With the final two football games coming up this week and next, it looks like the playoff qualifiers from the district have pretty much been set. Shock of shocks, Shiloh whipped Gravette, the only other undefeated school, 49-7.

The Gravette game was a curious affair as the Lions took a 7-0 lead to start the game. However, when the Lions fumbled the snap from center a whopping nine times, it became hard to move the football when the rushing attack ends up a minus 70 for the game.

So unless Ozark can defeat Shiloh this week, Shiloh will lock up the top seed going into the playoffs.

While Gravette absorbed a beating from Shiloh (who hasn’t in the 4A-1), so the Lions will probably defeat Berryville this week to ice second place. The other two teams, both unheralded, will most likely be Gentry and Ozark. Ozark is having their best season is a longtime and Gentry will be in the playoffs for the first time since 1998, 12 years ago when the current seniors were kindergartners. Gentry is playing Prairie Grove in an important game with playoff implications. Gentry is predicted to win by four, so it ought to be close.

Farmington has lost the past two weeks, badly, after starting the season on a fairly good level. If Gentry messes up, the Cardinals could sneak in and steal a spot.

While Shiloh remains at the top of the conference and state rankings, the other teams positions are quite fluid. While not winning in October, the Blackhawks are playing tough and actually went up in the polls this week, coming in at seventh in the league and 39th in the state.

The local and state Hooten’s rankings are as follows.

4A◊1 CONFERENCE District State School 1st 1st Shiloh 2nd 17th Gravette 3rd 19th Ozark 4th 25th Gentry 5th 30th Prairie Grove 6th 33rd Farmington 7th 39th Pea Ridge 8th 42nd BerryvilleKing’s harriers retain state ranking

The Blackhawk cross country team is still holding down the fourth slot in the Arkansas 4A state boys’ team rankings.

Heber Springs is the top ranked school followed by Shiloh in second place with DeQueen in third.

Pea Ridge shares second place with conference foe Berryville, a longtime cross country power with numerous boys’ and girls’ state titles in their trophy case.

In the girls’ rankings, Shiloh is the top squad with conference members Berryville and Ozark filling in the fourth and fifth top spots.

In the county, we have two top-ranked state boys’ teams in Bentonville (7A) and Siloam Springs (5A).

Siloam Springs practically owned 5A cross country until longtime coach Bill Ward left and they fell off some, but they are now back on top, at least in the rankings. The Bentonville girls (7A) have been a dominant force in large school cross country since the late ’90s and have won a lot of state titles.

Over the years, Benton County has been considered a power in cross country with six of the seven school systems owning state championship hardware. Pea Ridge won a title in the 1980s and the only school that has never taken the top spot in one classification or another has been Gravette.

Rankings will be all put aside next week when the Arkansas State High School Cross Country Championships come to Rogers to run on the Mounties’ home course. The course is at the high school complex on 2300 S. Dixieland in Rogers. The boys’ race will be held at 11:30 a.m. with the girls’ run to follow at noon.

If you ever want to see a high school state championship event, and you don’t want to invest a lot of time in doing so, then come to the meet Nov. 6 and cheer on the Runnin’ ’Hawks.

Each individual meet takes less that 30 minutes and you get to see the best runners from all over the state.

The meets have been rotating between Hot Springs and Fayetteville for a long time and the Rogers site is a first time thing.

Come out and cheer the ’Hawks next Saturday.

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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. The opinions of the writer are his own, and are not necessarily those of The TIMES.

Sports, Pages 10 on 10/27/2010