PEA RIDGE — In spite of the fact that the ‘Hawks are riding a nine-game winning streak, their top 10 state ranking slipped from fifth to seventh this week as Farmington made a big move up in the polls. But, like lots of coaches say (and mean), the only poll that really matters is the final one in March.
The MaxPrep/Freeman Poll still has Jonesboro Westside as the No. 1 team in the state with Pulaski still occupying the runnerup position. Farmington shot up from 10th to fifth in a week’s time, probably when the Freeman pollsters took a closer look at the Cardinals’ won/loss record and schedule.
Farmington has lost four times this season but two of them were to 7A teams and once to a 5A team. They have lost 55-51 to Siloam Springs, 55-47 to Ft. Smith Southside, 58-51 to Beebe and 59-54 to Benton. While losing, they were in those games until the end.
In the win column, Farmington owns victories over 5A Greenwood (58-46) and 7A Springdale Har-Ber (52-39) although to be fair, those wins were in November when both teams had athletes still involved with the football playoffs.
In a more recent game, the Cardinals held on to barely get by Shiloh 60-57. If you remember, the ‘Hawks shellacked Shiloh 73-50 in December so either the private school players got a lot better or Farmington had an off game.
Shiloh defeated Prairie Grove by 10 last week so perhaps coach Clark’s observation that “Shiloh is a whole lot better than what we saw in our gym” may hold true. Anyone of the four could take the crown in 2011 and I, for one, am glad that the district tournament will be in Pea Ridge this year. Sometimes the home field advantage doesn’t always hold up as advertised, but still, I would rather play at home as anywhere else.
Current Top 10 4A State rankings
1. Jonesboro Westside
2. Little Rock Pulaski
3. McGehee
4. Batesville Southside
5. Farmington
6. Dumas
7. Pea Ridge
8. Malvern
9. Heber Springs
10. Osceola
Incidentally, the state’s top-ranked team Jonesboro Westside, is not from Jonesboro. The school is located in Bono on the west side of Craighead County.
There is another high school inside Jonesboro besides Jonesboro which is Nettleton High School.
Different schools with different school boards. EvenBatesville Southside isn’t in Batesville. It is located in the unincorporated community of Southside which is south of Batesville, across the White River.
4A-1 Conference rankings
1. Farmington
2. Pea Ridge
3. Shiloh
4. Prairie Grove
5. Gentry
6. Ozark
7. Gravette
8. Berryville What are some of the state records?
Have you ever wondered what some of the state records are in boys’ basketball in Arkansas?
Little Rock Central has the most state titles with 17 championships, with most of those occurring years ago when Central was the biggest, “mostest, bestest” high school in the state. In terms of victories in a row, Stephens High School and West Memphis are tied at 60 straight.
In terms of scoring, the state record by an individual in one game is 108 scored by Morris Mathis of St. Joe in 1955, That was without any 3-point shots. The team record for scoring is 122 scored by Midland in a 122-88 win over Timbo. This means that Mathis of St. Joe must have scored just about all his teams points that one night.
The best individual scoring average for a season was Bennie Fuller’s 50.9 pergame average in 1971. The best shooting percentage in a night was Keith Wycoff’s 11 of 11 shooting for 100 percent in 1981.
We have a player from Benton County who owns the state single game rebounding record with 35 caroms. That was Jack Thompson of Gravette in 1973. Any kin to Cameron?
Another member of the 4A-1 has a record in Prairie Grove’s Kirk Turner who recorded 21 assists in a game in 1982.
In terms of 3-point goals, Mario Manning once made 13 of them for Huttig in 1999.
Matt Mills of Rector once made 56 consecutive free throws in 1999 with Glen Fenier of Charleston holding the single game accuracy record with 19 of 19 in 1978.
As far as Arkansas high school coaching is concerned, the all time “winningest” coach was “Coton” Havener who won 1,556 games from 1945 through 1987. He coached all those years in Mulberry.
One peculiar record on the books is Morrillton’s record of 3-point attempts in a game in 1998. They only made 14 of them, so I would bet that they also hold the state record for misses in a game at 47.
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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 [email protected].
Sports, Pages 10 on 01/12/2011