I figured we would be playing Nashville at some point this season, although I would have rather played them in the state finals instead of the second round. Be that as it may, for Pea Ridge to win the state championship, a feat this team has the potential to accomplish, they will have to play tough teams and they will probably have to face adversity. As Coach Stephen Neal said after the game last week, the team this year will be known as a team that faced adversity and never backed down.
Nashville is 11-0 this year, following their 15-0 record last year when they won the 4A championship. Coach Mike Volarvich has yet to suffer a defeat as he has a 26-0 record at the helm of the Scappers. Pea Ridge had their best year ever in 2015 when they won their first three games of the playoffs. Their playoff run was stopped by Nashville in the semi-finals by 42-20 score, with the Scrappers speed advantage largely being the difference.
Nashville averages more than 50 points per game, averaging nearly 300 yards per game rushing along with 230 yards per game in the passing department. By comparison, Pea Ridge is averaging 220 rushing yards led by the thunder and lightning running duo of Zaine Holley and Drew Winn. Holley has rushed for 1,116 yards this season, running into and through traffic for his yardage. Winn is close to eclipsing 1,000 yards as he has piled by 935 yards.
The big question that needs to be asked is "which team faced tougher defenses." I would say there is considerable evidence that would point to the 4A-1 being a much better defensive conference than the 4A-7, the host conference of past foe Arkadelphia and this week's opponent Nashville.
Arkadelphia came into town last week averaging 245 yards on the ground per game while passing for 231 yards on the average. The 'Hawks held the Badgers well below their season average by limiting them to just 94 yards rushing, with a -9 rushing total in the fateful fourth quarter. Their 144 yards passing was also well below their average.
The 'Hawks will have to deal with Nashville's Darius Hopkins, a 6'0", 195-pound running back who is averaging 165 yards per game rushing this season. He is complemented by 5'7", 165-pound Trent Harris who has over 800 yards rushing. Both Hopkins and Harris average more than 10 yards per carry.
The Scrapper's quarterback is 5'10", 170-pound Tyler Hanson who has passed for more than 2,400 yards this season. As opposed to Arkadelphia's mobile quarterback, Hanson does not run the ball much, averaging less than 5 yards per game. He is accurate, completing more than 65 percent of his passing attempts.
While Nashville's offensive statistics are gaudy, they mostly have been compiled against teams not as proficient in defense as our brethren here in the 4A-1. While the 'Hawks held Arkadelphia to just 238 yards of total offense, the Scrappers gave up close to 500 yards in their game with the Badgers. Arkadelphia surrendered a whopping 444 yards on the ground against Nashville with Hopkins having 304 yards of that rushing total.
The game the 'Hawks just played with the Badgers was their best game of the year in terms of penalties and mistakes. Pea Ridge had no turnovers and just one penalty.
The Blackhawks will be facing a Scrapper line that has some size with six guys in the 250- to 300-pound range, but the team's leading tackler is safety Hunter White who has recorded 77 this year. The second most tackles is by linebacker Garrett Gordon who has 54.
It would appear that Nashville will be bringing a higher octane offense to the game with the 'Hawks coming with a better defense. It will take a great effort for Pea Ridge to dethrone the defending champs on their own field, but the task is doable. Pea Ridge will score points, perhaps a lot of them. Nashville will be expecting to ringing up big numbers, but they haven't played a team as hard nosed defensively as the 'Hawks.
I would love to be at the game this Friday but as school is out at 3:30 p.m. and since it is a four- and a half-hour trip to Nashville and the game starts at 7 p.m., I will be content to watch the game on RTV, the Pea Ridge school channel. Mark Laster and crew does a super job doing game commentary so if you can't go, be sure to tune in. Get on the high school webpage and click the link to the game.
The winner of the game will move on to the quarterfinals to most likely play Hamburg. No. 7 Hamburg is hosting Gravette this week, a team that pulled an upset last week in beating Pocahontas. The Lions will have to make another really long trip across the state. Pocahontas was located in the extreme northeast corner of the state with Hamburg far to the south.
Whoever wins the Nashville/Pea Ridge matchup will host the quarterfinal game which will be against the winner of the Heber Springs/Shiloh/Dardanelle/Dumas group. That group is the only one of four in the playoffs that has just one top 10 in the mix.
Other district teams in the playoffs
As previously mentioned, Gravette will be going to the deep south to take on No. 7 Hamburg. They were the second seed after football power Warren in the 4A-8, in perhaps the third toughest league in the state in 4A. Hamburg crushed Highland by roughly the same score than Pocahontas did earlier in the season. Gravette beat Pocahontas by 10, so maybe the Lions will have a chance in the Hamburg battle.
Prairie Grove will be hosting 311 Central Arkansas Christian, who smacked a good top 10 Mena team 42-21 to get to the second round. The 8-3 Mustangs were beaten 3-0 in an epic battle in the mud by Pea Ridge in last year's quarterfinals. They lost to 4A-2 co-league champions Heber Springs and Stuttgart by 7 and 31, respectively. The Tigers will likely win and probably play old conference foe Ozark in the quarterfinals who upset No. 7 Ashdown 23-22 last week.
Shiloh will make the long twisting trip to No. 18 Heber Springs Panthers. The Panthers are averaging 350 yards a game on offense at a 30 points per game clip. Shiloh is averaging a bit more offensively at 380 yards per game, mostly in the passing department. The Springdale boys saw their passing average drop 40 yards per game after their loss here, but as they are playing in the weakest sub-bracket in the playoffs, they may get a win and go on to face Dardanelle next week.
4A playoff games across Arkansas
I have to admit I was a bit shocked when most of the 4A-7 teams went down to defeat in the first round of playoffs.
Pea Ridge had a tough battle with what one television sports reporter called "the very best No. 5 seed in the state no matter the classification" in Arkadelphia. The Badgers had the ill fortune of playing seven top 10 ranked teams in their eight-game conference and playoff schedule, which was how they were ranked in the top 10 with a 5-5 record.
Our conference, the 4A-1 has the most teams in the Sweet 16 with four. The 4A-3 and the 4A-8 has three teams left in the competition with the 4A-2, 4A-4, and the 4A-7 all having two teams left in it.
Other games in the playoff not involving our district is No. 13 Dumas at No. 8 Dardanelle, No. 12 Ozark at No. 9 Gosnell, No. 10 Stuttgart at No. 4 Warren and No. 15 Batesville Southside at No. 3 Robinson.
MaxPreps/CBS
State 4A football poll
Nov. 14, 2016
Without playing at all last week, Prairie Grove recaptured the top spot in the CBS 4A State Poll with an 0.9 increase in their power ranking. This represents an increased power ranking in the teams the Tigers have beaten this year which in turn bumps up the Prairie Grove ranking.
Former No. 1 Nashville whipped Dover 49-7, a team that had a low power ranking. The Scrappers lost just a bit of their ranking, just enough to let Prairie Grove slide by them.
Pea Ridge kept their No. 5 position with their rating up nearly a point with their win over a very tough Arkadelphia team. Shiloh also improved their power rating with their win over Crossett. Gravette was the fourth 4A-1 team to improve their rating with a 37-21 upset win over Pocahontas on the road, improving their rating by 2.0.
Dardanelle, Gosnell and Stuttgart were newly ranked in the top with Arkadelphia, Ashdown and Mena dropping out of the rankings.
CBS/MaxPreps 4A state poll
School^won-loss^pwr rtg^+/-
1. Prairie Grove^10-0^38.6^+0.9
2. Nashville^11-0^37.1^-0.9
3. Robinson^10-1^32.4^-3.2
4. Warren^10-0^28.8^-1.9
5. Pea Ridge^10-1^26.4^+0.8
6. Shiloh^9-2^24.0^+2.8
7. Hamburg^8-3 16.1^+3.9
8. Dardanelle^10-1^15.6^new
9. Gosnell^10-1^12.9^new
10. Stuttgart^8-3^12.7^new
17. Gravette^7-4^7.4^+2.0
31. Huntsville^4-7^-7.5^-2.3
35. Lincoln^3-7^16.5^-6.7
40. Berryville^3-6^-17.2^-0.6
41. Gentry^2-7^-19.5^-1.2
•••
Editor's note: John McGee, an award-winning columnist, sports writer and art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, coaches elementary track and writes a regular sports column for The Times. The opinions expressed are those of the author. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].
Sports on 11/16/2016