caught five passes for 79 yards. Tosh led the Hornets with 24 tackles. The Bison finished with 309 yards in total offense, including 283 yards rushing. Sullivan had 166 yards rushing on 29 carries. Linz had 62 yards on six carries. Jones had 48 yards on eight carries. Carlisle coach Caleb Shock was proud of the way his team competed against Hazen. “The game meant a lot to them, and they prepared really well during the week,” he said. “I think it showed. They played hard during the game. We were just playing against a team that was also really well prepared. They were a few plays better than we were.” Hazen took an 8-0 lead on the first possession of the game. Schlenker scored on a two-yard run with 9:26 left in the first quarter. Anderson scored the two-point conversion. The Bison tied it at 8-8 on a two-yard run by Sullivan a minute later.
Area teams to host playoff games By Mark Buffalo Sports Editor The Class 2A playoffs are set and the three teams in the Grand Prairie Herald coverage area will be playing this week. The Hazen Hornets are the top seed from the 2A4 conference and will play the Poyen Indians this Friday at Hornet Field. The Carlisle Bison are the second seed from the 2A-4 and will host the Mineral Springs Hornets this Friday at Fred C. Hardke Field. The Des Arc Eagles are the top seed from the 2A2 conference and will play the Magazine Rattlers at Hinson Rollins Field. Hazen lost to Poyen in the semifinals last season. “They are well coached and their kids play really hard,” Hazen coach Joe Besancon said. “They’ve
got some size, but to be honest, I don’t know if we’ll run into anyone as big as Carlisle up front. They are going to present some problems. They like to run the football. We’ll have our work cut out for us.” Carlisle coach Caleb Shock said Mineral Springs is a good football team. “They are real big,” he said. “Even their skill players are real tall. They are a little more run oriented than they were. They run the ball a lot. They’ve scored a lot of points the last few weeks. They are also physical on defense.” Des Arc coach Brandon Barbaree said his team must do what it does best against Magazine. The program has some history,” Barbaree said. “We’ve got to be efficient
offensively. If we fly around defensively, I think we can take care of business.”
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Linz added the two-point conversion. Hazen reclaimed the lead at 14-8 on a 40-yard pass from Dawson to Kolton Tosh with 6:35 left in the first half. Carlisle led 16-14 at halftime after Jones scored on a one-yard run and added the two-point conversion with 34 seconds left in the half. Besancon said he’s been concerned about his team not having to play a full
game with his starters. They passed that test against Carlisle. “I knew it was going to be one,” Besancon said. “Carlisle played really well. They had a good game plan. I felt like the latter part of the third quarter into the fourth quarter, I thought our defense finally played the way I thought they were capable of.” (Ruth Corley photo.)
Eagles beat McCrory to win conference
Des Arc's Daviyon Bell carries the ball during the Eagles' win over McCrory on Friday to clinch the 2A-2 conference title. (Amanda Smith photo.) By Mark Buffalo Sports Editor The Des Arc Eagles are the 2A-2 conference champions. Des Arc beat McCrory 46-26 on Friday night to secure the top seed from the conference in this week’s Class 2A state playoffs. McCrory, the defending state champions, beat Des Arc twice last season. The Jaguars failed to qualify for the playoffs. In the win over McCrory, Des Arc’s Jack Kearby rushed for 158 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries. Trevion Reed had 103 yards and three touchdowns on five
carries. Cache Flanagan had 51 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries. Kearby and Flanagan each scored two two-point conversions while Reed had one. Daviyon Bell had an interception for the Eagles. “Beating McCrory is hard enough for us,” Des Arc coach Brandon Barbaree said. “They are a rival for us, as well. I’m super proud of how we overcame some adversity in that game, and the whole season. We fought through adversity after losing to Hazen and Carlisle. The kids have battled all year and found ways to win games.”
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