PEA RIDGE — Those watching the game last Friday probably can’t remember a time when we had less experienced players on the field on a Friday night.
The field was awash with sophomores, fresh off their junior high career, with some of the upperclassmen playing in their first game on the high school level.
That would be a recipe for disaster in most cases, and the game started out that way in the first few minutes before coach Travis and staff got the Young ’Hawks settled down and settled in. If ever a team could be declared to be in a rebuilding year, this team could certainly qualify.
Austin Easterling showed a lot of poise for a rookie quarterback with Daniel Beard and Dayton Winn showing some elusiveness running the ball. Elkins’ strongest team strength was supposed to be its deep and experienced linemen. The ’Hawks, inexperienced or not, held their own with their Elk counterparts with Drew Norris and Jase Sharp repeatedly creating havoc with the Elks offense. While a lot ofmistakes were made, along with more than a ordinary dose of bad luck, the game could have conceivably been much closer than the scoreboard indicated.
They (I don’t really know whom “they” are but I believe them) say that the most improvement a football team usually does is between their first and second games. That would put us into good stead coming into Friday’s battle with Green Forest, a team we haven’t played for a few years. While the Tigers were pounded in their opener at Paris last week by a 48-6 score, Green Forest has always been a tough game for the ’Hawks.
While I believe that there probably isn’t a team in Arkansas with less experience than the Blackhawks, heart and desire can maximize the talents that the ’Hawks can bring to the table so the game ought to be a goodone this week.
4A-1 teams take 5 of 8
Teams from the ’Hawks’ 4A-1 district took five of eight contests in league openers last week.
Farmington took the measure of Huntsville last week in a 34-14 romp. The Farmington quarterback passed for over 200 yards with the Cardinal tailback rushing for 137 as they scored the first four times they had the ball to put the game on ice early. Prairie Grove took on usual playoff contender Lavaca and handed the Golden Arrows a 42-29 setback to establish themselves as a team to reckon with this season.
Gentry opened their season with a 12-6 win over neighboring Colcord, Okla.
Gravette put the hurt on Jay, Okla., as they posted a shutout while scoring four times in a 28-0 victory. While occurring last Monday night, Shiloh won their season opener against 5A power Watson Chapel in a game played down in Pine Bluff. While that might be a far place to play, it is nothing compared to Shiloh’s jaunt to Dallas, Texas,to take on Euless Trinity Academy in the Dallas Cowboys new $1.2 billion (yes, I said billion with a “b”) football stadium, the same venue for the next NFL Super Bowl. The game will be shown nationally on one of the ESPN channels.
The Texas team is ranked No. 1 in the nation, so Shiloh will go in as the underdog. The team headquartered in Springdale has a lot of highly-regarded seniors and this might be their best team for awhile.
The new rules making transfers sit out a year of competition would have probably prevented the bulk, if not all of the current stars on the Shiloh roster from ever enrolling in the private school.
The trip to Texas with all the TV exposure (Shiloh is playing Greenwood at home on ESPN next week) may be the schools’ best shot at encouraging high school athletes to abandon their home teams to play for them even if they lose a year of playing time.
Besides the ’Hawks’ loss, fellow league member Berryville was just nudged out by Yellville-Summitt 21-20.
Berryville was the last ranked school in the state last year and has a new coaching staff this season.
They might be playing on a higher level this season with their new program.
The 8th team in the league, Ozark, lost 42-21 to traditional power Booneville.
The ’Hawks current head coach, Tony Travis, is a former Bearcat himself and would probably love to beat his old rival when they come to town later this season.
Next week, Gentry will travel to state power Charleston; Gravette will travel to McDonald County for most likely an easy win;
Prairie Grove will travel to Cassville, Mo., to take on the two-time defending state champion Wildcats;
Farmington will host West Fork, which is coming off an upset loss to 2A School Union Christian; Ozarkhosts Clarksville; with Berryville rounding out the slate hosting Huntsville.
In other football news, the Rogers Heritage team blasted Helena-West Helena 65-6 in a game that lasted two days. The game started out in RazorbackStadium on Thursday night but that terrific storm that blew through the Fayetteville area postponed the contest with Heritage leading 9-0 at the end of the first quarter. The overnight stay for Helena-West Helena wasn’t good for the visitors as they were outscored 56-6 in the final three periods on Friday night.
Of the big six 7A teams in our area, Rogers was the only loser as they took it on the chin 32-0 at the hands of Neosho. Ironically, the new Rogers coach was the Neosho coach when the game was scheduled last spring. In the other games, Bentonville pounded North Little Rock 45-0, Fayetteville crushed St. Louis Ballwin Parkway 49-0.
Springdale HarBer trampled Stillwater, Okla., 63-20, with Springdale beating Little Rock Catholic 43-35.
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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.
Sports, Pages 8 on 09/08/2010