The bad news, if a preseason ranking could be considered either good or bad, is that the Blackhawks have been ranked as the 35th best team in the state in the 4A classification.
That may sound bad until you realize that the ’Hawks were ranked just 33rd in last years’ fi rst pre-season poll. They went on to crack the states’ top 10 before the season was over, going on to finish 10-2 to compile the best record in school history.
Of course, this year, we don’t have the big heavily experienced senior class as of a year ago.
This years’ crew will be a mystery until the season begins to unfold in early September..
The ’Hawks will have Elkins, Green Forest and Greenland on their nonconference schedule this year. Last season, the Blackhawks obliterated those three opponents by a combined 134-14 count but with the lack of seasoned, experienced players, those lopsided scores aren’t apt to be repeated.
They begin the season by invading Elkins. Gone is Elks head coach Aaron Clark along with his graduated son Mitchell Clark. Clark the younger accounted for 80 percentof all the offense the Elks generated last year in a 2-8 season. While they don’t have very many starters back this year, they will have more than the visiting Blackhawks.
Their roster will likely be much shorter than the ’Hawks. They will have some size on the line with a pair of 260-pounders.
Elkins got into the playoff last year via a forfeit, a victory over a school that just started playing football, and another over a school that started playing after dropping the sport for awhile. Glen Rose ended their season 49-7, the same score that the ’Hawks begun their season with.
Last year was kind of different for the ’Hawks in that they mopped up the Elks in a blowout.
Historically, the battles between the two schools have usually been exceedingly close and it would seem that this year will be more typical of seasons past. Having said that, the ’Hawks have taken on a new attitude and mindset. I look for Pea Ridge to take the opener though I could not even begin to predict the score.
Elkins is ranked fifth in the 3A-1 and 35th in thestate in 3A.
Next up for the ’Hawks will be another road game, this time to Green Forest. The Tigers have about the same amount of return starters as Elkins but their season picked up a lot at the end of the 2012 campaign.
Last year, Pea Ridge completely shut the Tigers down defensively, whipping them by a 37-0 count, The Tigers actually didn’t win a game until October with five losses to open the season along with an open date.
They won their last four games in a rush,though, to qualify for the playoffs before getting buried 51-12 by Fountain Lake, the Class 3A state runner-up.
Senior Treyton Anderson is a seasoned athlete at the quarterback position. He passed for nearly 1,200 yards and rushed for nearly 500 last year.
While they may lack a lot of returning starters, they will likely have an allsenior backfield. The underclassmen of a year ago got a lot of experience under their belt and they will be better in 2013.
Like Elkins, the Tigers have usually been a tight battle when they take on the ’Hawks. They are ranked 21st in the state in 3A, third in the 3A-1 and the ’Hawks will probably be an underdog in this game. With Green Forest traveling to Reeds Spring to begin their season, a loss there along with a’Hawks’ win at Elkins could change that. For me, I expect the ’Hawks to win for the reasons mentioned relative to the Elkins contest.
The fi nal pre-conference tune-up will be hosting the Greenland Pirates in the fi rst ever game in the new Blackhawk Stadium. The Pirates have most of their starters back, and have a lot of skill players to put on the fi eld.
Greenland went 8-4 last year, advancing all the way to the third round of the 3A State playo◊s. After receiving a 48-7 beating at the hands of the ’Hawks in 2012, the Pirates went on a tear, losing just one conference game in claiming the 3A-1 league championship. They lost 29-26 to a resurgent Green Forest team in October but won four games after that before losing to Prescott 49-14 to end their season.
The Pirates lost their all-state quarterback and all-state receiver to graduation but return a potent runner in Calvin Giddens. Giddens rushed for 1,300 yards last year racking up 18 touchdowns in the process.
They will match up well with the ’Hawks on the line and will probably be improved on defense.
Head coach Tony Travis’ Blackhawks has a great won-loss record against the Pirates, something the first team tovisit the new digs will want to change. Greenland is ranked second in the 3A-1 conference and is rated the No. 18 team in the state 3A classifi cation.
While this year will be much scrappier than in ’12, I do have a feeling that the ’Hawks will end their pre-conference campaign with an unblemished 3-0 mark.
Bentonville not No. 1 overall
For the first time in a while, Bentonville has not been voted the top team in 7A as well as all classifications. That honor goes this year, to the North Little Rock Charging Wildcats.
Bear in mind, five of the past six years, the recognized overall state champion has had a “ville” attached to their name. Fayetteville has won three titles in the past six years with Bentonville winning another other two. The lone title that escaped the “villes” was a win by Springdale HarBer.
Bentonville has won the past six 7A-West conference championships with Fayetteville winning nary a one, though going on to win state three times. The Tigers have had their way with the Bulldogs for along time in league battles but lost the last two state titles in upsets to Fayetteville. In a departure from normal in the final poll of 2012,Bentonville was ranked the state’s best team even after losing to Fayetteville 31-20 in the 7A fi nal.
The Allen quarterback brothers are no longer running the offense at Fayetteville as the are now both suited up with the Razorbacks. Bentonville, being the largest school in the state, will never have a bad team especially with future Hall of Fame coach Barry Lunney running the show.
This year they are ranked second behind nearly as large North Little Rock.
The Chargin’ Cats have a much easier schedule than does either Bentonville or Fayetteville and I don’t believe they will make it to the fi nal game when all is said and done. It will likely be an all 7A West affair when all is said and done, probably between Bentonville and HarBer.
When Bentonville finally does split their high school, look for Coach Lunney to retire and for the football landscape to change dramatically in the wake of that event.
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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 07/24/2013