It has been interesting watching the new high school going up west of town. It's an impressive and modern looking work of architecture. I have heard that it is still on schedule in spite of the bad weather we have had during the construction; can't wait until open house.
Over at the football stadium, the sight of football players and coaches working together to prepare for the Hawks' inaugural season in 5A Class football in heartening. Hopefully, there will be a season this fall.
The latest news from the governor's office in Little Rock hasn't shed much light on whether there will actually be a football season with fear and anxiety fairly pervasive among lots of people. Being the type of sport football is, it is much better (as in safer) to prepare to play and then not get to, as opposed to waiting around and being unprepared to play if the opportunity arises.
Let's just assume there will be a season. It will be a watershed moment in the local school's rapid growth these past few years. Out of the 256 official AAA sanctioned high schools in the state of Arkansas, Pea Ridge currently ranks as the 56th largest, elevating it up into the 5A classifications after spending 12 years as a 4A football school . The way the football classifications shake out, the Blackhawks' official account of 528 high school students is 52 students more than the largest 4A school Huntsville which is 65th overall with 476 students. In the last count prior to the new one, Huntsville was 60th with 519 (5A) while Pea Ridge was 70th with a 456 enrollment.
Pea Ridge left the 3A classification in 2008 to rise to the 4A class which they remained in for 12 seasons. The first six seasons in 4A were tough with the Hawks amassing a losing overall record at 24-28. The last six seasons were sensational with the Blackhawks running up a sparkling 62-18 record with five state playoff quarterfinal appearances, making the semifinals twice and the state championship game once.
The breakout happened in 2012 when the Hawks rolled to a 10-2 record, winning a home playoff game. They lost the second round that year after building up a great lead at the half. A deeper, larger Heber Springs team wore the Hawks down but the ice had been broken. The Hawks would go on to qualify for the playoffs for six of the next seven seasons.
Actually, the Hawks spent the first three seasons of the new millennium in the 2A class before spending but four years in the 3A class. Will the Hawks keep growing up into 6A? Well, the smallest 6A school this fall is Little Rock Parkview with 864 students, 336 more than Pea Ridge, so I would say in all likelihood that the Blackhawks will be home to the 5A West for quite a spell.
In the old 2A days, we played Decatur, Green Forest, Mountainburg, Elkins, Cedarville, Westside and a few other very small schools. This fall, we will be lining up with the Alma Airedales, Clarksville Panthers, Farmington Cardinals, Greenbrier Panthers, Harrison Goblins, Morrilton Devil Dogs and the Vilonia Eagles. Any two of these schools likely has an enrollment bigger than the entire 2A league at the millennium break.
Alma won multiple state titles in the 1990s and has a new coach this season, Rusty Bush formerly of Fordyce. Their last four seasons has seen them make the 5A playoffs though their overall mark was 25-22, below their old standard. The Airedales have always been solid, though, as they have not missed the playoffs since 2007.
Clarksville has had recent success with state titles in basketball but they have not qualified for a football playoff game since 2011 and they have not had a winning record since 2006. They are 8-32 these past four years under Kris Buckner who was 35-22 as a head coach before coming to the valley.
We switched Farmington from a non-conference game to a district foe this year due to the upgrade of classification, The Cardinals formerly owned the Hawks until the coaching tenures of Tony Travis and Stephen Neal started a four-game win streak over their former and now current conference rivals. Mike Adams has a 101-78 record as the Cardinals' skipper with a 17-23 mark over the past four seasons.
Greenbrier will be a new experience for the Blackhawks with the north of Conway Panthers providing a distant road game. The Eagles have turned out some fine quarterbacks and they have been known for throwing the ball. Their head coach, Randy Tribble (an old classmate of mine at Harding) is 85-53 at Greenbrier. The Panthers made the state quarterfinals in 2014, 2015 and 2017. They have been 27-17 the past four seasons.
Harrison has been the class of the conference for the past couple of seasons with Joel Wells' tenure which led into the Goblins compiling a 39-9 mark over the last four campaigns. They made the state quarterfinals the last three years with a trip to the semifinals in 2018. However, half of their roster graduated last season with a star-studded class of 2020. While they won't be as good as last season, they will be good.
Morillton battled Harrison tooth and toe nail for supremacy in the 5A West. Cody McNabb has guided the Devil Dogs to the state semifinals the last two seasons. Morillton was 25-24 the past seasons but problems with eligibility left them with a 1-10 mark in 2016.
The other school in the mix is Vilonia who is coached by two-year veteran Todd Langrell who has been 11-10 with the Eagles. Vilonia hasn't won a playoff game since 2004 when they made the state final before losing. They are 17-24 for the last four seasons.
Pea Ridge swapped places with Huntsville in the new class assignments. The Eagles were pounded 423-88 overall in a one win season last year. When they were in the 4A previously they were hard pressed to keep out of the bottom three teams and their tenure in the 5A was extremely rocky.
The Hawks will see their travel mileage double, and will be playing with teams with double the roster some of 4A-1 teams have in terms in size and numbers. The Hawks faced a big challenge when they moved up into 4A 12 years ago. After some hard knocks, they adjusted and got better with better facilities and bigger turnout. The school administration has done a good job in bringing in talented coaches to guide the program.
I predict that there may be some tough battles ahead but the Hawks will adjust. My old high school coach used to schedule some really tough opponents when he didn't have to and he was asked about that once. His reply was "you are only as good as who you play with."
With that in mind, come out this fall (if events allow it,) and support the Blackhawks as they face this new challenge in their athletic history.
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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. The opinions expressed are those of the writer. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].