Tigers top Bobcats for county crown

The Green Forest Tigers are the Carroll County high school football champions.

Junior running back Ridge Gordon-Swofford ran for a pair of second- quarter touchdowns and the Green Forest defense did the rest as the Tigers beat Berryville 16-6 in the annual Carroll County Super Bowl on Friday, Nov. 3, at Tiger Stadium.

“It was going to be hard-fought no matter what,” said Berryville coach Macklin Chermak. “We kew that. You just can’t get down that early against your rival.”

The victory was Green Forest’s second in as many weeks to finish the season after a 2-6 start and gave the Tigers their first four-win season since 2013.

“They were excited,” Green Forest coach Greg Tibbitt said of the Tigers. “They were excited. Not just the win over Berryville but to get four for the first time in 10 years. We talked about the last half of the season how big a deal that was, kind of a small-time goal and we reached it and they were really excited about that.”

Gordon- Swofford ran for 103 yards on 27 carries as Green Forest (4-6, 2-5 4A-1) used its running game to set the tempo in a hard-hitting contest. Altogether, the Tigers ran for 205 yards on 50 carries.

“The first run of the game was a big one, a 25- or 30-yard run,” Tibbitt said. “Then after that, it was just kind of constant and steady.”

The Tigers allowed just six points for the second consecutive week.

“I thought our defense played really well the last two weeks,” Tibbitt said. “They played really well Friday night.”

Green Forest’s offense set the tone early. The Tigers drove inside the Berryville 20 on the game’s opening possession but failed to convert on fourth down from the 17. After forcing Berryville to punt, however, Green Forest took over at midfield and patiently drove for the game’s first touchdown.

The Tigers’ scoring drive took 14 plays, highlighted by junior quarterback Mason Meador’s 5-yard run on fourth-and-3 from the Berryville 21 and punctuated by Gordon-Swofford’s 5-yard touchdown run with 11:11 remaining in the second quarter. Sophomore Gabe Serna ran for the two-point conversion to extend the Tigers’ lead to 8-0.

Gordon- Swofford carried eight times on the drive.

Green Forest once again forced a three-andout by Berryville, then embarked on another long scoring drive. This time, the Tigers covered 70 yards in 13 plays. Gordon-Swofford ran nine times for 22 yards, including a 6-yard run on fourth-and-3 from the Green Forest 37. Meador passed to junior Brityn Gilliam for a 10yard gain on third-and-8 from the 45 before sophomore Jonathon Rivera reeled off back-to-back runs of 10 and 27 yards. That moved the ball to the Berryville 8 and Gordon- Swofford took it from there, carrying the ball on four consecutive plays. The last of those was a 1-yard touchdown run on fourth down. Gordon-Swofford then ran for the two-point conversion, as well, putting the Tigers up 16-0 with 3:43 remaining in the first half.

Rivera ran for 60 yards on nine carries.

“They’re totally different types of running backs with him and Ridge,” Tibbitt said of Rivera. “That’s kind of what we’ve been wanting all year was that kind of thunder and lightning approach. That was the best performance he’s had this year, for sure.”

At that point, Green Forest had run 35 offensive plays, compared with six for Berryville.

“Their M.O. this year was to ground and pound and control the clock,” Chermak said. “They succeeded in their game plan and we didn’t in ours.”

Things didn’t get any better for the Bobcats on their next possession, as a third-down pass was intercepted by Tigers junior Diego Martinez — whose interception return for a touchdown one week earlier had lifted Green Forest to a 14-6 victory over Huntsville.

Green Forest gave the ball right back, however. After a penalty, the Tigers’ pass on 1stand- 20 was tipped and intercepted by Russell Conard, giving the Bobcats possession at the Green Forest 40 with 2:14 remaining in the first half.

Berryville (3-7, 1-6) picked up its first first down of the game when senior quarterback Zane Gentry ran for seven yards on fourth-and-1 from the 31. After an incomplete pass and a run for no gain, Gentry threw to senior Talon Hull for a 6-yard gain to the 18, but the Bobcats were stopped a yard short on fourth-and-4 with 15 seconds remaining.

Green Forest then ran out the clock to carry its 16-0 lead into halftime.

“We still felt like we were going to win the game,” Chermak said. “At halftime we talked about it. The kids were still fired up. There wasn’t much doubt in their minds, which makes it even more disappointing that we couldn’t get it rolling.”

Berryville’s offense started to click on the opening possession of the second half as the Bobcats drove 65 yards for a touchdown. Sophomore Andre Esparza caught a 12-yard pass from Gentry on a thirddown play from the Green Forest 40 to keep the drive alive. Junior Decimus Ruiz converted another third down with a six-yard run to the 34, then Esparza broke free down the left sideline for a 20-yard touchdown run on third-and-8. The Bobcats attempted a two-point conversion but a running play was stopped short, leaving Green Forest with a 16-6 lead with 7:38 left in the third quarter.

In a bit of a role reversal from the first half, Berryville held Green Forest on three plays on the Tigers’ next possession, then went on another long drive. Starting on their own 24, the Bobcats moved the ball inside the Green Forest 20. Gentry ran for six yards on third-and-4 from the Berryville 40, then Esparza raced for 21 yards to the Green Forest 30. From there, the Bobcats gained four yards on three running plays to set up a fourth-and-6 from the 26. An offsides penalty against the Tigers made it fourth-and-1 from the 21, however, and Gentry kept for a 2-yard pickup for first down at the 19. Three plays later, an incomplete pass left Berryville facing fourth-and-5. The Bobcats opted to try a field goal that would cut Green Forest’s lead to seven points. Junior Devin Alvarez put the ball through the uprights from 31 yards away, but a penalty against Berryville wiped out the kick and a retry from 36 yards was unsuccessful.

Green Forest picked up a pair of first downs on its ensuing possession but the drive stalled at midfield and a punt was blocked, giving Berryville possession at the Green Forest 43. Ruiz picked up a first down at the 31 on third-and-7, then Esparza converted another third down with a 4-yard run to the 16. After three running plays netted eight yards, however, the Green Forest defense stopped a fourth-down play for lost yardage to stop Berryville’s final significant scoring threat with 4:14 remaining.

In all, Berryville converted two of five fourth-down tries, compared with four of five for Green Forest. Three of the Tigers’ conversions came on their two first-half touchdown drives, while two of Berryville’s failed attempts came inside the Green Forest 20.

“Fourth down’s been big for us,” Tibbitt said. “We went for it a lot this year. With Ridge, if it’s fourth and less than four, we feel like he can get us that. It’s kind of old-school cliche, but if we can get three yards a pop and we can be in that fourth down and short situation, we feel like he can get us that.”

“It really comes down to, we couldn’t convert on fourth down and they could,” Chermak said. “That really sums up the ballgame.”

With just seven seniors on the Berryville roster in Chermak’s first year as head coach, the Bobcats’ emphasis this season was on laying the foundation for future success.

“No matter what, we laid down some good building blocks,” Chermak said. “We’re looking to have the best offseason possible. We’re going to be turning over every stone, starting out with reflecting on the season as coaches, what we could have done better. We want to keep evolving our scheme to fit the kids that we have here and the program we’re trying to build and jump right into teaching that to the kids.”

Green Forest, on the other hand, is hoping there is some carryover from the momentum of the final two weeks of the season.

“That’s our hope, anyway,” Tibbitt said. “We’ve got another good junior high group, a bigger group, and we want to keep those guys coming out for high school. Hopefully we can preach finishing on a two-game winning streak and four wins and things like that and maybe help that.”