Northwest Arkansas — Is the 4A-1 boys basketball district perhaps the toughest one in the state?

Is Pea Ridge a Top 10 school in the state in 4A?

If you believe the computers, experts and polls, then, yes, you could believe that the Blackhawks are competing this season in the strongest AAAA basketball league in the state. Both the MaxPreps Freeman Poll and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette state high school rankings bear out that proposition in the latest polls released this weekend.

The Democrat-Gazette has two members of our league in the top six overall with Huntsville holding down the number 3 position with Farmington ranked 6th overall in 4A. Dumas is the number 1 team in the state with Jonesboro Westside ranked second, West Fork fourth and Subiaco fifth. In terms in sections of the state, northwest Arkansas boasts four of the top six.

In the Max Preps/Freeman 4A State Poll, Farmington ranks third and Huntsville fourth in their top 10. The other member of the top 10 includes up and coming Pea Ridge which now resides in the number 8 position. As a matter of fact, six of the district’s eight schools rank in the top 21 among the 48 schools competing in the 4A classification.

Shiloh is currently ranked 12th, Berryville is ranked 18th, Gentry 21st, Prairie Grove 26th and Gravette 42nd.

While Farmington may rank ahead of Huntsville in the MaxPrep Freeman Poll, the Eagles are ahead of the Cardinals in the Democrat-Gazette rankings and rightly so. In a league contest in December, Huntsville whipped Farmington by 22 points in a lopsided affair. Huntsville also owns a 38 point margin of victory over Prairie Grove in earlierconference action. Huntsville’s lone loss this season was to Siloam Springs, a team curiously enough, that owns a victory over Farmington.

Farmington has some impressive victories, including a 44 point whupping of Gentry. On the other hand, the Cardinals barely got past Shiloh Christian in an other league battle.

Pea Ridge has been working through a very tough non-conference schedule as coach Charley Clarke has been readying his troops for a very difficult campaign through the 4A-1. Games against Rogers High School (the state’s 7A second ranked team) and against Siloam Springs (the defending state 5A champs) has steeled their resolve as the Hawk’s senior-laden basketball team has highhopes for a lofty perch by season’s end.

Senior starters include Kip Kelly, Tyler Ramsey and Ethan Rhine with junior starters Cameron Thompson and Kasey Cooper bringing some experience to the floor as well. As the first part of the season has borne out, anyone of the starters is capable of being a leading scorer. If the ’Hawks can manage to keep all their players on the floor that they need on the floor, the sky may very well be the limit.

Some high scoring outings by Thompson has caught some rival teams by surprise, especially his 32 point effort against Southwest in the Holiday Tournament Championship game. I spent some time talking with the sports writer from the Cassville newspaper afterthe Southwest game. I learned that he was also a teacher in the Southwest School District and that he was shocked by the big numbers put up by Thompson.

“We were all set to stop Kelly,” the reporter said, “then this other guy lights it up. We were so sure they were going to win this year.”

I have to believe that any team that sets out to stop any one Blackhawk this year will likely get burned by another one.

This will be a fun year to watch. Being in such a tough league this year won’t make it easy, but surviving the league will give whoever represents the 4A-1 in the region and state playoffs valuable experience in battling the other powers in 4A.

Pea Ridge holds the number 10 spot in the northwest Arkansas overall poll and number 44 in the state overall rankings including all schools (more than 250).

4A-1 district poll

1. Farmington

2. Huntsville

3. Pea Ridge

4. Shiloh

5. Berryville

6. Gentry

7. Prairie Grove

8. Gravette

MaxPreps state top 10 poll

1. Dumas

2. Subiaco

3. Farmington

4. Huntsville

5. West Fork

6. Jonesboro Westside

7. Clarksville

8. Pea Ridge

9. McGehee

10. Arkadelphia

Northwest Arkansas overall poll

1. Rogers

2. Fayetteville

3. Ft. Smith Northside

4. Farmington

5. Huntsville

6. Van Buren

7. Siloam Springs

8. Springdale

9. West Fork

10. Pea Ridge

Sports, Pages 8 on 01/13/2010