MOUNTAINBURG — Greenland mounted a late push but couldn’t get the touchdown it needed and the host Mountainburg Dragons escaped with a sloppy, 12-7 homecoming victory over the Pirates on Friday night.

With field conditions soggy from Thursday night’s downpour, both teams struggled with exchanges, footing and holding onto the ball throughout the night.

“We got it down inside their 10-[yard-line] twice and couldn’t get it in,” Greenland head coach Tracy Sutton said. “We didn’t get the job done and there are no excuses for that.” The Dragons got things going early when they went on a sixplay, 61-yard drive that culminated with a 17-yard touchdown from senior Taylor Nolen.

Greenland (2-4, 1-2 1-3A) responded by putting together two solid first half drives.

The Pirates got as close as the Mountainburg 5-yard line both times, but they both ended with quarterback Jordan Larkan’s fourth down pass falling incomplete.

Mountainburg (3-3, 2-1 1-3A) made Greenland pay the second time, when on third-and-3 from its own 12, sophomore Zach Ross scampered 88 yards over the left side for a 12-0 lead that the Dragons would take to intermission.

The Pirates got rolling out of halftime when they forced Mountainburg into a three-and-out, and a partially blocked punt sailed high for only 1 yard, setting up Greenland’s first score.

Adrian Rojas scurried in for a 5-yard touchdown run and kicked the extra point to cut the lead to 12-7.

On the ensuing possession, Parrish Diaz picked off a Dragon offering and returned it to the Mountainburg 36, but Greenland gave it right back after Larkan was sacked on fourth down.

From there on out, head coach Tom Harrell did what the Dragons do best, as they continued to grind yards out on the ground and ran the clock.

Eventually Greenland got the ball back with 3:31 to play and went on a 17-play drive to try and obtain the go-ahead score, but it was to no avail.

After getting to the Mountainburg 13, Larkan was sacked twice and Mountainburg then kneeled on a second 1-3A triumph.

“We made a few adjustments [after halftime],” Sutton said.

“Basically we started playing harder and hit a little bit more. We got down 12-0 and we shouldn’t have, but they made plays when they had to and we didn’t. We had the opportunity to win and we found a way to lose instead of win.” Rojas led the Pirates with 54 yards on 15 carries, including their only touchdown.

This week Greenland hosts Charleston while Mountainburg treks to Elkins.

Sports, Pages 6 on 10/15/2009

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