Ridger Sports

Coaches poll gives ’Hawks the cellar

Vagaries of high school football could skew prognostications

The first poll of the 2012 high school football season is out in the form of the Hooten’s 2011 19th annual Arkansas Football Guide which hit the newsstands last week.

Not surprisingly, the 1-4A football coaches poll gave the last place position to Pea Ridge. Not surprising in that the Blackhawks finished the year in the basement in 2010 and the coaches’ poll historically tends to place teams where they wound up in the previous season

Defending state champion Shiloh will compete in their last year as a member of the 4A classification as they will be moved up to 5A in 2012. Since they won the state last year, they are again ranked tops in the league at least for the first poll.

Shiloh lost but one game last year, a blow-out 80-26 loss to a highly-ranked Texas private school. When asked about that loss, the Shiloh head coach said: “I don’t want to make excuses but...”, then proceeded to make excuses, saying that a couple of his better players weren’t 100 percent. Unless those players were of the caliber of Ryan Mallett and Knile Davis, I don’t think that particular outcome hinged on which Shilohplayers might have been injured.

The Springdale private school is ranked No. 3 in the first 4A state poll this season and they will get to prove their worth when they take on Heber Springs to open the season. Heber is ranked No. 4 in the state and has a veteran seasoned team coming back this year. Shiloh only returns six starters (of 22) this year but football pundits cite Shilohs’ tradition and the “fact” that their team always has had the savvy to win games. The team has the fewest returning starters of any team in the states’ top 30 teams and I think it will be a factor that might drag them down this season. Time will tell.

The coaches have Ozark ranked second in the conference although Hooten’s has Gravette in that position. Ozark pulled off some upsets last year playing with basically a sophomore-driven team, getting a state playoff berth then winning in the first round. I think the coaches have it right although both teams return 14 starters, Gravette’s senior-dominated team will likely not be as improved as much as Ozarks’ junior-dominated team. Pea Ridge had Ozarkson the ropes last year until a defensive player put a Kung Fu move on the ’Hawks’ quarterback to send him out of the game with a concussion, ending a drive which would have won the game for Pea Ridge. Ozark escaped with a 14-12 victory.

Prairie Grove comes in fourth in the pre-season (18th in state), returning 10 starters from a sixth place 4-6 team. They don’t have a lot of seniors but a lot area forecasters believe they will make a comeback this season simply because they are Prairie Grove. I don’t know about that as tradition doesn’t make tackles or shed blocks. The ’Hawks lost a tough 20-6 loss to the Tigers last year.

The fifth team picked is Farmington, a team used to being at or near the top. The Cardinals got one of the two fifth seed playoff tickets last year but got blasted by Pulaski Academy in the playoff first round 42-12. Like Prairie Grove, they return just 10 starters and their stated deficiency is lack of size.

They went 4-6 in 2010 and are rated 28th in the state to start the season in 2011.

Gentry, the sixth pick,had one of the best years they have had in awhile last year as they went 6-4 during the regular season, losing 51-20 to Nashville in the playoff first round.

The Pioneers return just 10 starters and have a pronounced lack of depth. The quarterback position is up in the air but they do have some good linemen and running backs in the fold.

For the first time in coach Littles’ five-year tenure, he won’t have a Ramsey in the backfield and they are starting with a 36th ranking in state.

Berryville, which had cornered the market on last place finish predictions for the past several years start this year ranked seventh in the league and 42nd overall. They have the least returning starters of any team. They have an announced problem with players in all their skill positions but the new coach last year had inspired the Bobcats to have more players to come out.

Finally to Pea Ridge, the last-ranked team in the 4A-1 District and 43rd ranked of 48 4A teams in Arkansas. As in almost every year since I came to Pea Ridge 14 years ago, forecasters, observers, and sportswriters all point to a “lack of speed” as the ’Hawks’ biggest handicap to overcome.

In the backfield, the ’Hawks have five veteran junior offensive players in quarterback Austin Easterling, tailback Dayton Winn, fullback Braxton Caudill, receivers Joe Adams and Daniel Beard to go with senior multi-position player Bo Rylee. Easterling proved to be elusive on the ground last year with Winn rushing for a lot of yards in a back up role. Adams had proven to have great hands and Beard has been effective with runs after catches, whether the ball comes from the quarterback or from a punter.

Senior Drew Norris will lead the offensive line with Bo Schneider anchoring the defensive line. The ’Hawks will be using some new sophomores on defense but the ’Hawks return as many veteran players as anyone else in the conference.

MY prediction? The ’Hawks will get better and improve as the year progresses. They start theseason with three nonconference games against former league foes. Their opener is with a team they haven’t beaten in a while, the Elkins Elks. Elkins isn’t ranked as high as last year, coming in at fourth in the 3A-1 this year. The ’Hawks’ second foe will be Green Forest, a team lacking size and coming off a 3-7 campaign. They do return most of their starters from last year, a season where they beat the ’Hawks 25-8.

Their third non-conference game will have the’Hawks hosting highlyranked Greenland. The ’Hawks own two straight wins over the Tigers with the 14-6 win coming last year on a 7-yard pass from Easterling in the game’s last minute. The 2011 Tigers are ranked first in the 3A-1 district and hold down the No. 13 ranking statewide.

The ’Hawks have the potential of winning most of their non-conference games and could conceivably, to me, also win most of their conference games as well. Therefore, a 6-4 prediction by me I think is quite doable. Of course, the vagaries of high school football could lead even the best prognosticator astray. Athletes moving in or moving out can skew the predictions as well as the presence of greatly improved players on teams that we just can’t see coming.

I don’t believe the ’Hawks will end the season in the basement and I hope and believe that they will make a serious run for the playoffs.

◊◊◊

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 8 on 07/06/2011