PEA RIDGE — The football boys are hard at work preparing for the opening game with Elkins on Aug. 31. This will be the beginning test of how well ’Hawks football will fare this year.
The old football truism of “offense wins games but defense wins championships” has been proven time and time again. The University of Alabama had a pretty good offense last season, but it was their stellar defense that won them their second national championship in the last three seasons. Arkansas had a great offense last year but defensive shortcomings played major roles in both their losses last year.
A good defense shortens the field for the offense. A poor defense, on the other hand, usually keeps the offense a long way from the end zone to begin their attack.
It wasn’t all that many years ago that Pea Ridge had problems with turnout. Small rosters meant that most of the starters played every down in the game, never leaving the field except for time outs. This problem is no more.
Quite a few players got into games last season with sharper play the end result. A four-point loss to Shiloh kept them out of the playoffs, a remarkable turnaround from the beatdowns that the school from Springdale had administered in the past.
My own first experience in high school football was with coach Burl Fowler, a noted football coach whowon multiple state championships with teams that lacked size. Coach Fowler played as many players as he could, stating that “a fresh good player will beat a tired All-star.” He then trained all the players and worked them with the expectation that they could, and would, make a difference.
In the football campaign soon to unfold, I have to believe that the ’Hawk defense will be much better than seen in recent years.
Head coach Tony Travis said: “Our linebacking corps will be a strength this year. We still need to develop some depth during the pre-season but we have a lot of young guys who are capable.”
Veterans Dalton Morgan and Will Klein will start at the interior linebacking positions with Jonah Torres and Braxton Caudill starting in the outside linebacking slots. This quartet will start but we will see a lot of action from Colton Watkins, Shane Ivy, Thomas Lammey, Jacob Lundy, Dakota Canaday and Jarran Sainsbury.
The ’Hawks’ secondary has been getting a workout this summer, playing 7 on 7 games with a bunch of 7A schools. Dayton Winn and Daniel Beard will be starting at the corner positions with Austin Easterling manning the safety spot.
Other ’Hawks who will be roaming the defensive backfield include Jack Rapp, Logan Rose, Trent Ramsey, Sainsbury and Ivy.
Travis felt that “the summer’s competition provided a lot of reps for these guys to get better over the summer and they did.”
Last but not least will be the defensive linemen.
Blake Roughton and Tyler Handy will start at the tackle positions with JayseAnderson, Zac Norris and Jake Junkins resting them from time to time. The defensive end starters will be Zach Oldenbecken and Charlie Holliday, with Lucas Fancher and Garrett Morgan rotating in to provide rest.
For the first time in a long time, the ’Hawks will actually have a size advantage in most, if not all, of their games this season.
With players rotating in and out, the defense will be sharper and more focused.
It would seem that the fate or outlook of the Arkansas Razorbacks and that of the Pea Ridge Blackhawks are very similar. Both teams are coming off good offenses with defenses being their most important area needing improvement.
Both schools top two opponents will be playing on our turf. Arkansas hosts Alabama and Louisiana State,last year’s two national championship teams, with Pea Ridge hosting Ozark and Prairie Grove, the consensus top two teams this year in the 1-4A.
All of Arkansas games this year are winnable, as are Pea Ridges’ slate of opponents. Both offenses can put points on the board but it will be the defenses on both teams that will determine their final destiny.
Here’s to hoping the ’Hawks will be playing football in December with the Hogs having their final contest deep into January.
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Editor’s note: John Mc-Gee is an award-winning columnist and sports writer. He 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 08/15/2012