Though loathe to admit it, I had a poor prognostication record last week, missing three of the eight football contests involving 4A-1 teams, for a poor 63 percent score.
Pottsville hammered Gravette 36-10 to no one's surprise, we dominated Elkins by a 21-6 count, Berryville bombed Decatur 36-19, while Lincoln was shellacked by Lakeside 36-0, with Huntsville taking the measure of Green Forest 25-15. These games I saw coming and predicted fairly accurately.
I was wrong about the Shiloh/Charleston (and glad of it) as they were beaten rather soundly 42-14, and I did not for see West Fork whipping Gentry 42-16 and Farmington's 34-27 upset of Prairie Grove was something no one expected to see outside Farmington. The thing with high school football, things can change from year to year and you really don't know how a team will fare until a few games get played.
This week's conference games area bit harder to figure with a pair of opponents unknown to me. Naples Baptist of Florida invades Shiloh field and I don't know much about them. Lincoln plays Keys High School (Oklahoma) and while I know a bit more about them, it's not much.
This weeks predictions:
• Charleston 49, Gentry 0. The easiest game to call would be the game involving Gentry and Charleston. Based on last week's results, it would appear that the score might be in the neighborhood of 50 zip, but suffice to say that the Pioneers are heavy, heavy, heavy underdogs. It will be a mercy ruled game somewhere in the neighborhood of seven TDs by the Charleston offense. Tough neighborhood.
• Mayflower 35, Gravette14. Mayflower boasts the states No. 8-ranked 3A football team, fresh off a 46-41 shootout victory over Dumas last week. The game will be at Mayflower with the Lions making along trek in the heat to play a team with decided more sped than themselves. It doesn't look good for the western Benton County team.
• Farmington 42, Huntsville 7. The 5A Cardinals upset Prairie Grove last week and now play newly minted 4A team Huntsville. The Eagles haven't had a good football team in a very long time and if the Cards can replicate last week, game over for Huntsville.
• Lincoln 20, Keys 7. Keys is ranked 49th among Oklahoma's 56 3A class teams. They have been down for a time, just the kind of thing the Wolves need after their pasting by Lakeside last week. The game might be one of the Wolves' few wins this season.
• West Fork 49, Berryville 7. Decatur scored 19 on Berryville last week and West Fork's Tigers scorched Gentry with a lot of offense. The Tigers may run rampant over the Bobcat defenses and I expect they will.
• Naples First Baptist 35, Shiloh 21. Naples is the seventh-ranked 2A team in the state of Florida, with enough money to make the trek to Arkansas to take on Shiloh. I don't think any team will invest that much time and money into a trip they can't believe they take a win out of. Shiloh's debacle at Charleston demonstrated that the Springdale private school may have seen their better days. With no proven quarterback helming Shiloh, they will have difficulty scoring against a good defense.
• Prairie Grove 0, nobody else 0. The Tigers could not get a game for the second week. Their storied and strong program makes them a less than attractive non-conference opponent. On the college level, good major football teams can pay lesser schools piles of money to be non-conference opponents (some call it rent-a-win). On the high school level, when you get good, people want to avoid you if you can. Bentonville has the same problem which is why they are playing a team from New Jersey this week.
• Pea Ridge 28, Green Forest 7. The Tigers gave Huntsville a good battle but fell short. Though a big school, Huntsville hasn't been much of a football power. The Tigers and 'Hawks seem to usually have a good match up. Green Forest ranks as the 22nd best team in Arkansas 3A and could give Pea Ridge a run for their money -- but probably not.
Maxpreps ranks'Hawks football fifth in district, 35th in state
CBS Sports Maxpreps rank the locals as the fifth best team in the district, having them fill the 35th spot in the state rankings.
Shiloh's previously lofty ranking took a tumble after their one sided loss at Charleston Prairie Grove dropped to the 10th ranked team in the state after the loss to Prairie Grove, but they now hold the top ranking in the 4A-1.
Curiously, Lincoln was devastated by Lakeside but still make the state's top 20, coming in at 19th.
MaxPreps state football rankings
1. Dollarway 1-0
2. Warren 0-1
3. Arkadelphia 1-0
4. Malvern 1-0
5. Star City 1-0
6. Hamburg 1-0
7. Nashville 1-0
8. Newport 1-0
9. Gosnell 1-0
10. Prairie Grove 0-1
12. Shiloh 0-1
19. Lincoln 0-1
29. Huntsville 1-0
35. Pea Ridge 1-0
37. Gravette 0-1
39. Gentry 0-1
43. Berryville 1-0
St. Louis bearing down on 2014 playoffs
Perennial contenders St. Louis and their baseball Cardinals are making another run for the World Series again this summer.
Winning 10 of their last 11 games while season long divisional leader Milwaukee was losing 10 of their last 11 catapulted the Cards into first place, with a 4 1/2 game lead on now second place Pittsburgh. With only 18 games to go, things are looking good for Cardinal fans.
St. Louis won the World Series in 2011, barely missed winning the National League title in 2012, and fell to Boston in the 2013 World Series. Boston is now a last place team in the American League East Division, but the Cards are still winning, though it took a bit longer this year to get going.
Injuries took a terrible toll on St. Louis with baseball's best catcher in the person of Yadier Molina benched until this past week. His coming off the disabled list coincided with the Cards sudden rush to claim the divisional lead. Injured star pitcher Michael Wacha is back on the mound and things just seem to clicking on all cylinders right now.
Manager Mike Matheny is in his third year as the skipper and so far, his teams have made it to the League Championship each time under his leadership. A former catcher, Matheny was hired with no experience managing a major league team but with a lot of experience hearkening back to his days as a Cardinal catcher. It is no coincidence that a lot of managers were once catchers.
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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 09/10/2014