In what has seemed to some "experts" as an unlikely season for the Pea Ridge Blackhawks, the local gridders continue their winning ways, rising to the No. 4 spot in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Class 4A Super Six Rankings. This is the first time in school history that the football team has been listed in the Super Six ratings.
The 9-0 'Hawks are behind No. 1 Warren (7-2), No. 2 Dardanelle (9-0) and No. 3 Nashville (8-1). Warren's two losses were to 7A power Ft. Smith Southside 29-22 and 5A second-ranked Pulaski 50-21. Nashville's lone setback was a narrow loss was to Fountain Lake.
Democrat-Gazette 4a Super Six
1. Warren 7-2
2. Dardanelle 9-0
3. Nashville 8-1
4. Pea Ridge 9-0
5. Pine Bluff Dollarway 7-2
6. Shiloh 7-2
Playoffs coming into view
Last week's results cleared much of the playoff picture uncertainties for a lot of teams. We now know that Pea Ridge, Shiloh, Prairie Grove, Gravette and Gentry will be the five representatives the league will send into the playoffs that begin Nov. 14.
The only certain seeding for the 4A-1 will be that Prairie Grove is the third seed. They will play the fourth seed from the 4A-2, which could be either Heber Springs, Stuttgart, Lonoke or Central Arkansas Christian. Lonoke plays CAC Friday with the loser out of the playoffs and into the layoffs. Heber Springs plays the league leader West Helena with Lonoke playing the cellar dweller Riverview. There are too many combinations of possible results to list them here.
The real down side for the Tigers is that they will travel to Nashville if they win their first round game. Nashville is ranked by most as one of the state's top three teams.
Gravette and Gentry are tied for fourth place currently with 3-3 records and they play each other at Gravette this Friday and that will determine who gets the higher seed. The bad news is that the two teams will be matched up in the first round of the playoffs with the top two teams in the 4A-8, Warren and Pine Bluff Dollarway. Warren and Dollarway play this Friday. The Gravette/Gentry loser will play the Warren/Dollarway winner with the other two teams taking on each other. The two 4A-8 teams will both serve as hosts. Warren is the top ranked school in 4A and Dollarway is ranked fifth.
For the game of the week, month and maybe season, fans and media will be coming to Pea Ridge to witness the 'Hawks confront Shiloh. The teams are tied at 6-0 with the winner Friday claiming the conference championship and with it, home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
The winner will also get a week off as the 4A-1 and 4A-7 Districts receive this year's bye in the Arkansas Activities Association 30-team playoff format.
The 4A-1 winner will likely host the 4A-7 third seed which will be either Mena, Malvern or Arkadelphia in the second round. Those three are tied for second this week with Mena playing winless Waldron. Malvern plays Arkadelphia Friday and if Malvern wins, then Mena will be traveling to northwest Arkansas. If Arkadelphia wins, then they will be heading north instead. The third round will likely bring Warren or Dollarway to this corner of the state.
The 4A-1 second seed will play next week, most likely hosting Cave City. If they get past the Cave Men , I am betting they will be hosting the 4A-4 fifth seed, likely Pulaski Robinson. The second seed will also likely be playing either Dollarway or Warren in the third round if they make it that far, but at least the 4A-1 school will be at home if things go as I expect.
Four for four again
For the second week in a row, I got them all right as Gentry, Pea Ridge, Prairie Grove and Shiloh picked up wins this past week.
Gentry 26, Lincoln 6 -- Gentry started slow, missing opportunities in the first quarter then fumbling away the ball twice in the second. The second fumble led to a Lincoln score. A 27-yard touchdown pass as time expired send the Wolves into intermission leading 6-0. The Pioneers lad two long drives culminate in touchdowns at the start of the third and fourth quarters to take a 14-6 lead. A Pioneer field goal and 10-yard fumble return for a touchdown ice the game in the final minutes for Gentry.
Prairie Grove 44, Berryville 14 -- Prairie Grove ran through Berryville like the proverbial hot knife through butter though not at the rate the 'Hawks did a week prior. The Tigers led 38-0 to at the intermission, though the Bobcats got a long run from Brummett to cut the score to 38-6 in the second half's opening minutes. Tiger reserves got the ball down the field to score again to get the lead back to 38 at 44-6. Berryville scored again in the game's last 3 minutes.
Shiloh 39, Gravette 14 -- Shiloh's first three possessions started at mid-field or closer and they scored on each one to lead 19-0 early in the second period. The teams traded touchdowns as Shiloh led at the break 26-8. Shiloh passed for almost all of its yards in the first half then resorted to their running game in the second to keep a lockdown on the Lions. Shiloh scored twice early in third period to ice the game, though Gravette did come back to score late in the third for the final score.
This week's predictions
Huntsville 21, Berryville 0 -- The Eagles just have too much speed for the Bobcats and it will show on the scoreboard. Huntsville's offensive line had trouble keeping the Blackhawks from blasting through most of the time although they did a good job keeping the ends contained. While being outmanned, Berryville always seems to get up for its last game of the year as Blackhawk fans can attest, so there is an outside chance of an upset.
Prairie Grove 49, Lincoln 0 -- I think the Tigers are sorely disappointed they couldn't maintain their grip on first place and they will go out in style. The Tigers have too many backs for the Wolves to cover and Prairie Grove can pass the ball if need be.
Gentry 21, Gravette 14 -- This would be Gravette's game to win if their star running back Cedric Duarte had not gotten injured. I don't believe the senior will be back to 100 percent soon enough to be the factor he was in the first half of the season. Menawhile, after starting the season 0-4, the Pioneers are now 3-6, 3-3 in the conference with a chance for a winning league mark. The game will be a battle with Moorman at quarterback for the Lions, but I think the Pioneers will take this one.
Pea Ridge 28, Shiloh 21 -- It will be the league's best offense (Shiloh) against the league's best defense (Pea Ridge). It has often been said that offense wins games but defense wins championships. If you give the Shiloh quarterback enough time, he can pile up a lot of yards through the air but I don't the 'Hawk defensive line will cooperate. The last time the 'Hawks played Shiloh, Pea Ridge ripped their rival for over 600 yards but lost the game via inopportune turnovers. Pea Ridge will get the yards and I think the defense will limit Shiloh to their lowest totals of the conference season.
4a-1 conference standings
1. Pea Ridge 6-0
1. Shiloh 6-0
3. Prairie Grove 4-2
4. Gentry 3-3
4. Gravette 3-3
6. Huntsville 1-5
6. Lincoln 1-5
8. Berryville 0-6
Hawks crack Hooten's Top 10
In a poll released last week after the publishing deadline for The TIMES, Pea Ridge had risen to the No. 7 position in the Hooten's 4A State Football Poll.
Hooten's had the Hawks ranked 30th through the first month of the season until back-to-back wins over Gravette and Prairie Grove.
This is the highest Hooten's ranking the Blackhawks have ever had, surpassing the Hawks No. 10 ranking that they achieved after defeating Monticello in the playoffs opening round in 2012.
With two teams ahead of them losing last Friday (Pocohontas and Hamburg), the Hawks seem destined to rise further when the newest polls are released.
Hooten's Arkansas 4A Top 10
released Oct. 28
1. Warren
2. Dardanelle
3. Nashville
4. Pocahontas
5. Nashville
6. Hamburg
7. Pea Ridge
8. Star City
9. Gosnell
10. Arkadelphia
Pea Ridge ranked in CBS/Maxpreps Poll
Oddly enough, the Hawks dropped a bit in the CBS/MaxPreps polls for the second week in a row even though winning both their games to stay undefeated. Pea Ridge went from No. 12 to No. 14 after beating Huntsville 21-6, the states 39th ranked team.
On paper, the win over the Eagles doesn't look particularly impressive score wise. The fact that the Eagles, a primarily rushing team, came away from the game with only 2 yards rushing doesn't show up in computers. Huntsville never really had a chance to win, but no matter.
Mena and Pottsville made big jumps in the rankings after thumping Fountain Lake 47-21 and Robinson 48-14, respectively, both highly ranked teams.
Big polling points are in the offing in the Shiloh game Friday.
CBS/Maxpreps 4A State Poll
1. Dardanelle 9-0
2. Nashville 8-1
3. Arkadelphia 7-2
4. Warren 7-2
5. Mena 7-2
6. Pottsville 6-3
7. Malvern 6-3
8. Dollarway 7-2
9. Clinton 7-2
10. Shiloh 7-2
14. Pea Ridge 9-0
23. Prairie Grove 6-2
26. Gravette 5-4
35. Gentry 3-6
39. Huntsville 3-6
44. Berryville 2-7
Volleyball world rocked
The 4A volleyball world was rocked this year as a team not from northeast Arkansas won the state championship. Mena won the state title, downing Shiloh who won the state 5A title last year.
Since volleyball started having lower class divisions, either Valley View or Jonesboro Westside emerged as state champs in this particular class. Often three of the four semifinal teams were from the northeast. This year, Berryville knocked off the heir apparent Westside team in the quarterfinals, but fell to Mena in the semis. Shiloh beat the other northeast team, Brookland, in the semis. Valley View moved into 5A this season.
One interesting thing to note: The 4A-1 was the only district with two teams in the semifinals.
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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 on 11/05/2014