A lot was on the line between the Drew Central Pirates and the Rison Wildcats on Friday night in the final regular season contest of the 2023 season.
For Rison, the Wildcats would come into the contest on a two game winning streak, after starting the season 0-6 having defeated Lake Village and Barton.
With a win and a Barton loss, the Wildcats would finish as the third seed in the conference and would host an opening round playoff game.
For the Pirates, a win would possibly give the Pirates a fourth place finish, but most importantly a win would be the first in school history over the Wildcats.
The Pirates would honor the fall sports senior athletes before the contest in the Annual Senior Night celebration.
Rison would win the opening coin toss and would elect to receive the football to begin the contest.
Rison would receive the ball on their own 25 yard line and would return the ball eight yards to the 33.
After three running plays, Wildcat Quarterback Owen Morrison would break free and move the ball into Pirate territory to the Pirate 45.
Two plays later, Morrison would advance the ball to the two yard line with Steven Shaddock completing the possession with a two-yard touchdown.
Morrison added the extra point to give Rison a 7-0 lead.
The Pirates could not get anything going on their first possession, never reaching Wildcat territory, mostly because of penalty yards, that would become one of the stories of the contest against the Pirates.
After extending their second possession into the second quarter, Rison would get a one-yard run by Jeramiah Marshall for a Wildcat touchdown.
Morrison added the extra point to give Rison a 14-0 lead with 11:57 remaining in the half.
Drew Central would turn the ball over on downs on their next possession at their own 35 yard line after a declined block in the back penalty.
The Pirate defense would push the Wildcats back to the Pirate 39 where Morrison would complete a pass to the Pirate 20 where a hit by a Pirate defender would knock the ball loose, being recovered by Tyon Woodard at the Pirate nine with 8:29 remaining in the half.
The Pirates would introduce a new offensive scheme that would focus on Chris Veazy taking the majority of the runs, moving the ball downfield covering big chunks of yards on most carries.
The Pirates would reach the Wildcat two with Veazy ending the drive with a touchdown.
Jase Watt added the two-point conversion to cut the lead to 14-8.
Rison came back on the kickoff to a 81 yard return to the Pirate two.
Morrison would take the ball in and add the kick to increase the lead to 21-8 at the half.
The Pirates would cut the lead on their first possession of the second half on a 64-yard drive, capped off with a 26-yard touchdown reception from Watt to Jayden Jones.
Veazy added the two-point conversion to cut the lead to 21-16.
Each team would turn the ball over on downs on their next possessions with Rison taking over on the Pirate 34 yard line.
Rison would turn the ball over on an interception by Blake Chandler at the Pirate four with a return to the Pirate 29, however an unsportsmanlike penalty would be given to the Pirates to push the ball back to the Pirate 16.
On fourth and short, the Pirates would decide to go for it from their own 25 yard line just needing inches to gain the first down.
Jase Watt would get the call on the quarterback keeper gaining what seemed to be the yards needed for the first down, but the official marked the ball well short of where the tackle was made giving the ball back to the Wildcats deep in Pirate territory at the Drew Central 25 yard line.
Morrison would advance the ball to the Pirate 14 with the Wildcats scoring on the next play.
After the blocked extra point attempt, Rison led 27-16.
Drew Central would be forced to punt on their next possession with the Pirate defense forcing Rison to turn the ball over on downs at their own 35 with 4:50 remaining in the contest.
Drew Central’s drive began going in the wrong direction with the Pirates losing yardage back to their own 28 before Watt would connect with Luke Phillips for a first down to the Pirate 49.
On the next play, Watt would hit Tyviance Wormley deep downfield with Wormley being tackled at the Rison one.
Watt would take the ball in from one-yard out for the Pirate touchdown and would then connect with Luke Phillips for the two-point conversion to cut the Wildcat lead to 27-24 with 2:43 remaining in the contest.
The Pirates would attempt an onside kick, but could not come up with the football with Rison taking over on their own 48.
Drew Central would hold the Wildcats on the first two plays of the drive but on third down, the Wildcats would gain a first down, sealing the game.
For the Pirates, Chris Veazy would lead the way on the ground with 88 yards and a touchdown.
Jase Watt would rush for 22 yards and a touchdown, and would pass for 129 yards and a touchdown going 12 of 19.
Jayden Jones had 33 yards receiving with a touchdown.
Tyviance Wormley led the Pirates in reception yardage with 50.
Penalties were a big factor against the Pirates on Friday night as Rison was penalized five times for a total of 30 yards with Drew Central being penalized 13 times for a total of 130 plus yards with several penalties being called that were declined by Rison.
With the win, Rison secured the third seed in the conference and will host a first round contest against Jessieville on Friday, November 10.
For the Pirates, the team finishes the regular season with one conference win, securing the fifth seed in the conference and will travel 3 hours and 40 minutes to Booneville to face the number one seed out of the 1-3A, the Booneville Bearcats.
Booneville’s only two loses this season came out of conference to Camden Fairview and Harding Academy.
Booneville is currently ranked third by Scorebook Live in all of Class 3A behind Prescott and Salem.
Drew Central’s playoff appearance marks two consecutive playoff berths for the Pirates with Drew Central being the fifth seed the last two seasons.
Drew Central and Booneville are scheduled to kickoff at 7 pm on Friday.
The Pirates are scheduled to depart Monticello on Friday, November 10, to face the Booneville Bearcats with the team bus being escorted down 425 at 11:20 am.
