In a year than has seen a multitude of firsts and many athletic successes, head football coach Tony Travis has been tabbed to be a head coach in this summer’s High School All-Star football game.
Travis was earlier selected as the Northwest Arkansas Football Coach of the Year and was also a finalist for the 4A State Football Coach of the Year honor. A native of Booneville, Ark., Travis is completing his fourth term at the helm of the Blackhawks, leaving a highly successful position as a coordinator at then 7A state champion Fayetteville High School to come to Pea Ridge.
Travis will serve as the West All-Star head coach as selected by the Arkansas High School Coaches Association, and will work with four assistant coaches, one of whom is the Blackhawks’ own Lafe Caton, a two-year member of the Pea Ridge staff. Other coaches selected to serve on the West staff include Shane Patrick from 7A Springdale, Bobby Bolding of 6A Pine Bluff, Randy Tribble of 5A Greenbrier, Mark Kehner of 3A Glen Rose and Ronnie Efurd of 2A Magnet Cove.
The coaches will be handling a football roster of a little over 50 players that come from 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A and 7A schools. The game will be played in June at the end of a week’s practice. The West squad will take on the East All-Stars with the game to be played in Conway, presumably art the stadium at the University of Central Arkansas.
“It will be difficult selecting players with so many from each classification,” Travis remarked, “but I knew whenever I heard, that it was going to be a fun week.”
This is a first time selection for Travis, but the veteran coach took encouragement from the fact that many of his assistants had been all-star coaches before which will likely smooth the way for the Blackhawk skipper to get acclimated.
Being chosen to the position is a double honor as not only do you have to be a proven winning coach, you also need to be held in high esteem by your fellow coaches as they are the ones who vote in their choices for the all-star coach. Travis has always been well liked among his peers and has always been considered a top notch coach. Proving his mettle, he took over a program at Pea Ridge which had run aground and not only righted the ship but took it to its first 10 win season in many, many years.
Winn and Roughton: All-Star players
Coaches Travis and Caton won’t be totally unfamiliar with their roster assignment as two of the squad men were members of his own high school team from the recently completed season.
Tailback Dayton Winn andlineman Blake Roughton have been picked to play in the AHSCA Football All-Star Game in Conway this summer.
Both three -year starters for the 10-2 Blackhawks, Winn led the entire state in rushing this season with close to 2,200 yards. He will be joined by All-Star running backs Tearris Wallace of Bentonville and Jamie Smith of Camden Fairview.
Roughton was lauded for his hard-nosed play in the line and was also noted for his “Thor’s Hammer” motion he often made following a good play.
Only seven 4A players were selected for this year’s squad with nearly half of the players from the upper classification schools. The Blackhawks managed to take two of the three slots earned by players in the 4A-1 District with the other spot filled by Prairie Grove’s Jared Murphy, an offensive lineman.
Cage ’Hawks have tough week
The losses the ’Hawks incurred on the road last week took them down to seventh position in the state 4A poll that came out Sunday.
The ’Hawks were battered and bruised after an exceptionally rough game at Farmington on Tuesday, then lost to Lincoln Friday with one of their top starters out for three weeks with a severe sprain. Levi Pitts was run over by a Farmington player then had to be helped off the floor after the violent collision. No call was made on the play.
The Blackhawks will hope to rebound this week as they hosted last-place Gentry Tuesday night and will travel to next-to-last place Prairie Grove on Friday.
MaxPreps State 4A boys basketball poll
1). Pine Bluff Dollarway
2). Monticello
3). Pottsville
4). Cave City
5). Brookland
6). Farmington
7). Pea Ridge
8). Maumelle
9). Central Arkansas
10). Pocahontas
Other 4A-1 District schools
12). Ozark
24). Lincoln
27). Berryville
30). Ozark
32). Prairie Grove
46). Gentry
North Region Top 10 poll
1). Pottsville
2). Farmington
3). Pea Ridge
4). Maumelle
5). Gravette
6). Waldron
7). Subiaco
8). Lincoln
9). Dardanelle
10). Berryville
4A-1 District standings
1). Farmington 7-1
2). Pea Ridge 6-2
3). Gravette 6-2
4). Lincoln 5-3
5). Ozark 4-4
6). Berryville 3-5
7). Prairie Grove 1-7
8). Gentry 0-8
4A-1 girls now own half of Top 10
The 4A-1 girls’ powerhouse district now owns half the top 10 with fiveconference schools owning positions.
The 4A-1 holds the third, fourth, seventh, ninth and tenth spots in the most recent poll. It’s quite a thing for pride in one’s conference but sobering in the fact that at least one of our top 10 teams in the state won’t get past district play to play into regions. Only four teams from a district can play on into regional and state play.
In the region rankings, 4A-1 seventh-place holder (Gravette) right now ranks ninth in the North Region.
MaxPreps State 4A girls basketball poll
1). Malvern
2). Star City
3). Prairie Grove
4). Farmington
5). Central Arkansas
6). Valley View
7). Ozark
8). Bauxite
9). Lincoln
10). Berryville
Other 4A-1 schools
15). Gentry
20). Gravette
34). Pea Ridge
North Region Top 10 poll
1). Prairie Grove
2). Farmington
3). Ozark
4). Lincoln
5). Berryville
6). Dardanelle
7). Gentry
8). Maumelle
9). Gravette
10). Pottsville
4A-1 girls district standings
1). Prairie Grove 8-0
2). Farmington 7-1
3). Lincoln 5-2
4). Ozark 4-3
5). Berryville 3-4
6). Gentry 3-4
7). Gravette 1-7
8). Pea Ridge 0-8
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Editor’s note: John McGee 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 [email protected].
Sports, Pages 10 on 01/23/2013