Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome back to the Prep Rally Podcast. The weather is cooling down and that means state championships are here in northwest Arkansas and the River Valley.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: What an insane week last week. And this week is going to be more of the same. We're breaking it down and making our.
[00:00:14] Speaker A: Predictions and of course we're counting down our top five and our gimme five.
So grab your brackets and let's get into it.
Welcome back. Let's recap last week. I say sadly, well, you know, I.
[00:00:48] Speaker B: Mean, it's that time of year, Sydney. You know, teams are going to have some heartbreaking losses. Teams are going to have some really inspiring wins. And I guess we'll just, you know, rip that band aid off. And let's talk about the Rogers Mounties and the Bryant Hornets.
[00:01:04] Speaker A: No, I was more heartbroken than feeling the inspired.
[00:01:09] Speaker B: Well, yeah, you know, the Bryant Hornets defeated The Rogers Mounties 50 to 43 in double overtime. Yeah, I only got to watch just kind of from afar. Our guy, Henry Apple was sitting next to me in the Bentonville game. We had it on the live stream, but as our game got close, I kind of had to vote more attention. But, you know, the Mounties were up 35, 21 with a little less than three minutes left.
Bryant scores really quick to get within seven tries to onside kick.
They actually recover the onside kick, but there was a penalty there. And so Rogers got the ball around midfield. Bryant's defense stood up on the first three downs and stopped him. They get to fourth down.
Rogers decides to go for a fake punt.
Doesn't work out for him. Brian gets the ball back, scores again.
You know, we've been and eventually wins the game in double overtime.
Certainly. I know that, you know, that one's going to stick with Rogers a while.
Leland and I have talked about it. I mean, I think I know what Rogers was trying to do there. Um, they were trying to win the game with their offense.
And you know, that's, you know, hindsight's always 20 20. Right. You know, maybe just should have punted the ball. Maybe should have lined up in a regular offensive formation instead of a, a fake punt.
I know that the, the coaching staff did what they felt was best to try and win the game in that moment.
And Leland, you know, sometimes it doesn't always work out well.
[00:02:46] Speaker C: You know, Rogers ended up with 378 yards in that game. They had an amazing 67 rushing attempts in that game. I mean, they, they almost beat Brian at Bryant's own game rushing the football.
I've never, never seen or at least during this time of Bryant's run in the. In the class 7 8. I've never seen a player carve up their defense like Jeff Regan did on Friday night. 38 carries, 220 or 228 yards, four touchdowns. I mean, what a great performance. What a great season for Rogers.
And I completely agree with trying to get the first down.
You know, the key to Brian's win really was them having three timeouts left.
That saved that probably. Well, that won the game for them by being able to call those timeouts. Bryant felt like it was the best decision. Instead of punting, they only gained 35 yards, probably so. So now Brian has to go maybe 80 or 85 yards in. In instead of 50.
Does that make much of a difference to a Bryant team, a team that's been there and done that? I don't think so. So, I mean, I don't have any problem with them going forward on fourth down because if they get a first down, they win the game.
[00:04:09] Speaker B: Yep. They look like. They look like. They look like geniuses. I mean.
[00:04:13] Speaker C: Oh, absolutely. And that's. And that's one of those plays where if they get it, they look like genius. And they're being praised today for what a gutsy call it was. And you've got Jeff Re on the field and you've got Braxton Lindsay on the field. Two of the best players in the state. Why not?
[00:04:30] Speaker A: Well, in the wise words of their head coach when we interviewed them, there will be not be a duo like them that we will see again. So it was special to see those two players out there one last final time.
[00:04:41] Speaker B: Yep.
So we've really enjoyed getting to watch Jeff Regan and Braxton Lindsey and the Mounties this year. They've been a fun team to cover. Any. Any week was always a show, you know.
[00:04:54] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:04:55] Speaker B: So with that being said, Bryant will face the Bentonville Tigers in the state championship game. So let's. Let's talk about Bentonville's game against Conway.
First, very first offensive play of the game. Tristan Brown gets an interception for Bentonville and takes it to the house. Touchdown, Tigers.
And you know, it's.
Bentonville got up 10 to nothing, but it looks like their offense just looks like it's just a little out of sync. Like they're not. They're not clicking the way they were earlier in the year against Rogers, against Bentonville west.
And everything is hard for them. And Conway is making it tough just like Springdale made it tough for them the week before.
[00:05:33] Speaker A: I mean, these are the semifinals. These are the playoffs. This is the best of the best playing each other.
[00:05:37] Speaker B: It is absolutely. So Bentonville is grinding it out. Conway does score and gets it to 10, 7. Bentonville gets another field goal. It's actually 13 to 7 at halftime again. And then we go back and forth in the second half. Conway gets a touchdown, takes a 14 to 13 lead. Cam Thornton Mead gets a 42 yard touchdown run in the Wildcat for Bentonville to get the lead back. Conway takes a 21, 20 lead, stops. Well, they get a. Bentonville misses a field goal. So Conway's got the lead with the ball late in the first. In the. Sorry. In the fourth quarter, Bentonville's defense gets a huge stop. Conway can win the game right there. Bentonville's defense gets a stop. The Bentonville offense marches down the field, scores with 10 seconds left. Buck James leaves his timeouts in his pocket there at the end. That was kind of one of the things that, you know, we weren't sure what was going on.
[00:06:33] Speaker A: Well, in the wise words of Leland, one time, defense wins your games.
[00:06:38] Speaker B: Did Bentonville WINS the game 26, 21 and is going to go play for the state championship for the fourth time in a row.
And it, you know, it was a slobber knocker of a football game.
[00:06:51] Speaker A: True, but it had to feel good, some redemption because this was the state championship game last year.
[00:06:58] Speaker C: Well, yeah, well, and, and you talk about Rogers, the heartbreak that they're feeling today. Conway is feeling that same heartbreak because if they don't give up a pick six to start the game, Benville scored first and last in between. Conway basically won those quarters and won that maybe two thirds of the game.
And they held Bentonville's offense to 298 yards.
They held Coastal Slopecky to under 50% passing.
I mean, Conway again, like Rogers, did everything that they could and everything possible to win that game and they didn't.
[00:07:39] Speaker B: And sometimes that's just the way the ball bounces.
You know, I tell you, Bentonville's got it. You know, more on this later. But Bentonville has, you know, they've got to find that, that offensive rhythm back there. They're a little bit out of sync right now because they didn't play great against Springdale either. And Jody Graham be the first one to tell you, Springdale was a big reason why. And Conway was a big reason why he called them, he called Conway's defense elite level defense on Friday night. And I believe him. They were really good.
Let's move down to Class 6A so we'll start with the game that Leland was at Greenwood with a 63 to 45 win against Benton.
No big surprise that Greenwood was able to keep on, keep moving on.
And no big surprise that Benton gave them a great fight.
[00:08:34] Speaker C: Yeah, it was exactly the type of game that we thought it was going to be. We thought it was going to be a high, a high scoring game between two very good offenses with two prolific senior quarterbacks. Drew Davis of Benton, all time leading passer at Benton.
Kane Archer.
I don't know. We, I, I don't know what else. I mean, we're almost running out of things to say about Kane Archer, but we get to do some, we get to find some more things to say about him for another week. What a tremendous effort by him and of course, Champ Davis and that offense.
Benton had a lead 21 to 14 early, and then Greenwood are in the second quarter. Then Greenwood scores on six straight possessions, including all five possessions in the second half. Greenwood put up 28 points in the third quarter and they win, more or less going away 63 to 45.
A thousand yards of offense, one hundred and thirty nine offensive plays. It was everything that we thought it would be, including a Greenwood win to win an advance to the state championship game for the 19th time in school history, which is more than any other team in the state has been to a championship game in the modern playoff era that began in 1968.
[00:10:00] Speaker B: And Greenwood will once again face the Shiloh Christian Saints. It'll be the fourth meeting between the two in the last two years.
And we called that though, at the.
[00:10:10] Speaker A: Start of the season.
[00:10:11] Speaker B: We absolutely did, didn't we?
[00:10:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:13] Speaker B: Well, Shiloh goes on the road and wins 52 to 28 at undefeated Sylvan or no, they've been beaten once. Sylvan Hills, they beat Sylvan Hills. They're the number one seed.
And we all, I think we all kind of figured that one would be the case too. It's just what Shiloh does.
So I got to go visit with the Shiloh folks on Sunday and they said, Leland, that that was the fastest paced offense they've ever gone against with Sylvan Hills. With how fast they were going, I don't know how many plays they got off, but they, you know, they, they. Oh, I have, right here, it's 113 total plays for Sylvan Hills and Shiloh had 82.
So just a, just a crazy number, right?
[00:11:05] Speaker C: Well, you know, we talked about Tyler Hampton, the Sylvan Hills quarterback, and how good he was. So, I mean, it's. That's not a surprise either because he's put up some tremendous numbers. He threw for over 400 yards last week in the. In the second round, the playoffs. They were the number one seed for a reason. They beat Bitton earlier in the year early in that 6ae season. So again, there weren't any surprises in that one either. And, you know, Shallow Christian, you know, the one thing that we know for sure is that there will be a new champion in class 6A next year because shallow Christian is going up to 7A and Greenwood is going down to 5A. So this will be the last, last meeting between these two schools. And. And you know, they've won more state championships than any other schools. Greenwood is 112. Shiloh Christian is 111.
[00:12:01] Speaker A: Well, what a treat. We got to see him play twice this year.
[00:12:04] Speaker B: Well, I'm, you know, I got to see it once last year in the state championship game, and I'll see it again Saturday. I'm looking forward to it.
Let's hit some others.
Elkins, man, they proved me wrong, didn't they? Elkins with a 13 to 10 win against defending state champion Arkadelphia. Getting a little payback there, Sydney?
[00:12:24] Speaker A: Well, I, I think I did end up picking Elkins on our actual predictions.
[00:12:30] Speaker B: I don't know.
[00:12:30] Speaker A: I may have said different on the show.
[00:12:32] Speaker B: Double dip on these things. You go. You go one for, you know, anyway, that's besides the point.
[00:12:37] Speaker C: And I've. And I've done the same thing a couple of times. I know.
[00:12:41] Speaker A: So. Well, you know, sometimes.
Well, sometimes, you know, you get. You get some people online saying, you need to pick us. So I pick them on the show, but when it actually counts, they don't actually pick you.
[00:12:53] Speaker B: Hey, I'm.
Hey, this show counts. Let's just.
[00:12:57] Speaker C: Well, and I, I think that, too, when. When you, you know, when you think about it and some of these games are just so close that I guess maybe one little bit of information that we think about later in the week, we think, oh, that might be the one thing that, that sways the game in Elkin's favor or.
[00:13:14] Speaker B: Ooh.
[00:13:15] Speaker C: Oradelphia is the defending state champ.
So it's, you know, we. We like to have a lot of fun with it. We hope our listeners and. And people, you know, watching have some fun with it, too.
[00:13:26] Speaker A: Exactly. But on the predictions, you know, sometimes I give grandma predictions maybe a day or two late, and so I have time to think about it, and that's the stuff that gets published and so sometimes I'm like, yeah, when I really think about it, I'm going to go for this team.
[00:13:44] Speaker B: She can be very hard to reach sometimes to get these predictions, too, by the way.
So, anyway, Elkins moves on to the state semifinals. They've got a road trip. They've had these first three games at home.
Now they've got to go on the road to Stuttgart. Do we know where Stuttgart is?
[00:14:01] Speaker A: Absolutely not.
[00:14:02] Speaker B: Okay, we're going east of Little Rock and then a little bit south. It's a. It's a little bit of a trip.
[00:14:07] Speaker A: I'm just going to shake my head. Yeah.
[00:14:10] Speaker B: Another heartbreaker in Class 4A Prairie Grove. What an effort they put in. They get beat at Warren 47 to 40.
We'll talk some more about some of the Prairie Grove tigers when we get into the top five segment. But Prairie Grove had the lead very late. Warren scored last. It was really Leland who had the ball last. And that one is what it seemed like. And Warren Lumberjacks move on to the semifinals.
Could have a Warren vs. Elkins matchup if they keep winning in the state finals next week.
[00:14:42] Speaker C: Well, and I'm sure Sydney will appreciate the fact that the Stuttgart mascot is the rice Bird.
[00:14:51] Speaker A: The what?
What's a rice birds? Did you say rice?
[00:14:55] Speaker B: Rice birds.
[00:14:56] Speaker A: Like R, I, C, E.
Yes, rice birds. You made that up.
[00:15:01] Speaker B: Oh, no. No, it's.
[00:15:02] Speaker C: No, they did. A long time ago. Because that's the rice capital of the world.
They also like their. They also like their duck hunting.
[00:15:14] Speaker A: Why aren't they just the ducks?
[00:15:17] Speaker C: I guess rice birds was more appealing.
[00:15:20] Speaker B: Is a rice bird an actual bird, or is it.
It's like a. Like a crow or a raven.
Do we know what a rice bird really is, or is it the.
[00:15:29] Speaker A: No, but we already know how popular a duck mascot is. Ducks makes more sense.
What? What? So. So their mascot, someone dressed like a.
[00:15:38] Speaker C: Bird, what did you expect them to be? The Stuttgart Mallards?
[00:15:42] Speaker A: What's a mallard?
[00:15:43] Speaker B: A mallard is a duck.
[00:15:45] Speaker A: Oh, ducks.
[00:15:49] Speaker B: Moving on.
[00:15:50] Speaker C: Moving on.
[00:15:52] Speaker B: Class three, A.
Boy, what a special season it's been at Mansfield. They just obliterated Bismarck 50 to 21. Our guy, Andrew Burton, just. Just having an amazing year.
Leland, I don't know what you want to say about this. I know you had to kind of, you know, check in on this one from afar, but, I mean, what a. What is. Incredible deal Mansfield's got going on.
[00:16:17] Speaker C: You know, the. The press box. You know, a press box on Friday night is just. I mean, it's a great place to be. And of course, Walter was there.
Walter wrote the game story. I wrote the sidebar, and then, of course, the follow up. So he's got the game on. He's got the. The Rogers Bryant game on live stream, watching it. And of course, I'm keeping up with the Mansfield game.
So it's. We're. We're, you know, shouting scores back to each other and, you know, while we're watching another game in front of us. So it's, uh.
Yeah, it was. It was neat to watch that one. And the score did surprise me. I mean, look at the last. I guess it's four weeks of scores for Mansfield, a couple of 50s, an 80, 50 before that.
Yeah, it's. But again, you know, we get down to the semifinals on Friday night with 3A and 4A.
[00:17:12] Speaker B: And I wish you could figure out a way to be at Mansfield and at Little Rock and at Boonville and Fordyce all at the same time. Leland.
[00:17:19] Speaker C: Well, and Warren and Darnell. I'm trying to figure out how to get to all of them.
[00:17:25] Speaker B: Boonville. Man, here's Boonville just laying in the weeds. They're the team laying in the weeds this week, but, man, they come up with another blowout when they advance 47, 14 over Glen Rose.
And no surprise here, they just keep rolling.
[00:17:43] Speaker C: You know, it was funny when. When mansfield beat them 16 to 14 in that driving rain late in the regular season, and I was down on the field talking to Coach Crowley, and he said he did not waver in his. In his belief that. That Boonville was still a good football team.
And one thing he said. I don't think he minds me sharing this, was that, you know, they. He just. He thinks it would be.
He would hate to be a team playing them in the playoffs, because if they put it together, can be really good. And here they are.
[00:18:22] Speaker B: Here they are. All right, well, that's. I know it's a little bit long. I'm sorry, Diana, but, you know, we. We hit on every one of these, and we'll. We'll talk about them some more.
[00:18:31] Speaker A: Well, with that being said, Leland, are you ready for this?
Okay.
Got the nod of approval from Leland. We want to thank our sponsors for today. West Termite, take control of your pests with Wes. Whether it's termites, mosquitoes, bed bugs, weeds, or lawn disease, Wes has the experience serving Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma since 2003. Book your free consultation online today at westernmyte.com Ready, Leland?
[00:19:01] Speaker C: Ready.
[00:19:03] Speaker A: 1, 2, 3.
[00:19:05] Speaker B: After all.
[00:19:08] Speaker C: West nose knows pest.
[00:19:11] Speaker B: Pest best.
Yes.
[00:19:16] Speaker A: No.
[00:19:18] Speaker B: There's There's a delay, though. Like, are you delayed, Leland? Just. There's a little bit of a delay. I think there's gotta be.
[00:19:25] Speaker C: Are you delayed just a little bit?
[00:19:27] Speaker B: Just a little bit.
The crap. The craft room looks great. My regards to Jennifer, by the way.
[00:19:33] Speaker C: I'm in. I'm in winter protocol today.
[00:19:37] Speaker A: Oh, love that for you. Well, when we get back, we will have some upcoming matches and predictions. Stay tuned.
Welcome back to Prep Rally. Let's get into some upcoming matches and predictions.
[00:20:02] Speaker B: All right, let's. Let's get three of them out of the way real quick here, Leland.
Let's get the predictions for the 8 man, the 2A and the 5A. We don't have any local teams in them, but, you know, we do care. So eight man championship Thursday night, War Memorial Stadium. I know you'll be there. Who you got?
[00:20:21] Speaker C: I think Woodlawn. I think they've had a good season and I think they win.
[00:20:26] Speaker B: Woodlawn.
Let's go for it.
[00:20:31] Speaker A: Yeah. The classifications aren't on my sheet, so I'll go with what you're saying.
[00:20:36] Speaker B: You know, the eight man is really fun, though. It's just a different, you know, it is football, but it's just a little bit different. Yeah, it's, you know, usually a real offensive shootout.
[00:20:47] Speaker A: All I got to say is bear with me 2A, 3A and 4A because I'm from Northwest. Okay. Anything under 5A, I'm learning.
[00:20:56] Speaker B: Oh, you're doing a great job, Sidney. And congrats, by the way, again, to Subiaco academy winning the eight man unsanctioned championship. All right, 2A. We have Cross county versus East Poinsett county, who we affectionately call EPC.
I tell you what, who you got? I got EPC. Leland, who you got?
[00:21:19] Speaker C: I like the combination of.
Of Tyronza and.
Oh, gosh, what's the other town in East Point Set county that was consolidated?
[00:21:32] Speaker B: It's not Mark Tree.
No, that's near Tyronza.
[00:21:37] Speaker C: Yeah. Anyway, I'll take. I just think East Point Set county is, you know, they've been good all year and I think they'll continue to.
And continue that and win the championship. I have Tyranza and Lepanto.
[00:21:52] Speaker B: I. Yeah, I have been to East Point Set Cali and actually covered a playoff game there that EPC actually lost. But who you got on 2A?
[00:22:00] Speaker A: Sydney, E, P, C.
[00:22:05] Speaker B: You know, Cross County. Just an aside, here they are, the Thunderbirds.
That's a real. They call them the T birds. That is kind of cool.
[00:22:14] Speaker A: That Is cool, though.
[00:22:15] Speaker B: Makes me think of Danny Zuko. And yes, great commercial with John Travolta. Santa Claus, too, by the way. Have y' all seen that one?
[00:22:23] Speaker A: No, but it makes sense because with his white beard and then he's bald now. I'm sorry.
But we did have you as Santa in our video last year.
[00:22:33] Speaker B: I did a great job.
[00:22:34] Speaker A: You did do a great job. Yeah. If you haven't checked that out on our Instagram, we have a special edition with Graham as Santa Claus from last year's Christmas.
[00:22:42] Speaker B: And Rick Fires was my elf.
[00:22:44] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:22:44] Speaker A: And they spread Christmas joy throughout our office, which we most likely will be doing again this year.
[00:22:51] Speaker B: Oh, boy.
Class 5A Joe T. Robinson against Hot Springs Lakes. Hot Springs Lakeside. Who you got? I got Joe T. I'm a believer. Joe T.
Leland, who you got?
[00:23:05] Speaker C: I'll take the deuce and Joe T.
Joe T. Robinson.
[00:23:11] Speaker B: Okay, so we'll start with the real. Who you got?
We'll start with those quarterfinal round games. Boonville at Fordyce. Leland, I know you're not going against Boonville. You're telling. You're riding that train all the way, aren't you? Who you got?
[00:23:26] Speaker C: I have to. They had four 100 yard rushers last year. The train keeps rolling.
[00:23:31] Speaker B: I throw my hands up. I think I picked against Boonville every round in the playoffs. So I'm going to go with Boonville. That's probably the kiss of death. Who you got?
[00:23:39] Speaker A: I haven't gone against Boonville once and I'm not going to start now. Booneville.
[00:23:43] Speaker B: Okay.
Defending state champion Salem at Mansfield.
Boy, this is a tough one.
I'll let Sydney go first.
[00:23:54] Speaker A: I was hoping you'd let me.
Well, ladies first. Anyways, I have not gone against Mansfield either. So I'm going to choose them in this fight.
[00:24:08] Speaker B: You know, but I like.
[00:24:10] Speaker A: To choose the underdogs and the situations as we've seen from these picks multiple weeks.
[00:24:16] Speaker B: This is another rematch of two years in a row, right, Leland? I think Mansfield beat Salem to go to the semifinals a couple of years ago, but then Salem got Mansfield last year.
[00:24:28] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:24:28] Speaker B: Man, give me Mansfield. Gonna get. Gonna dethrone Salem. Who you got, Leland?
[00:24:35] Speaker C: I agree. I just, you know, that train I think too keeps rolling.
[00:24:41] Speaker B: Elkins at Stuttgart, admittedly don't know a whole lot about the rice birds, except I don't know what a rice bird is.
[00:24:50] Speaker A: If anyone is from Stuttgart listening to this, please send us a picture of what your mascot looks like.
[00:24:57] Speaker C: And it is actually a bird. It is. It is actually a bird.
[00:25:01] Speaker A: This might sound Silly. But is it a wild bird?
[00:25:04] Speaker C: I believe it's in the bobbling. I believe it's in the bobbling family of birds.
[00:25:10] Speaker A: Only you would know that, Leland.
[00:25:14] Speaker B: Man, Elkins. I mean, they keep proving me wrong week after week. So.
Elkins. I got Elkins. Who you got?
[00:25:22] Speaker A: Sydney, I've got Elkins.
[00:25:24] Speaker B: Leak. Leland, who you got?
[00:25:26] Speaker C: I am going to take the Rice Birds and set up a Stuttgart vs. Dardanelle state championship game in 4A, which would be very unique because Stuttgart quarterback Kane Price and Darnell quarterback Creed Vega both played Little League football together in Darnell before Coach Price became the head coach at Stuttgart. So that'd be a matchup of Little League quarterbacks in the state championship game.
[00:26:00] Speaker B: Lizards versus Rice Birds. Sand. Dardanelle's. The Sand Lizards.
[00:26:05] Speaker A: That just doesn't sound good. Together.
[00:26:08] Speaker B: I love it.
You know, Arkansas has some wonderfully unique mascots.
All right, here we go. Class 6A state championship game. Who are you going to go first this time?
[00:26:19] Speaker A: Well, I just know everyone's going to get riled up from my opinion. So how about you go first?
[00:26:24] Speaker B: Well, let's rile them up, then.
Who you got? You know, I think I've been saying all. How could you ever pick against Greenwood, ever?
[00:26:33] Speaker A: Listen. I mean, listen, Shiloh, I like you.
[00:26:37] Speaker B: I'm not even making my pick yet.
[00:26:38] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, that's true.
[00:26:39] Speaker B: So I'm just kind of. I'm gearing up. So. You know, Greenwood. How many games in a row they won, Leland?
[00:26:46] Speaker C: 38.
[00:26:47] Speaker B: 38 stops now. Shiloh Christian gets the winner.
You're speechless.
[00:26:55] Speaker A: No, I'm just saying you're. You're biased. You went on that whole roll. I knew you were picking them.
Yeah.
[00:27:03] Speaker C: Leland, he must have. He might have. He might have gotten some inside information that we don't know.
[00:27:07] Speaker A: Oh, I know he did.
He did an interview with somebody. Who? I won't say yes because I don't know if that's public knowledge yet.
[00:27:14] Speaker B: I think that this is going to be a great ball game. Shiloh has played them tough every time. They've lost every time.
Not this time.
[00:27:22] Speaker A: Yeah. Kayleigh Lynn, who are you picking?
[00:27:26] Speaker C: Well, Kane Archer's 38. No. Is a starting quarterback.
You know, the. The reigning Gatorade Player of the Year. It's.
You know, what they've done over the past 30 years since going to their first state championship game in 1996 is.
Well, it's really unprecedented. 12 state championships.
I cannot pick against the Greenwood Bulldogs because they have been so good for so long. And I think they. They three peat again.
[00:27:59] Speaker A: I mean, is it really a surprise who I'm picking? Listen, like I said, I like you, Shiloh, I really do. But I'm going to have to go for Greenwood on this one. They just know how to win ball games. I'm sorry, but you guys do, too. It'll be interesting.
That's all I gotta say.
[00:28:15] Speaker B: It's gonna be a great ball game.
[00:28:16] Speaker A: It will be. And Prep will be there to watch it. I definitely think out of all the games, to me, it's gonna be the most competitive game.
[00:28:25] Speaker B: You guys are coming? Yeah. Awesome. Johnny. We need to get y' all credentials then, don't we?
[00:28:30] Speaker A: We have credentials.
[00:28:31] Speaker B: Oh, y' all do good.
Saves me something to do this week.
All right.
Class 7A Bentonville and Bryant.
You know, the Rogers Mount. He's almost pulled the unthinkable last week.
And the Can Bentonville. Can Bentonville go to its fourth straight championship game and get the win? It's been since 2014 since Bentonville's won it all.
Who wants to go first?
[00:29:00] Speaker A: I think Leland wants to go first.
[00:29:02] Speaker B: Leland, who you got?
[00:29:05] Speaker C: I picked Bentonville to win the state championship in August. And although they have not been overly impressive the last two weeks, they still play defense, they still run the ball.
And I think that is what it takes to beat a Bryant, you know, a dominant Bryant program over the past few years. And I think Bentonville wins a state championship. You know, they're. They're four plays away from. And I know a lot of teams can say things like this. There are four plays away from winning three state championships over the past six years.
This year, they get it done.
[00:29:43] Speaker B: I am also the opinion that Bentonville is going to pull out every stop they can think of. I think we might see a little bit more of Cam Thornton Mead at running back.
All hands on deck.
Bentonville Tigers take home the state championship.
[00:30:01] Speaker A: He had to do the knock on wood because he knows that I just. Whenever. Whenever Bentonville says, like, Graham, you can't pick us to win because we lose. Like I said, I'm going to spread some more love to you guys this week. Okay? And I'm going to pick Bryant.
But as in. As in. Oh, no, as in their case, they like when we pick against them because then they're, like, more motivated. So do what you will with that.
[00:30:24] Speaker B: Bentonville Sydney's taking the Bryant Hornets.
[00:30:28] Speaker A: Yes, I am.
[00:30:29] Speaker B: Wow.
All right. Well, that's. That's our. Who you got this week.
[00:30:34] Speaker A: That's right. And before we get into the top five and give me five. We want to remind everyone that nwaonline.com and the rivervalleydemocratgazette.com are the premier spots to get all the latest things on high school sports. Additionally, you can follow us on Instagram and Facebook at Prep Rally Sports where we share exclusive interviews with coaches, players and a lot of other fun stuff. So with that being said, let's get into our top five. Hi, I'm Jeb Slaughter and this is NWA Top five. Go Elks.
[00:31:01] Speaker B: These are the top five performances in northwest Arkansas. I think I just want to rename this the. The Jeff Regan top five. Because he never gets to be number one. Even though he is number one.
But I don't think he made number one all year. He could have been. He could have been this week.
Number five. We're going to start with Jeff Regan at Rogers. Like Leland said earlier, What a performance. 38 carries, 229 yard rushing yards, four touchdowns. Just carved up the Brian Hornets.
We wish you were playing this week again, Jeff.
You've been a great joy to watch on the football field the last three years.
Number four. Here's another guy who has just left it all out there. Elijah Sugg. Prairie Grove, 41 carries, 291 yards and a losing effort. Warren, he scored two touchdowns.
The side shout out to Blake Co ran 24 carries, 124 yards and two touchdowns. Man, Prairie Grove, what a great run.
Still could be playing this week.
Just, just tough for those guys. Number three, let's get a little defensive here. Sidney Brooks Williams of Elkins, 15 tackles against Arkadelphia. He was all over the field.
You know, defense wins championships. The Elks can play some defense the whole. A really good Arkadelphia team with 10 points. Very impressed with that.
Number two, I'll just put your Shiloh Christian offense.
I mean there's so much, there's, there's. You know, you mentioned Cole Creighton going 24 of 35 passing for 385 yards and three touchdowns. But you can't forget the receivers. We got Zane Slider, nine catches, 177 yards, two touchdowns. Then Chandler Kemp, nine catches, 146 receiving yards and a touchdown.
And how about this guy, Charlie Krell, 16 carries, 105 yards, three touchdowns. Now Charlie's been kind of. He plays a lot of different roles at Shiloh. This has got to be his best game of the year for sure.
[00:33:08] Speaker A: Love to see it, kid.
[00:33:09] Speaker B: Then number one, we have co Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette players of the week because we can't just make a decision. We're going to go.
[00:33:17] Speaker A: Can I make a decision?
[00:33:18] Speaker B: Nope, you can't.
Chris Fickland of Bentonville and Austin Bourne of Elkins. So here's what Chris Fickland did. 21 carries, 100 tough, tough yards against a really good Conway defense. He scored the game winning touchdown run with 10 seconds left on the final drive. I think Benville had to go like 54 yards.
He had a bunch of it, like maybe 46 of it, including a 33 yard run that helped set up his touchdown run.
Chris Ficklin and the Tigers are back in the state championship game. And then how about Austin Bourne of Elkins? He's the backup quarterback.
Ben Napier goes out of the game with an injury. Austin Bourne comes in and engineers a game winning Drive in the fourth quarter. He had 41 rushing yards and two passes for 15 yards. It didn't seem like a lot, but his, his time frame there wasn't a whole lot. He was very productive when he got in there. He scored the game winning touchdown for Elkins, who moves on. And that's my top five.
Yo, this is Champ Davis. This is River Valley. Give me five.
[00:34:28] Speaker C: These are the top five performances of the past week in the River Valley. We're going to start with a little basketball before we get back into football. But Cameron Schmidt, a Senior from Northside, 25 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks, 3 steals in a 57 to 28 win over the Bryant Lady Hornets. For the Lady Bears as they continue their dominant early start to the season. Three and oh, number four. It's a quartet of rushers from Boonville.
Hunter Warren, Rhett Nedert, Hayden Daniel and Connor dromer combined for 46 carries for 491 yards in the win last week for the Boonville Bearcats at Glen Rose. All four of them rushed for at least 100 yards. Hunter Warren, 25 carries, 143, 145 yards and three touchdowns. Dromer, six carries, 141 yards and two touchdowns.
Daniel, six carries, 105 and a touchdown. And then Neder, nine carries for 100 yards and a touchdown. Altogether, Boonville rush for five hundred and fourteen yards in that game and for the second week in a row did not attempt a pass.
Number three, Kane Archer, the senior quarterback for Greenwood, of course on Friday night was Almost his usual self. 21 of 27254 yards and four touchdowns.
18 carries for 129 yards and two touchdowns. And he became the first quarterback in state history to throw for at least 10,000 yards in his career and rush for over 2500 yards in his career in that win over Benton.
Number two, Andrew Andrew Burton, fullback for Mansfield and a 50 to 21 win over Bismarck.
34 carries, 293 yards and six rushing touchdowns. He became the first running back in Mansfield history to go over 2,000 rushing yards in a season. On defense. He also intercepted a pass and as a team on Friday night, Mansfield 63 rushes for 438 yards and seven touchdowns to advance to the semifinals of the Class 3A state playoffs.
Number one, our River Valley Democrat Gazette Player of the Week Championship Davis from Greenwood in a 63 to 45 win over Benton.
Fifteen carries for 149 yards and three touchdowns, 10 carries for 79 or 10 receptions for 79 yards and two touchdowns. He also returned four kicks for another 82 yards to account for 310 all purpose yards in that win to propel the Bulldogs to the state championship game for the 19th time in school history.
[00:37:33] Speaker B: Amazing.
[00:37:35] Speaker A: Wow.
No words.
Well, we hope you enjoyed today's show and yeah, we're excited to be at the state championships and next week we will have our final say about this football season. So stay tuned and have a great weekend.
[00:37:53] Speaker B: Sam.
