High school gridiron aficionados have but a mere four weeks to go before the first opportunities will present themselves for a glimpse of the 2018 season.
This year's Hootens Football Classic game, the now traditional first game of the season played on a Monday night in Conway in the first week of the playing schedule, will pit the 2017 4A state runner-up Warren Lumberjacks (and one of the oldest and most successful football programs in the state) against the youngest football program in the 4A classification in the Southside Southerners. The game is set for Aug. 25 at Estes Stadium on the University of Central Arkansas campus.
Warren could easily be working towards their fourth straight state championship. They won a title in 2014 and were ranked No. 1 and cruising toward a state title in 2015 before a quarterfinal game against Nashville saw them suffer five turnovers and lose a close game to the eventual state champion Nashville Scrappers. They came back to win the 2016 state title, beating our Blackhawks in a final much closer than the final score indicated. They should have won in 2017, losing a 28-27 nail biter to Arkadelphia.
Southside started football a few years ago, well after the time that I left there in 1998 to move to Pea Ridge. The land the current football field was built on was the empty lot I fashioned into a grass running track in the early '90s. Back then, the school was a one sport school (basketball) and those wanting to add football as a sport had an uphill climb to get that done. Last year was their first season to even have a winning record, and they claimed a share of the 4A-2 league title due to their upset of longtime power Stuttgart. They may not have a real great shot at upsetting Warren but they will go into Conway expecting just that.
While Arkadelphia has the great majority of their squad back from the last campaign, most writers and prognosticators are ranking the Badgers behind Warren with both teams in the top two slots in all polls. The Lumberjacks boast the highest ranked wide receiver in the state among all classifications in Treylon Burks with others ranking Warren's 6'4" 290-pound Marcus Miller as the best defensive lineman in the state counting everybody.
After Arkadelphia's great playoff run last year, I thought at first glance that they would be a near cinch to take a second straight title, but Warren is well situated to block that second bite at the apple. The Badgers have the advantage of playing in the best 4A league in the state and they also have the disadvantage of playing in the best 4A league in the state. Every team in the 4A-7 was a playoff threat last season, and every team in the conference this season is potentially the same. That many tough games in a row could rack up injuries for the state champion defenders.
The Lumberjacks' last season was like Elvis and the pretenders. Warren cruised through their season, avoided injuries, posted lots of easy big victories, avoided the injury bug, and was well situated to grab another state finals berth. I predict more of the same but this is high school football, so anything can happen, so we will see.
Pea Ridge's offense is still a mystery behind door No. 1, but we will see soon enough how the all new offense will jell together. Playing perennial 5A Harrison to start the season is a quantum leap over the seasons prior to 2017 as to degree of difficulty. Last year's gambit of playing two highly ranked teams in the first week turned out well with the 'Hawks blasting Hamburg 50-30 then racing past Booneville 29-19 four days later. An odd footnote to the 2017 season was that the Blackhawks started and ended both Hamburg and Booneville's seasons. The first game loss and the last game loss were the only losses Booneville absorbed last year.
The district ratings are nearly identical to last year with the following evaluation of conference strength according to Hooten's.
4A District strength ratings
4A-7 (Arkadelphia, Nashville, Robinson)
4A-1 (Prairie Grove, Pea Ridge, Shiloh)
4A-8 (Warren, Hamburg, Dumas)
4A-2 (Stuttgart, Southside, Heber Springs)
4A-3 (Rivercrest, Gosnell, Pocahontas)
4A-4 (Ozark, Pottsville, Dardanelle)
I believe that the two state finals teams this year will come from the three leagues at the top of the ratings chart.
The 4A-4 District might have avoided the last place designation had not Booneville been dropped down a class for the next cycle. The 'Hawks were responsible for nearly half of the Bearcats' losses the past two seasons and the 'Cats head into the fall campaign as the top ranked 3A team in the state. With almost no one graduating from a 10-2 team of last year who only lost to Pea Ridge, this river valley team has their sights set on a 3A State Championship. There is no defending 3A champion as the 2017 champion Rivercrest Colts have moved into 4A. Even the 3A runner-up from last year is gone as the second place Junction City Dragons have moved down into 2A.
The 4A-7 is easily the best as they boast a lineup of eight solid teams, something no other league can muster. Our own 4A-1 has four teams that have been power players the past several years in Prairie Grove, Pea Ridge, Shiloh and Gravette, but the bottom half of the district has been less than stellar. The 4A-1 can boast that the 2016 season saw three of the four semifinalists being from their conference, a very rare feat.
Other schools in Benton County will be in the running for state honors with both Bentonville and Bentonville West ranked in the top four among the best of the biggest. West is actually the preseason favorite of many to win the 7A West. The new startup program in Centerton went 10-2 in 2016, their second ever season. They made the playoffs in their maiden season, reaching the quarterfinals.
Bentonville, a team that has won 10 of the last 11 7A West league crowns, is again a conference favorite along with West.
The last year Rogers had a single high school, the Mountaineers lost a shootout in the state championship game. Then the next year, the school split into Rogers and Rogers Heritage and the Mounties and War Eagles have never come close to producing the pre-split success of the old Mounties.
When Bentonville split into Bentonville and Bentonville West three years ago, many folks assumed it would mark the end of the Tigers long district dynasty. Nope -- it didn't. They still won conference championships as they went undefeated in league play last season. They lost their best tailback in Easton Miller last year for the playoffs and then they lost by a single TD to North Little Rock in the finals. West brings back a formidable team this year and Bentonville, as it has been for dozen years, will be the team to beat.
The other classification team in Benton County are the Decatur Bulldogs. They are the worst ranked team in the worst ranked league in the state in 2A. The league has been so bad in the past that one season saw the conference champion head into the playoffs with a losing record.
The Bulldogs are in a state of flux as they have declared to be starting eight man football. I am not sure when this will take place as they have a full slot of regular football games this fall. The AAA is toying with the idea of forming an eight man football classification such as they have in Oklahoma. Having eight starters will alleviate the need for lots of roster depth and it may be the only way Decatur can keep their football program alive. They were beaten down pretty badly last year, scoring just two touchdowns in the first eight weeks of competition, then forfeiting the last two games to end the season early. They and a lot of other small programs would be better served with an eight man program with perhaps more private schools joining in. Hopefully it will all come to fruition.
You can almost tell from the 4A-1 teams non-conference schedules, who will be threats in 2018. Berryville scheduled Huntsville, Yellville and West For for their three games with those teams compiling an overall mark of 5-26 last year. Pea Ridge appears to have the toughest schedule, facing three 5A teams with a combined mark of 18-15.
Prairie Grove plays three solid foes in their first three games in Dardanelle, Pottsville and Farmington. Shiloh plays Texarkana at Texarkana, and at Truman while hosting Beggs, Okla., not tough games but perhaps good ones. Gravette plays Casia Hall, Farmington and Jay, Okla., and while the oppositions talent is a bit uneven, they will be tested.
Gentry plays at Dardanelle, a tough match, but then plays less than scary Huntsville and Greenland. Lincoln plays Westville and Keys, Okla., before going to Subiaco with Green Forest rounding out the 4A-1 schedules by contracting with Yellville, West Fork and Commerce, Okla. Yellville and West Fork were a combined 3-16 last year but Commerce went 9-4.
Next week, I will hopefully get some cross country information out for their upcoming season.
The Blackhawk track programs made a stratospheric jump into the elite of the 4A programs last spring and an improved distance running corps could help solidify their standings. The Lady 'Hawks scored in all facets of the track and field events last spring but had perhaps the least depth was in the distance running portion of their program. A consensus pick for overall No. 1 again in 2019, the Lady Blackhawks don't have all their eggs in one basket and a successful cross country campaign will make them even more formidable.
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Editor's note: John McGee, an award-winning columnist, sports writer and art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, writes a regular sports column for The Times. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].
Sports on 07/25/2018