PEA RIDGE — The Bruins of Pulaski Academy got past Ozark 43-27 in second round action in the state 4A football playoffs last week.

From the score, you might think that perhaps Ozark, a fellow member of the 4A-1 District, had at least a small chance to score the upset and stop the Bruins from advancing to the state championship game. Actually none existed.

Pulaski got up 43-0 at the half last week, then put in their freshmen athletes and worst players in to run things the final quarter, allowing the Hillbillies to score four straight touchdowns. Once the game was in hand, the Pulaski head coach put in as many players as he could to give them all the experience of playing in a winning state playoff game.

I was on the Pulaski campus back in 1981 when I considered accepting a track coaching/art teaching job I was offered there.

I really liked the school, their goals and ideals, and the few students I managed to meet. It’s a private school founded with the primary motivation being academic excellence. They are also known for their athletic prowess, but they have never been known to be enveloped in recruiting scandals as have other private schools. I eventually declined the job over the prospect of having to live in Little Rock.

Pulaski plays Ashdown, a team Pulaski defeated 35-22. As in the Ozark game, once the Bruins had the game in hand, they played everyone they had, thus allowing their defeated foe to score a lot of points in the game’s waning moments.

A lot of coaches would not have done that.

Shiloh crushed McGhehee 58-7 to set up a rematch with Nashville, itself a 65-27 conqueror of the Gosnell Pirates. This game is the 4A game of the week.

The Scrappers got up on Shiloh 35-0 last year in the state championship before Shiloh rallied to win 51-49.

Either Nashville or Shiloh has won the last five state titles.

Little Rock Robinson will host Mena in one quarterfinal game with Star City playing Pottsville at home in the other.

Robinson upset 4A perennial power Booneville 14-9 in the second round with Pottsville upsetting multi-faceted Valley View18-14, after down 14-0 at half-time. Mena advanced via a hard fought 31-28 victory over Dumas while Star City ran over Trumann 39-21. Trumann was the team that defeated Gravette 16-3 in the first round.

Valley View is a small bedroom community southwest of Jonesboro that hasn’t been playing football for many years.

The Valley View girls recently won the state volleyball championship with the boys and girls golf teams placing second and first in their respective state tournaments. The Blazers also won third places in both boys and girls state tennis tournaments recently.

Academic types are also well aware of Valley View as they consistently rank at the top of all academic rankings and criteria. I have toured the Valley View school when I used to coach in eastern Arkansas and the place is quite impressive. It is pretty much a farming town populated by people who see no limit on their kids’ potential in whatever endeavors the locals may seek to involve themselves.

As far as the predictions go, Shiloh is rated to beat Nashville by 24 with Robinson thought to be 12 better than Mena. Pulaski has been picked to win by 21 over Ashdown with Star Cityprojected to be a 10-point winner over Pottsville.

Amongst the 7A boys, Bentonville seems to be marching unimpeded to the state title game. They whipped highly regarded Bryant 38-7 last week to set up a rematch with Springdale Har-Ber. The Tigers beat the previously No. 1 ranked team in the state 55-41 in the regular season finale at Springdale. This week’s game will be at Tiger Stadium at 7:30 p.m.

this Friday. The winner of that game will play the winner of Fayetteville/Southside which means that once again, the 7A state semifinalists have all been from the 7A West District.

Rankings and records from the 4A-1 are as follows: Dist State Rankings 1st 1st Shiloh (11-1) 2nd 15th Ozark (7-5) 3rd 18th Gravette (9-2) 4th 26th Gentry(6-5) 5th 34th Farmington (4-7) 6th 36th Prairie Grove (4-6) 7th 40th Berryville (2-8) 8th 41st Pea Ridge (1-9)◊◊◊

Editor’s note: John McGee is the art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, coaches elementary track and writes a regular sports column for The TIMES. He can be contacted through The Times at prtnews@ nwaonline.com.

Sports, Pages 8 on 11/24/2010