Trent Loyd's and Heath Neal's hardwood Hawks take the floor this week in Lavaca for the annual Golden Arrows Classic.
The girls and boys are the defending champions from last season and they opened the tournament action this past Monday with each team playing last year's opening round opponent in the Magazine Rattlers. The girls whipped the Rattlers 76-49 last season with the boys mauling Magazine 50-16.
Barring an upset of monstrous proportions, the boys play Thursday against the winner of the Mansfield Tigers and Paris Eagles matchup. The winner of that game would then play the survivor of the other bracket, including Lavaca, Providence (Rogers), Lamar and County Line.
If the girls were victorious Monday, they will play Thursday against the winner of the County Line and Lamar pairing. The other bracket includes Lavaca, Sallisaw, Paris and Providence.
The boys are 1-1 on the season, with a good chunk of Loyd's roster still playing football until last Friday night. The end of football season will beef up the Blackhawks' bench and starting lineup in time to defend their title. The Hawks got their win with 58-33 domination of Eureka Springs with a 59-48 loss to the Neosho Wildcats to lead up to this week.
The girls are well into their season, sporting a 4-1 record after a runner-up finish in the Green Forest Tournament. The four wins the Lady Hawks have earned were: 66-20 over Green Forest, 53-23 beat down of Shiloh, a tough 46-43 win over Charleston, and a solid 46-24 win over Eureka Springs. Their only loss was to 4A state-ranked No. 3 Berryville, a close 49-44 decision. The Hawks out-rebounded the Bobcats and answered a number of Berryville runs to stay close, but fell to last year's state runner-up. Berryville was a state semifinalist in 2018 and a state finalist in 2019.
State indoor track
championships set
for Feb. 28
In a schedule published by the Mile Split track and field/cross country website, the Arkansas State 4A/3A/2A/1A Indoor Track and Field Championships is set for Feb. 8, 2020, at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
I was at first taken back a bit after reading the schedule, especially after what transpired in 2019 at the last state indoor championship.
Last year, the Arkansas Activities Association decided to abolish the 7A classification for track and field, moving 16 formerly 5A teams into the 4A classification. That bumped 16 formerly 4A teams into 3A, etc.
In 2018, the state indoor track meet had the 4A and below on a Friday night with the 5A, 6A and 7A on the following Saturday. There were 52 teams in the Friday event for the smaller schools, with 50 teams involved with the Saturday meet. Roughly even.
Last spring at the 2019 meet, there were 62 teams in the Friday night small school competition with 32 teams competing in the Saturday big school competition. What happened? The Friday meet did not conclude until after 2 a.m. Saturday with the 4x400-meter relay. The Saturday meet for the bigger schools was concluded within the time expectations easily.
Any kind of athletic competition that extends past 11 p.m. is a very bad idea. When I realized that when the AAA made the changes that enlarged the Friday field of smaller schools while reducing the participants of the larger school competition, surely they would flip the schedule, having the smaller schools run on Saturday with the larger block of time available to run the meet.
Starting a multiple class indoor track meet with 62 teams in it at 5 p.m. and expecting it to finish in a reasonable time that same day -- well, it would be like expecting the Hog Eye Marathon to be completely over in under two hours. It ain't happening.
It kind of reminded me of the 1997 AAU National Junior Olympic Games that was held in Charlotte, N.C. The national track and field committee that year made a rule change that set in motion a national train wreck of an athletic event.
In years prior, to get to the National Games in track, athletes had to finish in the top four of the regional competition. Region meets were comprised of the top four from a variety of district and state meets. In 1997, it was decided to drop regional competition and qualify athletes straight from the state level to national level. It quadrupled the potential national competitors.
Having been to numerous national competitions as a parent, coach and meet official, I didn't see any way they could pull off such a meet in the few days they had allotted for the competition. I joined some other coaches in questioning the wisdom of the move. We were ignored.
Sure enough, the meet was so badly behind schedule that the meet ran around the clock for three days. Because so many people were in the meet, every hotel room within 100 miles was booked. The family I roomed next to were livid having to see their 10-year-old daughter compete in a 4x400-meter heat at 3:30 in the morning. It got so bad, the third day they scheduled some events at another track a few miles away. My son had qualified in three events but he had two of the events scheduled at the exact same time at two different stadiums. He came home with a gold and silver but his time of 1:59 in the 800-meter previously would have won the 15-16 gold that day.
When folks charged with scheduling athletic events involving masses of people, they ought to consider the ramifications of what rule changes could potentially do to said event.
I hope someone might notice this possible repeat of a bad decision of 2019 and avoid the same thing thing happening this year.
Hawks finish football
season in the Top 10
After ranking as low as 23rd among Arkansas 4A schools early in the season, Stephen Neal's gridiron Blackhawks finished the season in the No. 9 spot after losing a tough battle with Ozark Friday.
The Hawks started the season with three games against 5A schools which were all 5-0 halfway through their respective campaign. Pea Ridge then went on a six-game winning streak, averaging 50 points per game to go into the season finale tied with Shiloh. Currently the state's No. 1 team, Shiloh edged out the Hawks 28-26 in that final game, a game the Hawks mighty have won if the referees had known how to differentiate between a forward pass and a lateral.
Be that as it may, the Hawks were true to their mantra "Good to Great," having a good season on the cusp of greatness. Winning 12 playoff games over the past five seasons places the program in elite company. Shiloh, for a comparison, has had eight wins over that same time span.
This week, Shiloh hosts upstart No. 6 ranked Crossett in a semifinal game. The Eagles began the season 0-3, losing their third game to 3A class McGehee 20-2, a game in which they were held to less than 50 yards total offense. They were ranked 34th in the state when they started their conference play against perennial power Warren.
Crossett hasn't won a playoff game for at least 16 years, and they hadn't won a conference title in this millennium. In spite of all that, the Eagles upset Warren 38-35 in the conference opener and then ran the table for their first ever 4A-8 conference championship. Now they will be in Springdale Friday hoping to keep their Cinderella season alive, fresh off a 38-35 upset of two-time defending champion Arkadelphia last week.
The other semifinal game this week sees Ozark traveling to No. 3 ranked Joe T. Robinson in Little Rock. Robinson earned their semifinal spot with a 20-7 win over Jonesboro Westside. The Senators began the year in impressive fashion, whipping three 7A schools to start 3-0. A 1-point loss, 28-27, to Arkadelphia prevented them from having an undefeated season. They are currently ranked No. 2 behind Shiloh with a 12-1 mark.
Ozark is ranked No. 4, also with a 12-1 ledger. Their only loss was to 5A Clarksville 15-12 in non-conference action. They are giving up only 8 points per game on defense. Likely to be an underdog, the Hillbillies are a legitimate threat to win perhaps the whole thing. Three of the past four years, the Hawks were eliminated from the playoffs by the team that would capture the title, Nashville in 2015, Warren in 2016 and Arkadelphia in 2017. I'm picking Ozark.
With the upsets of Bentonville and Bentonville West in the playoffs, and with the season ending thud of the Razorback football program, football has pretty much been mothballed in northwest Arkansas save the private school in Springdale. It has been an interesting season with new challenges ahead in 2020 with the Hawks entering the realm of 5A football.
MaxPreps/CBS
4A State
football rankings
1. Shiloh^13-0
2. Arkadelphia^11-2
3. Robinson^12-1
4. Ozark^12-1
5. Nashville^11-2
6. Crossett^9-3
7. Dardanelle^10-2
8. Warren^10-2
9. Pea Ridge^8-5
10. Star City^7-5
11. Westside^9-3
12. Pocahontas^8-4
13. DeWitt^7-5
14. Rivercrest^7-4
15. Bauxite^6-5
16. Gosnell^6-6
17. Mena^7-4
18. Malvern^4-7
19. Hamburg^7-5
20. Pottsville^6-5
21. Harmony Grove^4-6
22. Gentry^7-4
23. Central Arkansas^8-4
24. Southside^7-4
25. West Helena^5-5
26. Riverview^7-4
27 Prairie Grove^4-7
28. Heber Springs^4-7
29. Elkins^5-6
30. Monticello^2-8
31. Trumann^4-7
32. Brookland^4-6
33. Lonoke^6-5
34. Lincoln^5-5
35. Mills^0-10
36. Dumas^1-9
37. Gravette^4-7
38. Fountain Lake^2-8
39. Ashdown^2-8
40. Bald Knob^3-7
41. Highland^1-9
42. Berryville^3-7
43. Stuttgart^1-9
44. Waldron^2-8
45. Subiaco^2-8
46. Cave City^0-10
47. Green Forest^2-8
48. Dover^0-10
•••
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. The opinions expressed are those of the writer. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].
Sports on 12/04/2019