Six of the eight teams from the 5A West are still in the hunt for a state football, the most of any 5A district.
Vilonia pounded Watson Chapel 60-21 for their next round berth. Morrilton ran all over Hope 58-14, with Greenbrier thumping Brookland 43-28, Farmington handling Valley View 28-7 and Clarksville squeaking by Greene County Tech 21-20. Harrison got the lone bye in the brackets.
This week, the No. 1 ranked Pulaski Bruins will host No. 15 Farmington; the No. 2 ranked Harrison Goblins play the No. 10 ranked Camden Cardinals; No. 3 Little Rock Christian Warriors will entertain No. 17 Clarksville; No. 6 Magnolia takes on No. 14 Greenbrier; the No. 7 Texarkana Razorbacks battles No. 11 Morrilton; and the No. 8 Lakeside Rams will fight it out with the No. 12 Vilonia Eagles.
Over in the Hawks' old 4A-1 district, Shiloh, Prairie Grove, Elkins and Gentry have moved on into the next round this week.
No. 6 Shiloh will be hosting No. 38 DeWitt, with No. 8 Prairie Grove at home against No. 17 Blytheville. No. 37 Gentry will have a long road trip to the No. 18 Monticello Billiegoats, with No. 12 Elkins teeing it up with the No. 29 Bald Knob Bulldogs.
Blackhawk basketball hits the floor
Heath Neal's Blackhawk girls basketball team started their season off with a close loss to large school opponent Van Buren 53-49.
The game was evenly played throughout with a Lady Pointer run in the second half providing the narrow margin of victory.
Van Buren had a narrow edge in shooting percentage 45% to 43% and a slight edge in 3-point percentage 36% to 31% and managed to come up with 14 assists to 10 for Pea Ridge. The Lady Hawks did outshoot the Pointers from the line 67% to 62%.
The LadyHawks will be busy with a pair of games this week. They were to play the 7A Springdale Bulldogs Tuesdsay night and they will be tipping it off against Eureka Springs Friday. They will pair up with the boys against Cedarville next Tuesday.
Coach Trent Loyd's basketball boys were to play their first game Tuesday night against the Subiaco Trojans and will follow that up with a game with the Cedarville Pirates Tuesday, Nov. 24.
The Arkansas Activities Association is not allowing tournaments this season with the tradeoff being to allow more individual games. However, with the playoffs beginning in February (if it is allowed), teams will be handicapped with no tournament experience, so anything might happen.
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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].