Ridger Sports

Just 19 points twice!

The biggest upset game of last week’s opening of the football season was perhaps Shiloh’s 36-17 loss to Heber Springs last Thursday in Razorback Stadium on the campus of the University of Arkansas. Even though Shiloh lost heavily from graduation last spring, they were the favorites to defeat the Panthers in the season opener. Pundits kept citing the “savvy” factor and the fact that they had tradition and “knew how to win” in bolstering their pro-Shiloh arguments. Who knew (well, I did) that Heber would post the upset and win by 19 points?

I listened to the radio broadcast of the Shiloh/Heber game and was struck by the disbelief on the part of the Shiloh announcers on how they could possibly lose to the Panthers.

They commiserated about how the weather really affected their team’s performance (like somehow Heber didn’t have the same problem).

When they were in a hole in the third quarter, the radio voices complained about their bad luck, even though they had the best of good luck when Heber Springs’ arguably best player had to miss the game because of a practice injury. The announcers also talked up Shiloh’s fourth quarter chances when they believed that their head coach, Josh Floyd, would come up with a winning strategy like he always did. He didn’t.

The game was really a testament to the effectiveness of the new AAA rule that requires all transfers to private schools from public ones to sit a year before becoming eligible.

The out-of-town and out-of-state athletes that Shiloh spent a fortune to bring to Springdale for their past three years of glory would have never made it on campus if the current rule had been in effect in 2007.

The private Springdale school can no longer go shopping in public high schools to fill athletic needs for their football team. Like their public school counterparts, the coaches there will now have to train, teach and coach the athletes they already have. If they can.

The interesting thing about the Shiloh/Heber battle is that it is not the first time in the last 10 months that the Panthers have put the hurt on Shiloh in a sporting context. Back in November, Shiloh was the heavy favorite to win another state title in boys cross country. To Shiloh’s astonishment, Heber won that championship match-up by a convincing margin.

To be exact, Heber Springs won the meet by 19 points.

Shiloh plays Tulsa Webster this week, an Oklahoma 4A size school coming off a 2-8 season in 2011 and a loss last week to Tulsa Victory Christian. They are ranked just 32nd in Oklahoma in their division so they ought to be an easy target for Shiloh. Ought to be and would be, of course, are two different things. Shiloh takes on Greenwood in the third week, a game I give Greenwood overwhelming odds to be the victor.

As Shiloh’s talent pool shrinks and they make their ill-advised ascent into 5A football in 2012, I think the Springdale private school fans will be lobbying the state to be placed into the state’s 3A classification for the 2014-2015 seasons.

Conference has good week

The Blackhawk’s 4A-1 fellow conference members had a good first week, taking five of eight battles to open the 2011 football season.

The local faithful were heartened by the ’Hawks’ 14-6 victory over Elkins to start the year 1-0. Especially since last season’s record ended at 1-9, the win over the Elks means that every victory from here on out will boost the rebuilding program started by third-year coach Tony Travis.

I predicted that the conference would take seven of eight opening contests and I was right about six of them. Gentry lost a 21-15 decision to Colcord, Okla., a game that always goes down to the wire when the interstate rivals battle. The Pioneers had a winning streak going against them but those wins werenarrow margins. The other game I misfired on was Berryville’s 13-7 loss to Yellville. Berryville lost heavily to graduation, a team that won just once last year. Still, I thought that Yellville was worse.

On the upside of my predictions, I was right in Farmington blitzing Huntsville 45-12. This was Tommy Tice’s first game as head coach of Huntsville as he returned from a long career at Harrison to resume directing his old home town. It was close until the Cardinals rolled up 28 points in the third quarter. I also foresaw Prairie Grove’s 41-6 dismantling of Lavaca. Although the Tigers keep trying to become a passing team, they rolled up 346 yards rushing, an attack mode which has always been their strong suit.

Gravette throttled Jay, Okla., 50-26 with a balanced running and passing attack. Darrick Strzelecki rushed for over 100 yards, he of recent ESPN fame. He became a national news item when he practiced for half a hour recently with a poisonous snake in his helmet. While his helmet was off, a snake crawled into it and the Lion running back put it on and wore it for while before he doffed it to discover his unwanted stowaway.

Ozark upset Booneville (I saw it coming) using a long kickoff return, a blocked punt and a 53-yard pass to overcome a Bearcat 7-0 half-time lead. This is the year that Pea Ridge travels to Ozark, by far the farthest trip on their road schedule. With Green Forests’ construction problems, Pea Ridge will have an extra home game and will only have to leave the friendly confines of Blackhawk Stadium on four occasions.

This week I pick Pea Ridge to whip the suddenly visiting Green Forest Tigers by a 28-7 count while I will go out on a limb and pick Tulsa Webster to take out Shiloh. Gentry will get run over by Siloam Springs this week and Gentry will get punished by Charleston, one of the state’s premier 3A schools. Though Prairie Grove is better this year, I don’t know that they can get by Cassville, a Missouri power team of late. I pick Cassville in a close one.

Ozark will whip Clarksville (I don’t believe the Lee brothers are into football), Gravette will crunch hapless McDonald County, Mo., while Farmington will overcome a seemingly weakened West Fork team. West Fork was manhandled by 2A power Magazine 40-7 at Ozark last week. Magazine went from being, along with Decatur, one of the absolute worst teams in Arkansas to the 2010 2A state champions in a real interesting story. West Fork has been a power recently and would have probably won a couple of state titles had Kiehl Frazier (now of Auburn) stayed at home and not bolted to Shiloh.

In my two other predictions, I proclaim that Bentonville and the Razorbacks will emerge undefeated after week two. So far, I am batting .800 for the prediction season

Season’s first state rankings by Hootens as of Sept. 1.

4A-1 Conference

District rank State rank School

1st 3rd Shiloh

2nd 13th Gravette

3rd 18th Prairie Grove

4th 22nd Ozark

5th 28th Farmington

6th 36th Gentry

7th 42nd Berryville

8th 43rd Pea Ridge

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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 9 on 09/07/2011