The much anticipated Hooten's 2017 Arkansas Football guide came out last week and the popular magazine predicts a repeat of last fall's class 4A championship between the Blackhawks and the defending champion Warren Lumberjacks. The 'Hawks also landed three players on the Hootens' first team pre-season Class 4A All-State team with Drew Winn (running back), Hayden Holtgrewe (wide receiver) and Robbie Pickthal (linebacker) all being selected.
Warren is listed No. 1 with Pea Ridge right behind with the No. 2 ranking. Fellow 4A-1 league member Prairie Grove came in at No. 6 with Shiloh being ranked No. 15 and Gravette grabbing the No. 18 spot. The 'Hawks' first opponent of the year, the Hamburg Lions, is in the Top 10 at No. 10 with the second game of the first week to be against 19th-ranked Booneville. Playing two teams ranked in the top 20 within four days of each other will be a test for sure.
Actually, playing games less than six to seven days apart aren't that unusual in the surrounding states, though not the norm in Arkansas. For several years in Missouri, they wanted playoff games to end on Thanksgiving weekend, and to accomplish that, they had staggered games once the regular season ended. After the final regular Friday night game, the first round of the playoffs was the next Tuesday night with the second round on that Saturday afternoon. No one seemed to have a problem with it at the time, though fans didn't like the idea of Tuesday night playoffs.
When I was in high school in Missouri, playoffs were always on Saturday afternoons and I wish that were true in Arkansas. More fans can see the game, and it is bound to be a much more pleasant atmosphere on a late fall afternoon rather than on an evening. Getting the AAA to ever consider that would likely be a very remote possibility.
Back to the rankings.
The Hootens' folks see a Warren/Pea Ridge matchup in the championship again this year, but until the football brackets get released, we won't know if that would even be possible. Hopefully, the 'Hawks will break through this year and capture its first league title since 2014, and Warren is probably again the toast of the 4A-8.
There are upper and lower parts of the bracket with the two winners meeting in the final. There are six district champions in the 4A brackets, with three district champions in the upper bracket and three district champions in the lower bracket. The arrangement changes every year. If the 4A-8 District (Warren) and the 4A-1 District (us) are on the same side of the brackets, like last year, the champions cannot meet in the final. The 'Hawks second place finish in 2016 left them on the opposite side from Warren. Prairie Grove won the 4A-1 last year, which led to their playing Warren in the semi-finals since they were on the same side of the bracket in 2016.
The problem with 4A football is the power disparity between the top three leagues and the bottom three conferences. In 2016, the 4A-1 was by far the superior district, having three of the four semi-finalists. The 4A-7 and 4A-8 (the southern teams) had many, many top ranked teams. Those three leagues have nine of the top 10 ranked teams in 2017, and the only top 10 squad not in those three leagues is Stuttgart, actually a southern team but having to play in a northern league because of the large number of 4A teams in the south.
If the AAA ever assigns the 4A-2, 4A-3 and 4A-4 on the same side of the bracket, that could create somewhat of a power imbalance, though the winners of these three weaker districts would probably get taken out early by lesser members of the power leagues.
For the aforementioned facts, I believe that the state should seed the playoffs like a regular tournament. The AAA uses MaxPreps anyway, and they have an excellent ranking system. Instead of having two league winners having to sit out a week (only 30 makes the current playoffs), 32 teams could be included. The current system causes teams to have extremely long transits to game sites, so a seeded playoff wouldn't cause any more travel, but it would make much more intelligent pairings.
Last year's playoff games saw the 'Hawks take on three teams that had been ranked in the Top 10 to get to the semi-finals, while their semifinal opponent Shiloh, played no one that highly ranked until they played Pea Ridge.
In another demonstration of the power discrepancy, the Hootens Super-Team Pre-Season Class 4A All-State team was published and players from the three premiere leagues claimed 20 of the 22 position player honors. The 4A-2 and 4A-3 each claimed one player berth and the 4A-4 claimed none at all. The 4A-7 led with eight honorees with the 4A-1 and the 4A-8 each claiming six players. A power disparity clearly exists in the Arkansas 4A football.
Pea Ridge had the aforementioned three super teamers with Prairie Grove getting two players listed (lineman Demarkus Cooper and defensive back Anthony Johnson) with Shiloh having one player listed (wide receiver Jake Nelson).
Well, the initial rankings are in and, like always, there will be a few teams not live up to expectations and another few who will vastly exceed those same expectations. When Pea Ridge first began making waves statewide a few years ago, many sportwriters just thought it was an aberration or luck. After the past three seasons which has seen the 'Hawks go 34-6, the 4A writers have finally accepted that the Blackhawks of the northwest are a force with which to be reckoned.
Hootens 4A state rankings
Warren
Pea Ridge*
Little Rock Robinson
Stuttgart
Nashville
Prairie Grove*
Arkadelphia
Ashdown
Dumas
Hamburg
Pocahontas
Dardanelle
Ozark
Gosnell
Shiloh*
Star City
Trumann
Gravette*
Booneville
Mena
31. Gentry*
34. Huntsville*
40. Lincoln*
45. Berryville*
* - 4A-1 Members
40. Lincoln
Next week -- conference predictions.
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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 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 07/12/2017