PEA RIDGE — Friday’s loss at home ended the ’Hawks’ twogame winning streak and finished the reversal of 2010. Pea Ridge earlier defeated Elkins and Green Forest before losing to Greenland.

In 2010, the ’Hawks lost to Elkins and Green Forest before beating Greenland.

This year has been the year of reversal so far, so could it be that the ’Hawks’ 0-7 league mark of a year ago could turn around to 7-0 this year? Works for me.

The game was a bit disappointing in that the home boys might have played a tad better but there were three big plays that occurred that would have been hard for anyone to recover from.

The Pirate kicker wasn’t particular effective until he caught hold of one and rolled it to the ’Hawk 1-yard line. Had it rolled into the end zone, it could have been downed and moved to the 20. As itwas, it had the returners scrambling backwards to retrieve and advance it. It ended with the ’Hawks punting out of the back of the end zone which led to a shirt field and score. Bad luck.

The fumbled punt occurred when a ’Hawk player was working to set up a block for the returner.

The ball took a weird carom (weird shaped objects like footballs often do that). The mistake wasn’t the result of sloppy play or because of an inattentive player. Bad luck.

The third crucial play was when the ’Hawks had the Pirates’ running back caught behind the line ofscrimmage. Instead of a play resulting in lost yardage, the tailback eluded several tacklers to break free on the opposite side of the field and very nearly score. A defensive gem by Dayton Winn prevented a score on that particular play, but the run flipped the field and led to a crucial touchdown and the fateful kickoff as described above.

Not so much bad luck as bad fortune.

Still, the loss Friday does not affect the conference standings or whether or not the ’Hawks make the playoffs - a goal, while lofty, is not out of the realm of possibility. In the ’Hawks’ pre-season games, their three opponents lost to only one other team besides Pea Ridge in the nine game total.

Personally, I have always believed that bad luck is always balanced with good luck, at least for teams that don’t quit, that don’t give up. In my 34 years of teaching, coaching and sports writing, I have seen some amazing things. I have seen teams that in one year might experience things which could be described only as bad and ugly only to see subsequent success and glory. A little bitterness will later make the sweet taste that much sweeter.

The loss Friday wasn’t the end of the journey, only a bump in the road.

Gravette emerges as the top-ranked 4A-1 team in AP

Shilohs’ utter and thorough dismantling by the Greenwood Bulldogs last week might have ended whatever illusion many sportswriters may have had about the Springdale school’s chances of repeating as state football champs. The Associated Press has dropped Shiloh from its 4A Super Six rankings while Gravette climbed onto the list this week.

Shiloh has been ranked No. 1 in the league for a long time, and Hooten’s Arkansas State High School Poll still ranks them ahead of the Lions, which proves that some Shiloh sportswriters/fans still have a hard time facing reality. It could be question of who’s the best won’t be settled until the two schools face off onOct. 21. Actually, Hooten’s has Ozark ranked ahead of Gravette in the latest ranking, making the Gravette/ Ozark game on Oct. 7 one of the most decisive games of the season. It is rather strange that the AP ranks only Gravette in its Super Six while Hooten’s ranks both Shiloh and Ozark ahead of them.

Gravette is 3-0 after pounding Poteau 31-16 in a game in Oklahoma. Oddly enough, this week’s game with Pea Ridge will be the first game the Lions will play against an Arkansas opponent. Gravette played two Oklahoma schools and one from Missouri to go 3-0.

In the game at Greenwood, Shiloh Josh Floydsaid that “We couldn’t do anything out there.” He wasn’t kidding as the defending state champions gained less that 100 yards in the game, losing yards on the ground. Floyd may well reconsider his belief that they were well situated to be competitive in the state’s 5A division, where Shiloh will be playing in 2012.

As expected, Farmington took care of Clarksville 28-6, while Prairie Grove whipped out manned West Fork 35-14.

Ozark surprised some with its 20-14 victory over the state’s top 3A team in Charleston. Berryville continued their losing ways, getting massacred by Green Forest 35-0, a team recently dispatched by our ’Hawks.

Gentry was playing for a shocking upset for awhile competing against Siloam Springs. Rogers Heritage dismantled a Springfield (Mo.) team that was a highly regarded outfit then the following week, they were hammered by Siloam. That caused many to rethink how good the border Panthers were going to be this year. In a game in which they were heavy underdogs, Gentry actually led until late in the first half.

Although Gentry finally lost 33-16, they played quite well against the 5A school which is slated to begin playing 7A ball next year.

My predictionatin’ was pretty good last week as I got nine of 10 correct, only missing the ’Hawks’ loss to Greenland. So far I have a 87 percent success rate predicting. This week I will be taking some chances thatmight boost my average or completely ruin it.

First, I am picking Pea Ridge over Gravette 21-20.

The wire services rate the ’Hawks a three-touchdown underdog to the Lions but Travis could spring the upset. I am also taking Gentry over Farmington and Ozark over Prairie Grove. While I am loathe to admit it, I don’t see any way Shiloh can lose to Berryville although I would confess to being more than happy if I was wrong on that count.

In non-league games, I think Bentonville will disappoint a very good Fayetteville team this year.

Siloam won’t have much chance against Greenwood and Rogers will have to face an angry formerly No.

1 overall ranked team in the state as Ft. Smith Southside was upset last week by West Memphis. Rogers Heritage will probably beat a suddenly defenseless Ft. Smith Northside team which gave up 62 points to an unranked Little Rock Catholic team last week. In my final high school pick, I think a rejuvenated Decatur Bulldog team will whip Hackett in 2A action.

For my college pick, I predict Arkansas will upset the heavily-favored Alabama Crimson Tide in a game in Tuscaloosa. Whileacknowledging that the Tide is famous for defending its home turf, one of the most successful teams to defy the home advantage in ’Bama has been Arkansas.

Junior boys stay undefeated

Although there were no stats available at press time, it was reported to us that the seventh-grade football and the Pea Ridge Jr. High team kept their records unblemished with a double win at Greenland last week. Both teams are 3-0 and are hosting Gravette here tomorrow night in Blackhawk Stadium.

Hooten’s 4A state and district rankings

District State School

1st 6th Shiloh

2nd 9th Ozark

3rd 10th Gravette

4th 16th Prairie Grove

5th 23rd Farmington

6th 35th Gentry

7th 38th Pea Ridge

8th 45th Berryville◊◊◊

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 10 on 09/21/2011