Blackhawks are the lone unbeaten in the 1-4A

Out of town folks visiting the Pea Ridge football stadium last Friday found their hosts to be quite offensive as the Blackhawks piled up mountains of offense to dominate visiting Gentry as the homeboys outscored the Pioneers 72-34 to remain unbeaten in 2015.

After roaring through the non-conference schedule outscoring their opponents 129-25 in three games, the 'Hawks stepped it up another notch, now averaging more than 50 points a game. Pea Ridge was the only team in the 1-4A to start the year 4-0.

Junior tailback Zaine Holley averaged more than 10 yards per carry as he toted the pigskin 30 times for 337 yards last Friday. The game didn't break open till late in the half as new transfer at Gentry C.J. Taylor had three touchdowns early to keep the Pioneers close, trailing just 31-22 in the middle of the second quarter. While the 'Hawks finally found a way to stop Taylor, Gentry was not as fortunate as Holley who ended the game with seven touchdowns. The 'Hawk defenders limited the Pioneers to a pair of scores in the second half while scoring four more times themselves.

Pea Ridge was favored by a pair of touchdowns before the game Friday but won by 38 points instead.

Elsewhere around the conference, the pre-season top four ranked teams happened to be the four teams that emerged with victories in the first week of conference play.

Much improved Huntsville hung tough with Prairie Grove, trailing only by six at the half. A trick play with the Tiger tight end taking a pitch from the quarterback then throwing it downfield resulted in a touchdown for Prairie Grove on the first play of the second half. A couple of plays later saw Huntsville throw an interception close to their own end zone which led to another Tiger touchdown and the game was essentially over with Prairie Grove eventually winning 42-21.

Gravette ran over Lincoln 49-21. Lincoln had great difficulty keeping Lions out of their offensive backfield. Gravette had a balanced offense as four different Lions scored touchdowns. The Lincoln coach (Bill Harrison) thought that Gravette played so well that the Lions will win the 1-4A or at least take second. The Wolves skipper will get to test that theory hosting the 'Hawks Friday.

In no surprise to anyone, Shiloh dispatched Berryville 49-0. Shiloh scored the first six times they had the ball and the Bobcats had two punts blocked that led to the blowout loss.

This week the 'Hawks will be heading down to Lincoln and their new stadium. The 'Hawks will be faster and deeper than the Wolves and shouldn't have much of a problem running their regular season win streak to 15 straight. They are also riding a seven straight road game win streak.

The big game of the week will be the Gravette at Prairie Grove contest. Two of the likely top four teams in the 1-4A, the game will have great significance for playoff seedings down the road. The Tigers should best the Lions but it will be much closer than most might think. I think the home field advantage will swing it to Prairie Grove but they will have to work at it.

Huntsville, considered the leading contender for the No. 5 playoff spot from the district, will travel to Springdale to take on Shiloh. The Eagles will score on Shiloh but can they outscore them? Probably not, but it could happen.

The fourth league game will see Berryville visiting Gentry. The Bobcats will have a hard time stopping Gentry's Taylor and he will probably find his way into the end zone on multiple occasions. The Pioneers defense is smarting after giving up 72 to Pea Ridge and will be very focused at home this week.

State 4A poll (MaxPreps)

1. Warren 3-1

2. Dardanelle 4-0

3. Nashville 4-0

4. Robinson 4-0

5. Pocahontas 4-0

6. Shiloh 2-1

7. Fountain Lake 3-1

8. Malvern 3-1

9. Gosnell 4-0

10. Pottsville 2-2

16. Pea Ridge 4-0

17, Prairie Grove 3-1

24. Gravette 3-1

34. Huntsville 2-2

39. Gentry 2-2

43. Berryville 2-2

44. Lincoln 1-3

In the Hooten's State 4A Poll, which doesn't come out before presstime, Pea Ridge was ranked in the 13th spot previous to Friday. Conference teams were ranked as follows last week.

Hooten's 4A Poll Sept. 23

1. Dardanelle 3-0

2. Nashville 3-0

3. Robinson 3-0

4. Hamburg 2-1

5. Gosnell 3-0

6. Warren 2-1

7. Lonoke 2-1

8. Malvern 2-1

9. Star City 2-1

10. Shiloh 1-1

11. Prairie Grove 2-1

13. Pea Ridge 3-0

24. Gravette 2-1

37. Gentry 2-1

36. Huntsville 2-1

40. Berryville 2-1

47. Lincoln 1-2

Has the Hogs' season fizzled?

Another week and another loss for the rapidly sinking Razorbacks. Fans have been forced to drop their hopes and expectations from possibly vying to get into a national playoff spot to hoping to win enough games to get into any kind of bowl. Sitting at 1-3 with the bulk of the SEC looming before them, gaining six victories may be a tall order.

The Hogs have been hit with a multitude of injuries decimating their receiver corp, especially unfortunate considering they also lost their top running back to injury and maybe their third best as well. On top of that, the Razorback defense has been fed a steady diet of spread offense in their losses, something they have not been able to contain.

Least year saw the Hogs start the year kind of miserably before they turned it on at the end to go 6-6 then whip Texas easily in the Texas Bowl to finish 7-6. Maybe history will repeat itself.

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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 09/30/2015