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The Monticello Billies travelled to Gravette this past Friday for the second round of the 4A State Football Championship Tournament to face the second seed from the 1-4A, the Gravette Lions.
Monticello advanced to the second round after upsetting Lonoke, 42-25, the previous week with Gravette advancing after defeating Central Arkansas Christian 64-14.
Monticello would win the opening coin toss and elected to defer to the second half.
Jude Parke would kick the ball of to the Gravette 20 with the Lions returning the ball back 19 yards to the 39.
The Lions would find themselves on the board first with 11:08 on the clock.
After the extra point, Gravette led 7-0.
Monticello would be forced to punt on their first drive of the contest with the Lions beginning their drive at their own 41.
The Lions would get into Monticello territory on the first play of the drive and would find the endzone two plays later with 8:40 on the clock.
After the extra point, the Lions had extended their lead to 14-0.
Monticello would be forced to punt once more on the next drive with Gravetter turning the ball over on downs with 5:48 remaining in the quarter.
Neither team added points for the remainder of the first quarter.
Monticello would go for it on fourth down on the second play of the second quarter on their own 41, however Hudson Harvey’s lateral was ruled a fumble that went out of bounds at the Monticello 31 with Gravette taking over on downs.
The Lions would run four plays, finding the endzone on a 13-yard touchdown pass.
After the extra point, the Lions had extended their lead to 21-0.
Monticello’s next drive would start at their own 20 after the kickoff sailed into the endzone for a touchback.
On the first play from scrimmage, Joseph Accules would break free for 80 yards to put the Billies on the scoreboard.
Monticello would attempt a two-point conversion that was unsuccessful to trail 21-6.
On Gravette’s next possession, the Lions would get one completed pass for 42 yards and a second for 16 for a fourth touchdown.
With the extra point, the Lions led the Billies 28-6.
Monticello began the next drive at their own 16 but would move into Lion territory on a 48-yard run by Accules to the Gravette 36.
Jackson Hines would break free on the next play to cover the 36 yards for the Billie touchdown.
Hines would add the two-point conversion to cut the lead to 28-14.
Gravette would come right back to push the lead back to 21 after scoring on a 70-yard touchdown pass and extra point to put the Lions up 35-14.
Monticello would begin the next drive at the Monticello 20 after the touchback on the kick,
The Billies would advance the ball down to the Gravette six with Hines taking the ball in for his second touchdown of the contest.
Parke added the extra point to cut the lead to 35-21 which would remain until halftime.
Monticello would receive the ball to begin the second half with the ball once more going into the endzone for a touchback,
Monticello would run the ball with Hines and Accules, with the pair advancing to the 50 before Hines would connect with Jax Rawls for a two-yard pass to the Gravette 48.
Monticello would drive down to the Gravette two and with 4:44 on the clock, Hines crossed the goal line for the third time and after the extra point, the Billies had cut the lead to 35-28.
The Monticello defense would force the Lions to punt on the next possession with the Billies getting the ball on their own 12 yard line.
After advancing the ball to the 25, a false start penalty would push the Billies back to the 20.
Accules would get a four-yard gain to the 24 as the third quarter ended.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Accules would get free, running the field for the 76-yard touchdown with 11:47 remaining in the contest, Parke would add the extra point to tie the contest 35-35.
Gravette would begin their drive at their own 20 after a Monticello touchback on the kick off, and would drive the field to retake the lead at the 9:00 mark after a successful 35-yard Lion field goal gave Gravette a 38-35 lead.
Monticello would have to once again cover 80 yards on their next drive in order to retake the lead from the Lions.
The Billies would hold the ball for six and a half minutes with Hines taking the ball in on his fourth touchdown of the contest, this one from one-yard out.
Parke would add the extra point, and with 2:50 remaining in the contest the Billies had retook the lead 42-38.
After beginning their next drive at their own 29, the Lions would advance the ball to the Gravette 31, but would lose yardage on the next play of the contest after the Lion quarterback was sacked by Aaden Franklin and Keilyn Green for a nine-yard loss back to the 22 to set up a fourth down.
Gravette would decide to go for it, their quarterback would be first touched by Jax Rawls, followed by the finish by Green to give the Billies possession on the turnover on downs with 2:06 remaining in the contest at the Gravette 14.
Hines would gain two yards on the first carry to the Gravette 12 with Accules taking the ball in on the next carry for the 12-yard touchdown for the third time in the contest.
The extra point was unsuccessful as the Billies increased their lead to 48-38 with 1:49 remaining in the game.
Gravette would have one more drive in the contest and would advance the ball down to the Monticello six and on fourth down, decided to attempt the field goal to bring the Lions within seven points 48-41.
After the successful attempt, Gravette would have to attempt an onside kick, but Monticello’s Danner Loyd would fall on the ball, securing the Billie win.
With the win, the Billies improved their overall record to 7-5 on the season with Gravette falling to 9-3.
Monticello advances to the 4A State Football Championship Tournament Quarterfinals for the second consecutive season, the Billies were knocked out of the tournament in the quarterfinals last season by Southside.
Monticello will have to travel the day after Thanksgiving to Dardanelle to face the Sand Lizards.
Dardanelle enters Friday's game after escaping Hamburg 35-34, and is the one seed from the 4-4A Conference with an overall record of 12-0 and is the number one ranked team in Class 4a.
Kickoff is set at 7 pm.
