Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the Prep Rally Podcast. Your go to huddle for high school sports action in Northwest Arkansas and the River Valley. I'm your host, Sydney Ruth Mulvanen.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: I'm Graham Thomas. And Leland Barclay joins us in the River Valley. We've got the highlights, the hype, and of course our gimme five and top five where we count down the top athletes of the week from the northwest Arkansas and River Valley. Democrat Gazette.
[00:00:24] Speaker A: Whether you're listening on the way to practice or sitting in the stands, we've got something for every high school sports fan. Let's kick it off with this week's biggest wins and wildest finish as we reel it back.
Welcome back to the Prep Rally Podcast. We're going to start with the this week's recaps.
[00:00:58] Speaker B: All right, well, I'll tell you what, it's been scrimmage week. Sydney and I was out of town all this past week and I did not get to attend any scrimmages. But I'll tell you what, the biggest one we had in this area, in my opinion, was the Fayetteville Greenwood scrimmage. And our guy Leland Barclay was right there with the details.
[00:01:19] Speaker C: Well, it was, it was really what, what everybody expected out of Greenwood and Fayetteville, especially with maybe not two of the best quarterbacks in the state, but probably the two best quarterbacks in the state. Of course, Greenwood's Kane archer, you know, four year starter, 26 and oh, as a starting quarterback. And then the move in from Texas for Fayetteville, Hank Hendricks. Both of them, both of them put on a show.
Kane Archer was 18 of 19 for 256 yards and completed these last 17 passes of the game. Hank Hendricks was 15 of 19 for 272 yards and a touchdown.
You know, Greenwood won the half of scrimmage 21 to 19. Both teams had four possessions, both teams scored on three of them. The difference was a mix, a missed extra point by Fayetteville and both of these teams are definitely state championship quality teams.
[00:02:19] Speaker B: Can we ever get these guys to play a real game, not a scrimmage, but like week one, like let's get it on.
[00:02:25] Speaker A: I thought it was, I thought it was great, the back and forth. But I will say a comment about Fayetteville because, you know, we got to connect with them at media day.
I mean, with the move from Hendricks down to Fayetteville, you can just see a lot of the Fayetteville players really rally around him and have so much confidence in him. And I think you really got to see that at this first game against Greenwood, just them kind of rallying around him. And I think they're going to have a great season. I think what they had been missing, truthfully, in the past year is just a good quarterback, good leader. And I think that's Hendrix for this season for them.
[00:02:59] Speaker B: Hey, they're. They're my pick to win the conference.
What, what I want to know, Leland, is you had some question marks about that Greenwood defense. I know they gave up three touchdowns and four possessions, but I think they're going to be all right, aren't they?
[00:03:12] Speaker C: Yes. You know, I'll. And I'm going to get into that a little bit more on the. Give me five, you know. But yes, I talked to Coach Gill afterwards. I was eager to talk to him the last couple of weeks, and I thought, no, I'm going to wait until the scrimmage game against Fayetteville because that's going to be a very telling, you know, test for, for Greenwood going up against Fayetteville, one of the best teams in the state, maybe the best teams in the state. And the last thing he said to me after we talked about the defense was a little bit, was will be all right.
So I think that from coming from Coach Gill, I think that says a lot. And you guys talked about Hank Hendricks. I also talked to coach Villarrich, the offense coordinator for Fayetteville, and he is really excited about, you know, calling plays and kind of guiding, helping that offense this season with Hendrix at the controls. Because Katavion Taylor, you know, we haven't mentioned him much. We've talked about, you know, Benville's receivers and of course, you know, Lindsey from Rogers. But I tell you, Taylor's going to have a big year for Fayetteville.
[00:04:18] Speaker B: Well, we're just kind of sneaking ahead to my top five.
Was. Anyway, well, we'll move on to the scrimmages at Tulsa Union.
You know, a lot of our teams went over to Oklahoma and other parts of Arkansas to scrimmage, but harbor and Bentonville west went to Union. Both of them played pretty well. Harbor beat Union 10 to 3 in their scrimmage.
West, I think, lost like 31, 28 something. It was a lot, really high scoring scrimmage.
So a lot of. A lot of good things out of those scrimmages. I'm anxious to see both those teams play for keeps. You know, we. We're excited about harbor and then coach Aaron Dannenhauer and we really like Bentonville West. You know, they were a real Young team last year with a lot of sophomores and two freshmen that started.
Everybody's a year older then, you know. I talked to coach Chad Harbison this morning. Rogers scrimmage for a quarter against Cabot and Russellville looked really good.
Beat both those teams.
So some good reports coming out of the scrimmages for our seven, eight teams then, you know, with some of the six A five as Van Buren and Farmington had they hooked up. It was two days.
They're supposed to do it on Tuesday. They end up on Thursday because of the weather, of course. You know, the first, the first football, you know, scrimmage night, of course the weather's going to be bad. It hadn't rained in weeks. And we get that kind of response from our mother Nature.
[00:05:48] Speaker A: But that's how, you know who really plays the best, is who can tough it out in the weather.
[00:05:51] Speaker B: Farmington defeated Van Buren 14 to 10 in the varsity portion of the scrimmage. They kept going and our, you know, I think Van Buren rallied in the second half with the, the JV group.
South side defeated Alma in a scrimmage. Gravett defeated Solom Springs 10 to 0. I mean, there's just a lot of, a lot of reports coming in from these scrimmages. But I'll tell you, you know, it's just exciting to have football back. Leland went and saw Mansfield and then he had one of our Oklahoma schools after that. So just a lot of great things to, to report on, on these scrimmages. And I, I, I'm disappointed I didn't get to see anything last week, but Leland did, he got enough in for me, I think.
[00:06:39] Speaker A: Anything to add, Leland?
[00:06:42] Speaker C: Well, it was, you know, scrimmage week's always fun. It's kind of like though, you know, spring ball in May tells us a little bit about the teams, the 7 on 7 in the team camps during the summer. They tell us a little bit more maybe about the teams. The scrimmage games tell us even more, but they're so controlled because nobody wants to get hurt in the scrimmage and have, you know, injuries that there's no kicking game. So the, and it's just a half the quarterbacks as far as sacks and quarterbacks. It's kind of flag football or tag footballs. So it tells us a little bit more, but it's, it doesn't tell us everything. It just kind of gives us kind of wets our whistle a little bit going into this, into the regular season.
[00:07:28] Speaker A: And with that being said, we'll Go ahead and talk about our sponsor for our show, West Termite. Take control of your pests with West. Whether it's termites, mosquitoes, bed bugs, weeds or lawn disease, west has the experience serving Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma since 2003. Book your free consultation online today at westermite.com after all, Wes knows pests best.
[00:07:49] Speaker B: Well, that's pretty good there. West knows pest best. I like it.
All right, we're going to take a little break and when we come back, we'll get into our next segment. Looking ahead to this week's games for week zero, this is Prep Rally.
We are back on the Prep Rally podcast. Graham Thomason, Sam Sidney, Ruth Mulvanen here in the studio in Fayetteville, Leland Barclay in the River Valley.
And so let's take a look ahead. It's week zero, Northwest Arkansas River Valley High School football starting up and we'll start up here in northwest Arkansas, a couple of big games that we've got our eyes on. And look, they're all big games, Sidney. I mean, you know, you got Broken Arrow at Harbor, Bentonville at Union, North Little Rock at Rogers, Cabot and Fayetteville, Siloam and Rogers Heritage. There's so we could, we could spend a whole podcast just talking about all these games. We're just going to highlight a couple of these kind of with some interest around the state. North Little Rock at Rogers, you know, Brad Boulding makes his return to North Little Rock where he had the charging Wildcats as one of the best teams in the state before they fired him.
And ironically, they have brought him back under the same things where they which they fired him for, which was, you know, being able to get athletes to come to his school. So he's been tasked with turning North Little Rock around after a very successful run at Little Rock Park View.
Rogers is going to be a really good team and then they're going to have their hands full with a very different North Little Rock team.
[00:09:26] Speaker A: It'll be different to see if they can change around their season from last year.
[00:09:30] Speaker B: Cabot is coming up to play Fayetteville at Harmon Field. We'll see.
We'll get a good look at Cabot for sure and definitely a good look at Fayetteville. But Bentonville is going to get their oil checked really early with a trip to Tulsa Union.
And as we said, Broken Arrow is coming over to play Springdale harbor, which looked really good in their scrimmage. So I'm looking forward to it. And then in the River Valley, I think Leland may have just as Good of a lineup. Tell us what we got, Leland.
[00:09:57] Speaker C: Well, Bentonville west at Greenwood is a big one. Of course, you know, the opening week of the season, week zero in the river Valley has been recently rivalry week. And it's the same way this week. But I'll tell you, the Bentonville West Greenwood game is certainly an intriguing one to kick off the season as well. Two very good offenses, two very good teams. Of course, we talked about Kane Archer, his name will probably mention every single week of this season.
Trey Thompson, kind of an unsung guy, quarterback for Bentonville West. You know, west won a playoff game last year, so they're going to have plenty of momentum. Big game. Northside Rogers. The battle of Rogers Avenue. We have the battle of the bone Alma at Van Buren, which this year kind of takes on a little more significance.
It's part of the great American rivalry series. It's only the sixth game in the last 22 years. History of the great American rivalry series, where they highlight the top rivals rivalry games across the nation. And they'll be at Van Buren, Blakemore Field on Friday night to do some special things there. So that's a big thing for that rivalry. Northside south side has twice been a part of that program's, you know, history as well, with two games that they've highlighted through the years. So big games there. One that's kind of, maybe kind of flown under the radar a little bit.
Bismarck at Mansfield. Bismarck played in the state championship game last year.
Mansfield, you know, went to the semifinals for the second year in a row. So that's a huge non conference game between two teams with a lot of expectations going into the season. And then in Oklahoma, we've got the. The Battle of 64 Muldrow and Rolling. So lots of big games in the river, in the river Valley as we kick off high school football.
[00:11:58] Speaker B: Two things there. So Bismarck and Mansfield opened the season last year and had a barn burner of a game. Bismarck won like 35, 31, something like that. And yeah, that could be a. That could be a potential state championship preview. You just never know.
And then to Leland, I don't know who we got to talk to. We've got to get the battle of the bone back on a Thursday night. This is just not okay, you know, on Thursday night special. Thursday night football is a really cool thing on, on the opening week of the year. So Drew cone, you know, coach Burns and Alma, y', all, listen, Thursday night next year.
[00:12:39] Speaker A: I still say Friday.
[00:12:42] Speaker B: But see, you know, Thursday night, then you can go to The Battle of the Bone and then go to another game on Friday.
[00:12:47] Speaker A: No, it's just. It's nice having football on a Friday because then the next day it's college football. It all goes into a beautiful order. Okay. I don't need that gap in between.
[00:12:58] Speaker C: And I get Friday Night Lights. But, you know, from a selfish point of view, I love the Battle of the Bone on Thursday night, the Battle of Rogers Avenue on Friday night, because it gives me two games to go to.
[00:13:08] Speaker B: That's a perfect segue into who you got. We're going to go kind of fast on these guys. So, city, you have a statement to read, though, on. On the. Was it the north side, south side game or was it Battle of the Bone?
[00:13:18] Speaker A: Battle of the Bone.
[00:13:19] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:13:19] Speaker A: No, no, it's Bentonville at Tulsa.
[00:13:22] Speaker B: Okay, well, I'll tell you what. We'll. We'll save that one for last. So we'll just start battle Rogers Avenue. Leland, who you got?
[00:13:31] Speaker C: Well, I think south side's experience is definitely the difference in this game. Southside.
[00:13:36] Speaker B: Southside for me, too. In the Battle of the Bone, Leland.
[00:13:43] Speaker C: Van Buren wins this one and a close one. Both teams, very inexperienced, lost some great players from last year's thriller. Fourth quarter rallied by Van Buren in that game.
Boy, you know, the. The rosters have changed a lot, or not really the rosters, the starting lineups have changed a lot in this game. And I'll go with Van Buren. Came up heads. Van Buren.
[00:14:07] Speaker B: I'm going Van Buren at home as well, and they've got kind of a streak going in this, so I expect them to extend that out. Bentonville west at Greenwood. I'll go first here. Who you got? I mean, I've got Greenwood. I know Bentonville west played well against them in seven on seven.
I just don't see them being able to slow down. Greenwood at Greenwood. Give me Greenwood.
[00:14:27] Speaker A: Yes, I'm thinking about this. Well, since we're talking about Greenwood, our first episode of Rally Road Trip Football Edition comes out this week on Thursday. Make sure you watch it. It's about the Greenwood Bulldogs. But since we are talking about the Greenwood Bentonville west game, it's a great time more than ever to announce. Our second episode is going to be about Bentonville West.
[00:14:53] Speaker B: Oh, how about that?
[00:14:54] Speaker A: Nice segue. You see what I did there?
[00:14:56] Speaker B: I like that. Who you got? Leland.
[00:14:58] Speaker C: Well, you know. And yes, I know Coach Gill, the defense coordinator at Greenwood's, much more optimistic now than he was at May during spring ball when he even admitted that he was a little scared after seeing his defense in the spring. But I think this is a matter of first game, first team to 50 wins. Greenwood, you know what?
[00:15:21] Speaker A: I'll be the odd one out here and I'll say bentonville West. Okay, do I, do I believe that?
To be continued.
[00:15:30] Speaker B: Bentonville west does have a good team. I'll tell you that.
[00:15:32] Speaker A: They do.
[00:15:33] Speaker B: North Little Rock at Rogers. You know, I think North Little Rock is going to be back. I don't know that's going to be this week or. But they're going to get better this year and they're going to keep getting better as long as Brad Boulding's head coach. But they're not going to beat Rogers on Friday night. I go, Rogers, Leland, who you got?
[00:15:50] Speaker C: And you're right, north of the Rock is going to be back, but not yet. Rogers, Sydney.
[00:15:56] Speaker A: Rogers.
[00:15:56] Speaker B: Rogers. Okay, and then Bentonville at Tulsa Union.
You know, I love the Bentonville Tigers, y'. All. I just, you know, I've got a long history with the Bentonville Tigers before there was ever a Bentonville West. Love me some Bengal west, too. They've got a tough chore ahead of them, so here's their inspiration. I'm picking Tulsa Union to beat Bentonville on Friday night. Sydney, what you got?
[00:16:20] Speaker A: Tulsa. Oh, that was a.
[00:16:23] Speaker B: Actually, we're saving you for last. Leland, who you got?
[00:16:26] Speaker C: Well, you know, again, these. I love the matchups. I love the scheduling.
You know, first time out for Cole, still pecky, so I think that might make a little bit of a difference. Tulsa Union.
[00:16:41] Speaker A: I'm going to say Bentonville.
[00:16:43] Speaker B: How about it?
[00:16:44] Speaker A: I'm not going to. I'm not going to lie. I thought. I thought y' all were going to go Bentonville route, but I'm going to say Bentonville just because last year union won 42 to 35. It was a close in overtime.
[00:16:55] Speaker B: I was there.
[00:16:56] Speaker A: So I. I think it's going to be a first game redemption for Bentonville. I think they're going to come out strong. And also I'm excited to see the two Razorback commits play as well.
[00:17:06] Speaker B: I like. I like. No good. A good pick. I like that.
[00:17:13] Speaker A: Welcome back, everyone. Before we get into the Gimme 5, we want to remind everyone that nwaonline.com and rivervalleydemocratgazette.com are the premier spots to get all the latest news on all high school sports. Additionally, you can follow us on Instagram and Facebook at preparally podcast, where we share exclusive interviews with players. And we have a little fun over there right Guys.
[00:17:33] Speaker B: Oh, gosh, yes, absolutely.
[00:17:36] Speaker A: Now let's take it away with this week's top five.
[00:17:39] Speaker B: Leland, you're up, man.
[00:17:41] Speaker C: Give me five. All I'm doing for the Give me five in the River Valley this week is kind of recapping what we did in Sunday's River Rally. Democratic is there where we kind of went back over and went over scrimmage week again, Number one, the Greenwood defense.
You know, talking to Jason Gill, they're going to be better than maybe we thought they were. He's not worried anymore like he was in May. And I'll tell you, a guy to watch out for on their defense this year. Senior defensive end Cody Johnson is going to be the guy to watch for and he's going to make a difference for that Greenwood defense. That's going to be much better than maybe what we thought after losing so many guys from last year. He's a returning starter. Number two. We talked about the three A1, Mansfield, Boonville, Charleston, the guys that are going to make a difference for those guys. Watch out for senior fullback Andrew Burton in the scrimmage on Thursday night. First carry of the game, 39 yard touchdown run. Second carry of the game, 39 yard touchdown run. His first three carries he had 99 yards, finished with five carries for 114.
He's going to have a big year as a fullback in that offense for Mansfield, Boonville. Senior linebacker Hunter Warren is going to be able to concentrate and play defense, hopefully. Exclusive. They've kind of been working a couple of guys at fullback. They feel good about those guys. That's going to allow Hunter Warren to get some rest, although he'll still play some fullback.
He's going to concentrate and Booneville wants him to concentrate as a premier linebacker in the state. Charleston senior quarterback Carter Little. Wow. He's going to have a big year. And those three guys right there are going to be just tremendous to watch out for in the 3A1. Number three, North Side Alabama Takeaway. They're very young, very experienced, all three of them. But senior center Kevin Gonzalez for Northside. He's going to be an anchor for that offensive line and he's going to be a key for them, especially with running backs Jaleel Coven and also Warren Bijou. Both of them had big runs in the scrimmage, so that offense is going to be pretty good to watch and it's going to start with Gonzalez. Van Buren senior linebacker Darren Mace. He'll be one of the top linebackers and one of the top defensive players in the 6A west tremendous athlete getting college offers. He's going to be one to watch for Van Buren and of course Alma senior Samuel Schlegel. He'll play some tight end, he'll play receiver, he's going to play defense. He's going to be the main guy for Alma probably on both sides of the ball. Remember, he's a, he was a hurdler during track. Super athlete. One to watch.
Number four, Ozark senior two way starter Blaine Childers is going to be the guy to watch for them again. Another inexperienced team kind of learning the ropes under new coach, but he's going to be the guy to watch out for for Ozark. Number five, Fort Smith Southside is going to be very good offensively and defense defensively with a lot of guys returning. And senior linebacker Ethan Dunn, he's going to have a big year on defense. Maybe the best defensive player in the 6A West.
We'll see senior quarterback Blake Forgren, he's going to lead that offense and he's going to have a big year for them. And that's the Give me five recap from scrimmage week in the River Valley.
[00:21:09] Speaker A: All right, Graham, take it away with your top five.
[00:21:11] Speaker B: All right. Well, the top five in Northwest Arkansas. I'm starting off with Hank Hendricks of Fayetteville.
He completed 15 of 19 passes for 272 yards and just two quarters of action and one touchdown. One of his favorite guys to throw to was Katavian Taylor. Had four catches for 124 yards. He's going to be a big target for Fayetteville this year and is going to have a big year.
That's just my first thought on there. Number two, Shiloh Christian just dominated Springdale and their scrimmage and you know, they had to really overcome some adversity really early. Our guy who made the list, Griffin Mason, went down on the first Russian attempt. We think he's going to be all right as of, as of last weekend. Need to follow up on that. But in his place, a guy named Max Eldridge came in at three touchdown runs. Cole Creighton threw three or threw two touchdown passes to Chandler Kemp. One was 42 yards and one was 66 yards. So Shiloh's got some good players and we're going to, we're going to see that, you know, this year and all things very earlier pointing toward that matchup with Greenwood to open conference play. And it's going to be a great season with those two teams battling it out. Prairie Grove, really impressive with a win against Clarksville getting it done with the forward pass. Leland coach AB Shears group normally a big running team, but Isaac Moss had a big, big touchdown pass to Blake Koran in a 71 to 6 win over Clarksville.
[00:22:45] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:22:45] Speaker B: I don't think it was as bad like the, the varsity part of that scrimmage.
They just kept the scoreboard going and our guy Rick Fires just kept, kept it going, too, so.
But it was, you know, Prairie Grove did dominate the game on both, you know, the varsity and jv.
[00:23:02] Speaker A: That's far beyond dominating right there.
[00:23:05] Speaker B: Well, so then number four, we've got Springdale harbor and Bentonville west both had good showings at the Tulsa Union scrimmage. That's a big deal. I've been to that scrimmage over there. Leland's been over there a bunch of.
I mean, it's, it's the biggest high school stadium I've ever been in. Tuttle Stadium over there in South Tulsa, and, you know, just a really impressive facility. And harbor goes in there and plays really well. Talked to coach Dan and Howard this morning and they're, they're pretty fired up about, about week one. I know Bentonville west does, too. Bryce Owens for Harbor, the quarterback Trey Thompson for Bentonville west, both had big nights. And then I'm going to go to my boys in western Benton County. The Gravette lions with a 10 nothing shut out at Siloam Springs. JD Beam, well, that's a name, isn't it?
Been playing since he was a freshman. He had a big night. And then Cade Phillips had an interception. Brody Bohannon, coach Kelby Bohannon, son, with the 39 yard field goal to get Gravit on the board.
Beam had a touchdown run later.
Grab it, Lions. You know they're going to be making a roar in that one, that four A1 conference this year. So that is my top five for Northwest Arkansas.
[00:24:25] Speaker A: All right, well, there's so much to look forward to for this upcoming football season. If you want to take a deeper dive into some of the teams we mentioned on this podcast, don't forget to check out our documentary series Road Trip, where we meet players and teams on their home turf. And we'll see you next week on Tuesday because it's Labor Day. But we hope that you watch our first episode coming out this Thursday about Greenwood football.
All right, guys.
[00:24:48] Speaker B: You get Labor Day off?
[00:24:49] Speaker A: Of course I do.
[00:24:50] Speaker B: Levin didn't get Labor Day off.
[00:24:52] Speaker A: Oh, that sucks. I'm sorry.
[00:24:55] Speaker C: Hey, it's football.
[00:24:57] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:24:58] Speaker B: We hope all you guys get a chance to go out and watch some football this Friday night, and we'll be back next week to.
To recount it. I guess recap it.
[00:25:10] Speaker A: See you then.
[00:25:22] Speaker B: Ultimately, if you don't perform, then it.
[00:25:24] Speaker C: Really doesn't matter what your label does.
[00:25:27] Speaker B: We can certainly remember the games that we've been beat, and fortunately, there haven't been many of those here. If you don't like football, then this.
[00:25:34] Speaker C: Is not your place to be.
[00:25:38] Speaker B: Our defense is ready.
