Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: It's state Championship weekend, part one. We'll have the details next on Prep Rally.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: You're watching the Prep Rally Podcast.
[00:00:14] Speaker A: Welcome to the Prep Rally Podcast sponsored by West Termite Pest and Lawn, Graham Thomas and Rick Fiers here on the set in Northwest Arkansas. Leland Barclay joins us from the River Valley Democrat Gazette offices in Fort Smith. Guys, it's state championship weekend in Little Rock. Five state title games beginning Thursday with eight man championship, 2A and 5A on Friday and the 6A and 7A on Saturday. Ricky fires, you're ready, aren't you?
[00:00:43] Speaker B: Absolutely. I'm ready. Man. How can you not love this? We got state champion. You know, we start talking, start talking about, hey, who's going to win this class? Who's going to. Well, you know what? It's on us right now. Then we got some semifinals in the other division. College football conference championships this weekend, basketball tournaments all over the place. Man, I'm just giddy. I'm like a little puppy. I'm ready to go.
[00:01:06] Speaker A: And we. Leland's always ready. How you doing down there, man?
[00:01:11] Speaker C: Well, a little cold today, but yes, absolutely. Five games at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. And it is the pinnacle of high school football in the state of Arkansas this week.
[00:01:21] Speaker A: Now, I said part one, so part two is next week with the Class 3A and 4A games. So it's always interesting.
[00:01:30] Speaker C: I love the new. I love the setup that they went to a couple of years ago. And of course that kind of changed when they started the eight man. I love the setup. The eight man games always on Thursday night. The two A game is always on that first Friday in December. And then 5, 6 and 7, class 5A, 6A and 7A kind of rotate between Friday night, noon Saturday and then that night game on, on Saturday night. So I love that format. And then the next weekend, like you said, part two, it's a double header. 3A and 4A, they alternate this year. 4A's at noon, three days at night. And it's a, it's a championship double header next weekend.
[00:02:09] Speaker A: And I don't know about you guys, but I still love War Memorial. I mean, I, you know, the old lady, I do, too. She's, she's, she's a real classic. And I love covering football games there. I like, I like watching the Razorbacks play there. When that place is rocking, there's nowhere like it. It's so loud.
[00:02:26] Speaker B: You know, what is centrally located, it's, you know, named in honor of the military to men and women who could keep us Safe. And I love it, too. There's nothing better to me. And I remember Harrison and Alma years ago playing at a beautiful noon. But this time of year, or just a gorgeous day, I love those Saturday noon games because at nighttime, you know, we're on deadline, trying to get everything done. But, man, those noon games at war memorials on Saturday, the perfect.
[00:02:57] Speaker A: All right, well, I'd love to jump right into those state championship games, but first, let's. Let's stick to the script, gentlemen. We have to. Just one. One more time, I guess, or however many more times we're going to do this. But let's. Let's start with. Give me five this week, Leland. Take it away.
[00:03:13] Speaker C: These are the top five performances of the last week in the River Valley. Of course, we always start with number one. The River Valley Democratic is that player of the week. It's a familiar name. In fact, all these names are familiar because this is the time of the year that the cream rises to the top. And of course, Daniel Burton, senior wing back for Mansfield, the all time leading rusher in Mansfield history in last week's 36 to 6 win over Dumas. Eleven carries, 170 yards, three touchdowns on runs of 4, 94 and 49 yards in that victory to propel Mansfield into the state semifinals in Class 3A for the second straight season.
[00:03:57] Speaker A: Well, I'll tell you what, the funniest thing in the staff meeting yesterday, someone was referencing one of the articles we had on that game, and they were calling Dumas Dumas. And someone said, oh, it's Dumas.
[00:04:09] Speaker B: Not in France, it's Dumas. I live down there. And, you know, there's.
[00:04:14] Speaker A: It's just Dumas, you know, the. The Burton boys. And we got more coming here, obviously, spoiler alert. But, man, Daniel Burton's had such a great career at Mansfield, and kind of fitting for him to be, you know, a player of the week this late in the year. Leland.
[00:04:31] Speaker C: Yes. Yes, it is. You know, he's a wing back, tremendous player, plays on both sides of the ball. You know, an interesting fact about him. And we'll have more on him and his family.
He's four. They have four adopted brothers in that family. A couple of weeks ago, after their big win, he actually preached the sermon the next day or that Sunday morning at his church on. On Sunday morning.
[00:04:57] Speaker A: Wow. I'll tell you what.
[00:05:00] Speaker C: So great family. And to keep that, you know, same nice segue. Number two, Samuel Burton, 11 carries for 97 yards and two touchdowns in that win over Dumas, 36 to 6. And he's the wing back on the opposite side. And thought Harold's story today was just fantastic in pointing out some things about their offense. You know, they do so much with those wing backs. They do pitches with them. They also run those counters and it is old school wing tee offense. And they've got that tough running back or tough fullback in the middle of that offense, Andrew Burton.
And they're, they're clicking right now.
Number three, the one two punch again, familiar names. Champ Davis and Grant Carnes, the receiving tandem for Greenwood. And last week's 42 to nothing win over Mountain Home. They caught all five of the touchdown passes in the first half or five of the touchdown passes in the 1st half from Kane Archer. Grant Carnes, three catches, all four touchdowns for 114 yards. Camp Davis, seven catches for 124 yards and two touchdowns. And that's the third time in the last four games that they both went over 100 yards receiving in the same game.
[00:06:22] Speaker A: That's, that's tough to beat when you're like that.
[00:06:26] Speaker C: Yeah, that's, that's a tough one, two combination. Boy, they both, they're, they're having great seasons. Both of them are over a thousand yards.
And then number four, Kane Archer, the junior quarterback for Greenwood, 17 of 20 for 306 yards and five touchdowns all in the first half. He also had a 20 yard touchdown run that was just a highlight reel run.
And then of course he's got 54 touchdown passes now for the season and one interception.
[00:07:00] Speaker A: How many incompletions?
[00:07:02] Speaker C: Well, you know, it would be 40, 49 or 48 incompletions and then the one interception. So he has more touchdown passes than he has, you know, incompletions. And he also has, he's throwing, he's completing 82% of his passes, which would be a state record. And also from what I can find, the research I've done would also be a national record.
Now I don't like to point a lot of that stuff out because the season's not over and of course we'll get into this later, but Shiloh's defense is going to have something to say about that on, on Saturday afternoon we'd have to go and the number five.
[00:07:45] Speaker A: I was going to say we'd have to go back and look on Kane Archer but you know, at the beginning of the year we said he could probably be on this list every week for the gimme five. And I wonder how many weeks was Kane Archer listed on Gimme 5? That'd be fun.
[00:07:58] Speaker C: Well, of course I've got all of them because as my wife would say, I don't ever throw anything away.
I mean, there were some. There were some weeks that we purposely, I think, tried to keep him out.
[00:08:11] Speaker A: But he still probably could have been on there. Maybe.
[00:08:13] Speaker C: He probably. Oh, he probably could have. Look back at these games, Shiloh.
I mean, just tremendous, you know, games all season long.
You know, six touchdown passes, seven touchdown passes, eight touchdown passes two weeks in a row, with five in the playoffs. So, I mean, yeah, he could have been on there every week. If we wanted to, we could have.
[00:08:36] Speaker B: Been doing the same thing with Jeff Regan up there. Rogers, too.
[00:08:39] Speaker A: Yeah, right. I agree with that.
[00:08:41] Speaker C: Yeah, there's a lot of familiar names on our top five from up there and our gimme five and then number five, Hunter Warren. In last week's 34 to 26 loss at Fordyce, the Boonville fullback, junior fullback, had 32 carries for 193 yards, four touchdowns, and as a linebacker on defense, had eight tackles in that tough loss for Boonville in playoffs last week on the road.
[00:09:10] Speaker A: That was a tough loss for the Bearcats, but, you know, give them a lot of props. You know, they were right back in it this year. They were a team to be reckoned with. You know, had that game been at Boonville, you know, there might have been a different story.
[00:09:22] Speaker C: Oh, absolutely. And you know, with what they lost last week or laughed from last year, state championship team from last year, who are the best players to ever play for Boonville, you know, graduated. So I think for them to get to this point was a really an amazing, amazing season. And it also speaks, I think, very appropriately of the Boonville program itself in that, you know, they.
They don't really relapse, they just reload.
[00:09:55] Speaker A: Yep, I agree with that. You know, and each week now, we've kind of seen teams have their season end and, you know, this, this past week was no exception. And you know, it's going to end for, for a few this week as well, just because it is the final game and these teams reached final game. So with that, Leland, we'll move into the River Valley Sports Report. And I imagine we're just going to lead right off with the Class 6A title game with Greenwood and Shiloh.
[00:10:23] Speaker C: Absolutely. Greenwood will be playing in their record, state record 18th state championship game on Saturday afternoon against Shiloh Christian, a familiar foe. Greenwood's coming off that 42 to nothing win over Mountain Home. That is their third straight shutout and fourth of the season.
I Know, we give a lot of notoriety and publicity to the offense and rightly so, because that's what, you know, that's what everybody likes to see. But man, that defense has been fantastic.
And I've got a story. I talked to Paul Brixie on Friday night. A 510190 pound linebacker who's leading the team and tackles who played very seldom last year. He was one of the guys that came in. They only had three returning starters on defense. Now all three of those were really good players, but still returning or replacing nine starters on defense and guys like Paul Brixie step up and well, here they are again playing for a state title with an unbelievable defense.
And then on. On Friday night, the 3A semifinals at Mansfield where the Tigers will host, you know, coming to town on Friday night, a very, very good Salem team. Kind of a mirror image. Both teams in the semifinals and one of those teams will go to the championship game for the first time in their school history.
[00:11:56] Speaker A: That's amazing. I've been to Salem and I've been to Mansfield. You know, that's a. That's a long trip for Salem.
[00:12:02] Speaker C: Well, enough unusual fact about Mansfield. You know, Mansfield actually is. Is in Sebastian county and Scott county, but the school is actually in Scott County. Most of the town is in Sebastian County. So if you've been to Mansfield, you've been to Scott county as well. So basketball will on this week at Lavaca, Boonville and Scranton. Classic formats. The back is a true tournament. And then next week the tournament of champions in Fort Smith. And then the week after that is the Foster Roofing Classic, the old Coca Cola Christmas Classic. So basketballs are bouncing everywhere. It has taken off and it's. For most schools it's basketball season.
[00:12:49] Speaker B: Hey, Leland, did you say Greenwood is now appeared in more championship games than anybody, including Little Rock Central teams?
[00:12:58] Speaker C: Yes, well, of course, you know, Little Rock Central played in the big school conference. So they weren't actually a part of the playoff format until 1983.
[00:13:06] Speaker B: I see.
[00:13:06] Speaker C: That's going back to the modern playoff format which began in 1968. And most of the big schools didn't join the current playoff format until 1983. As far as the big schools. But yes, they have played in more championship games than anybody in the state.
[00:13:27] Speaker B: That's why I'm here to be educated by le. So. Yeah, well, thank you for that. Yeah, that's a great, interesting stat right there.
[00:13:35] Speaker A: But you didn't know you're gonna get.
[00:13:36] Speaker C: Well, I think the G that you know, again we had Kind of a geography lesson today, you know, about Mansfield and Scott County.
[00:13:44] Speaker A: Here's what I remember about Salem. When I worked at the Jonesboro sign, we would. I would have to drive over to Salem for our football tab. I couldn't believe that we delivered papers out there.
But as you're getting into Salem, there was a Dairy Queen out there. Like, you just kind of have just a lot of mountains and nothing, and then boom, Dairy Queen. It's like. Yes.
[00:14:03] Speaker B: So do the Salem Greyhounds travel by Greyhound bus?
[00:14:09] Speaker A: They should.
[00:14:10] Speaker B: I would think so. Yeah. They ought to, you know, sponsor them or something.
[00:14:14] Speaker A: Now, I want to point out, too here, Leland, in the quarterfinals last year, Mansfield, a part of their run to the state semifinals, went up to Salem and beat the Greyhounds on their home field.
[00:14:27] Speaker C: That is correct. That was part of that playoff run. And then the next week, they. They went to Prescott. Mansfield went to Prescott and lost in the semifinals. But, yes, part of that run was a one touchdown decision over Salem. So this is a rematch from last year. And of course, this one's much bigger because like I said, one of these teams is going to War Memorial Stadium to play for a state title for the first time ever.
[00:14:52] Speaker A: Well, and we'll have all kinds of coverage from it in the River Valley Democrat Gazette on Friday before the game, on Saturday after the game, and on Sunday in our print and online editions. So looking forward to that, we could talk about that one for another third, 30 to 45 minutes, I'm sure. But we got to take a break, guys. We got to.
And then we'll get to our northwest Arkansas top five. As we go to break, we'll leave you with some video highlights from last week's football games in the River Valley. This is Prep Rally.
Welcome back to the Prep Rally podcast sponsored by West Termite Pest and Lawn. Graham Thomas and Rick Fires here and on the set in Fayetteville, studios here. And Leland Barclay joins us in the River Valley. So let's jump into the top five with Rick Fires.
Rick, what you got for us this week?
[00:16:02] Speaker B: I tell you what, I don't have a lot of stats on this guy. My number one story is Bentonville beating Conway 36, 34. You know, and the game is more than stats about drama.
You know, I'm an old country music kind of guy, but, hey, I know a little rap, too. And Eminem talks about what you're going to do in the moment. In the moment. In the moment. And this guy right here, Ryan Fernstrom, kicked a 37 yard field goal 1 second to go to allow Bentonville to beat Conway 36, 34. What a pressure pack situation. That is my good and you know what? I was at that game. They had to rush the field goal team onto the field. It's not like, you know, he just got a timeout and Walker, it probably helped him that he didn't have to think about it.
[00:16:53] Speaker A: He said line up and kick it.
[00:16:54] Speaker B: Yeah, he just watch it lined up and it wasn't. I almost said drilled. He didn't drill it, but he made it. It kind of looped over the crossbar. Set off pandemonium for Bentonville. What a great win for them. A lot, a lot of people had Conway and Bryant in the state championship game. Bentonville, Bentonville said, no, no way. Bentonville is going back for the third straight year to play for the state championship. And you need to think about this game is, you know, teams get better. Conway beat the Tigers 55, 21 during Week 1 of the season. And then what it is, what 11 games later, they turned around and beat him.
Trevor Grant had really the Bentonville quarterback. You know, all the lot of attention was on Grayson Wilson. He's a University of Arkansas signee. Good looking kid. He's about 6, 3. He can fling it, he can run. But Trevor Grant did a great job directing that team. They had some defensive stops you don't like. Leland points out. You know, I complain about all the high scoring, but Leland points out. You know, you still win championships with defense. And Bentonville made some key defensive stops there. Got a touchdown off a return, a fumble return for a touchdown. So to me, that was by far the number one story right there in Northwest Arkansas last week. My player of the week is you talking about a kid who's having a fantastic year. That's Aiden Lester, the magic man. That's what Tommy Tice calls him, the magic man. I remember this kid was a sophomore and he was playing behind another court. The starting quarterback got hurt and Aiden kind of went in there and got better and better. And his junior year he's just doing a fantastic. Farmington's one of the hottest teams in high school football right now. Now in Arkansas, his team was behind, but he rallied Farming to 59, 55 victory. And he threw for 422 yards and five touchdowns in this game. And he was best in the second, the second half. He completed 15 of his last 16 passes for 209 yards and four scores, including the game winner. So what a great job by Aiden Lester.
Of course, you got to have somebody to catch the Ball. Dawson Keaton for Farmington had caught 12 passes, 147 yards, three touchdowns. Now move on to Elkins. Elkins beat malvern. Jaquay Walden, 31 carry, 211 yard.
Ben that four touchdown. Ben Napier had another big game.
Excuse me. Shiloh Christian, man, they surprised some people. Went down there and beat Benton, Griffin, Mason, Shiloh, he ran for a touchdown, I think caught two touchdown passes through a touchdown pass. This kid does a little bit of everything.
He's punted, he was outside linebacker, but now he's the feature back and they just want him as the running back. So he doesn't play linebacker anymore. He said he's disappointed in that. He loved to hit people. But Shiloh Christian, again, you know, they've got a great tradition as well, and they're going back to when a lot of people didn't think they'd be there. They'd be playing in the state championship game this weekend. So great job by a lot of these kids up here in Northwest Arkansas.
[00:20:26] Speaker A: You're going back to that Farmington game.
They weren't just down, they were really down. I was on vacation last week. Thank you guys for coming on the podcast. They were down like 48 to 30.
[00:20:37] Speaker B: 48, 30. That's what it was late in the third quarter.
[00:20:39] Speaker A: I mean, you start thinking it's over. You know, that's what I thought. I just kind of went, well, Farmington's had a great year. Tommy Tice has done a great job. And all of a sudden I get messages, Farmington came back and won. I'm like, whoa.
[00:20:53] Speaker B: And you know, they had to do a lot of things, had to go right for them. They recovered two onside kick. You had to get the extra possession. And Tommy Tice calls this a magical team led by a magical quarterback. And Hardy argue right that right there. So great job by Farmington and Aiden Lester, our Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette player of the week.
[00:21:14] Speaker A: Well, and that kind of leads us into a great segue into our sports report. So Farmington is going to play Little Rock Parkview, a heavily favored Little Rock Parkview team, in the state finals. But I like what Tommy Tice said in the newspaper. He goes. He goes, I know the farming, that Little Rock Parkview is a good team, but we got a good team, too, and they've shown that. And you just can't keep them out of it. And my goodness, what a. What a year they have had. Aiden Lester has just had a great year. They're a lot of great performances around him. You know, Russell Hodge, Russell Hodge Dawson, Keating, Aiken, Johnson. Yeah. What I've liked a lot, whenever we've talked to Tommy Tice this year about on the capsules that we do, you always list the punter. So.
Because we might, we might need him is what he said.
[00:22:00] Speaker B: So I like when Tommy Tice referenced, you know, a lot of people had, I think our Little Rock guys had Parkview number one overall for the longest in their weekly ranking. And Tommy Tice referenced that Arkansas game where they had some guys suspended. Oklahoma was a big favorite one in bowl games and Arkansas just whipped them. So you never know. That's what sports.
[00:22:24] Speaker A: Absolutely. That's why you play the game. And we'll see Parkview and Farmington go at it on Friday night. And believe me, Farmington will be ready. They'll have a plan and they'll have a great game plan and they're going to take a swing at Parkview just like a lot of teams have tried to do this year.
Another we mentioned Elkins here on the top five. Elkins got to make the trip to Little Rock a week early to go play a really good Little Rock Mills team.
And, you know, this is kind of the moment here for Elkins. Can they, can they get over the hump? Can they get over the hump and get to War Memorial? So we'll find out this week, rick.
[00:23:02] Speaker B: So they 13 and all last year when, who was it? Harding Academy? They're 13 Little Rock Mills undefeated. I talked to Zach Watson over there. He said, man, they got some great athletes. We can't let them bust some of them big plays, punt returns, kickoff returns. So. But man, I've seen Elkins two or three times this year. They are a solid team and really looking forward to the results of that game.
[00:23:27] Speaker A: Yep. And then, you know, obviously Bentonville is going to play a really great Bryant team in the Class 7A state finals. Now, Bentonville is the team that ended Bryant season at Bryant last year. I don't think that won't be on the Hornets mind. But, you know, Bryant's a really good team. We know that. Bentonville knows that. But I'm telling you, like you, like you talked about last week, Rick, this Bentonville team is kind of coming together like this. I mean, they're, you know, they took their lumps early, but they got better and they kind of figured out who they are. And now they are just, they're figuring out ways to win ball games.
[00:24:01] Speaker B: And, you know, they make plays on defense, too. I mean, just little bitty things like who was it? Grayson Wilson gets Sacked and a Bentonville cornerback runs over there and gets in front of the other offensive guys and picked up the football and runs all the way back for, I can't remember, 43, 50. 50 something yards.
And that's what it takes this time of year.
[00:24:26] Speaker A: Yep. So, you know, that's, that's kind of, you know, we got the 5A and then the seven day. We talked about that. Now, I don't want to discount Shiloh at all. Man, they went down to Benton and won. What a great.
[00:24:37] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:24:37] Speaker B: I didn't think.
[00:24:37] Speaker A: Yeah, you know, like you talked about Griffin, Mason, Zane, slider, you know, Nathan. Not Nathan. Jake Bodenstein. Nathan Bodenstein, I think is his uncle. Jake Bodenstein comes off the bench and after Cole Creighton got hurt and makes some plays at quarterback and they won it. Benton. That's a tough place to go and win.
[00:24:59] Speaker B: Hey, let me ask you, which would be a bigger upset?
Shiloh Christian beating Greenwood or Bentonville beaten.
[00:25:08] Speaker A: Bryant or Farmington beating Parkview? Leland. You might want to weigh in on that.
[00:25:12] Speaker B: Which one you think? Leland.
[00:25:14] Speaker C: I think it's easily Farmington beating Part View would be the biggest of the three.
[00:25:20] Speaker A: I tend to agree because Bentonville has shown it can beat Bryant. They did it last year. Shiloh played Greenwood really tough earlier and you guys were there for it.
[00:25:29] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:25:30] Speaker A: So, yep, we. We just don't know about Parkview and Farmington. But boys, we're going to find out and all. And if you can't make it to War Memorial, you know, it's. It's so great in Arkansas, if you have the Public Broadcasting System, pbs, all these games are on, are broadcast on tv and then we'll have all kinds of stories about them in the.
[00:25:50] Speaker B: You'll be there. There's nothing like being there, isn't it?
[00:25:52] Speaker A: Oh, man, it's fun. And leave them.
[00:25:54] Speaker B: Will be there.
[00:25:55] Speaker A: And I know Walter Woody will be there for some of it and it's just a great time. So real quick here, just to wrap up our northwest Arkansas sports report, got a couple of big basketball tournaments up here. We got basketball tournaments all over, all over the place. But in Northwest Arkansas this week we had The Rogers Grade 8, which is going to be, I believe, at Rogers Heritage this year.
And that's a girls tournament. So local teams in that are Rogers and Heritage. North Little Rock will be there. Greene County, a really good Greene County Tech who's coached by my good buddy Jason Smith, will be there. Clinton, Arkansas will be there. Ozark, Missouri, defending Arkansas state champion Little Rock Central will be there too. And then Rick, you'll be at the Hoopin on the hill in Fayetteville. So that's boys. And you'll have Bentonville will be there, Fayetteville will be there. Bryant, defending 4A champ Little Rock Christian will be there. So a lot, a lot of good teams from out of the area that.
[00:26:54] Speaker B: Is that St. Louis fit. Sean, they have the big time program in the St. Louis area. They play good basketball.
[00:27:01] Speaker A: So Rick and Paul Boyd will be here, man, in a lot of the. Excuse me, the basketball stuff. So it, man, it's just busy. It's, you know, a lot of people haven't made the jump to basketball season just yet, but still got, you know, some really good football left. And man, maybe even next week we'll, maybe we'll have some more of it. We'll see. I hope so.
[00:27:23] Speaker B: We're in transition. Like we're. We transition from Thanksgiving. I'm not listening to no Christmas music to Thanksgiving's over. Now I'm all about Christmas music and deck the halls and being jolly and all that. So just like sports, we're making transition from football to basketball.
[00:27:39] Speaker A: What is your favorite Christmas song, Rick?
[00:27:41] Speaker B: The Little Drummer Boy by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It brings me to tears. I love that.
I just do.
[00:27:50] Speaker A: All right, well guys, we're going to take another break and when we come back we'll do who you got for all the state championship games plus the semifinals in the 2a or excuse me, the 3a and the 4a. This is prep rally.
And we're back on the prep rally podcast sponsored by West Termite Pest and Lawn. And gentlemen, it's time for who you got. So let's get right to it.
We will start with the eight man championship game between Strong and Midland. Rick fires. Who you got? Eight man.
[00:28:37] Speaker B: I'm going to go with Strong. I saw them play years ago up at Mountainburg. One of the best games I ever seen. Kenneth Dixon with the quarterback, halfback, running back, tailback, offensive guard did everything. He later went on a great career at Louisiana Tech. Played in the NFL for ball with Baltimore for a few years. So I'm going with strong.
[00:28:58] Speaker A: I got strong too.
[00:28:59] Speaker C: Leland, who you got absolutely strong. Huddig with the. I think they would have probably won it last year, maybe not. But if they hadn't had to forfeited that game in the playoffs which knocked them out of the playoffs, I think they would have made it two in a row. But yes, I think Strong wins this.
[00:29:16] Speaker A: Game and Leland will be there for Eight man coverage. Read about it in the Friday Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
Class 2A state title game, East Poinsett county vs. Conway Christian. So I'm an old school Northwest Arkansas guy, Rick Fires. I know you are too, but I'll take epc.
[00:29:34] Speaker B: I'm a Northeast Arkansas. I'm a transplant to Northwest Arkansas. East Poinsett county is a consolidated school with Lepanto and Tyronza. It's the home of the great Terrapin Derby and my birthplace, like 90 years ago. So I got East Poinsett County.
[00:29:54] Speaker A: Leland, who you got? Class 2A.
[00:29:57] Speaker C: Oh, it's gotta be the home of Rick Fires.
East Poinsett County.
[00:30:03] Speaker B: Well, I just born there because Caraway didn't have a hospital and I couldn't find. We couldn't find a midwife. So that's why I was born Lepanto.
[00:30:11] Speaker A: Very interesting.
[00:30:12] Speaker B: All right.
[00:30:15] Speaker A: Class 3A semifinals. All right, we're gonna go Salem at Mansfield, our local teams. I mean, guys, I can't go against Mansfield now. It's just they've been through too much and done so much. Mansfield Tigers. Rick, who you got?
[00:30:30] Speaker B: Mansfield Tigers.
[00:30:32] Speaker A: Leland, who you got?
[00:30:33] Speaker C: You know, We've said Class 3A was open all year, wide open. And so why not Mansfield Tigers?
[00:30:41] Speaker A: You've been riding them the whole way, so no, no surprise there. Now the question is, who are they going to play in Little Rock? So the other Class 3A semifinal game, the Fordyce, the Red Bugs, who just ended the Boonville Bearcat season, going to play the Bismarck Lions. Who you got, Rick?
[00:30:58] Speaker B: I got Fordyce with the spirit of Paul Bear Bryant back in the Red Bugs. And so I got Fordyce.
[00:31:06] Speaker A: I'm going to go Bismarck. You know, Bismarck. Bismarck defeated Mansfield first game of the year, I believe it was, so. I know, I know they're a good football team. I'll take Bismarck. Leland, who you got?
[00:31:18] Speaker C: You know, when I was talking to Boonville coach Doc Crowley last week and you know, getting something ready for the. For the Notebook, and we talked about Ford Ice and he said they were the best team left in the playoffs. And that was last week. So I am going with the Red Bugs to meet Mansfield in the state championship game at War Memorial Stadium next week.
[00:31:44] Speaker A: Man, I've always loved the Red Bugs mascot.
[00:31:46] Speaker B: I love that town.
[00:31:48] Speaker A: All right, Class 4A semifinals. We'll. We'll start with not our local teams, but Batesville, Southside and Arkadelphia. One of the Badgers at home. I just don't know that I can pick against Arkadelphia at Home. So I'll take the Arkadelphia Badgers.
[00:32:02] Speaker B: I take Arkadelphia as well.
[00:32:03] Speaker A: All right, Leland, who you got?
[00:32:05] Speaker C: Ditto Arkadelphia.
[00:32:07] Speaker A: Man, we're all on the same page here. Mostly the Class 4A semifinals. Elkins at Little Rock Mills. Leland, why don't you lead us off on this one, man?
[00:32:17] Speaker C: This is a tough one to pick. You know, Mills, of course, you know Elijah Moody, freshman quarterback, son of former coach Maurice Moody. Man, he is having such a good year. But I just think Elkins and the experience they had last year, I think they get it done. And I think Elkins moves on to a state championship game next weekend.
[00:32:40] Speaker A: Rick fires, who you got?
[00:32:41] Speaker B: I've been riding Elkins like Leland have been riding Mansfield. I'm still with my Elks.
[00:32:48] Speaker A: Just so that we're not going to have everybody picking the same here, I'm going to go, Mills, give Elkins a little something to inspire them and know that, you know. But definitely rooting for Elkins.
[00:33:01] Speaker B: Well, I'm going to. If they need to, I'm going to tell them your address, where you eat at, where you go to lunch at, where you sleep at. So I'm just fair warning.
[00:33:09] Speaker A: Hopefully they pay the tab. All right. Class 5A Little Rock. Parkview versus Farmington. Gentlemen, it's been a great run for Farmington and coach Tommy Tice. And I think, you know, this won't be the last time they end up in the. In the state championship game. But the magic ends on. On Friday night. I just think Parkview, you know, I'm one of those guys that's had Parkview number one for a long. I don't have been number one anymore, but I had him number one at the beginning of the year. So Parkview. I'll take part view over Farmington. Rick, who you got?
[00:33:41] Speaker B: You know what Tommy Ty has been talking about magical a year. If they win, I want some of that magic. Back it up. I'll pay for it. If Farmington wins this game, I want some of that magic.
[00:33:53] Speaker A: Leland, who you got?
[00:33:55] Speaker C: You know, Cinderella can only dance so long.
You know, it's a great story.
You know, Tom Ties comes out of retirement, goes back to War Memorial Stadium. Just a fantastic story for the Cardinals, but man, patriots are just. Man, they're so tough. And this three year class, this group of seniors they have, I think they complete the three peat with the championship win on Friday night.
[00:34:28] Speaker A: All right.
Greenwood versus Shiloh Christian. Class 6A can be Saturday at noon. Memorial save that noon game you talked about Rick, Fighters, it is fun with the bright sunshine and Little Rock. Hopefully it's good weather.
Guys, I, you know, with, with as much respect as I can tell you to Shiloh Christian, Greenwood is just on a mission. And they complete the mission on, on Saturday. Rick, who you got?
[00:34:54] Speaker B: Now when I was talking to Coach Barnard for Shiloh Christian, I said, man, you guys played them tougher than anybody. He said, yeah, I keep hearing that, but we got to play them tougher than that. He said we got to do everything a little bit better. And they, they probably will. But man, Greenwood, you know, they may be the premier football program in Arkansas. So I got to go with Greenwood.
[00:35:16] Speaker A: All right, Leland, probably no surprise on who you got.
[00:35:19] Speaker C: Well, you know, and it was, it was a very close game the first time Greenwood's played 12 games. They have outscored their opponents in the first half 490 to 69. They have 11 mercy rule wins in their 12 wins. The one game that was not a mercy rule was against Shiloh Christian.
But you know, last week in the win at at Benton, Shiloh Christian won 45 to 32 at Benton.
Five turnovers by Benton in that game. Two fumbles, three interceptions. Shiloh Christian's not getting five turnovers this week. And I think, you know, that was, that was a big part of that win.
You know, obviously Both teams still 500 yards of offense, but yeah, Greenwood is just too good. And I think they, they win their 12th state championship on Saturday afternoon.
[00:36:18] Speaker B: Hey, I got a question. If, if Greenwood goes ahead and finishes out, wins impressively to me, the best team I've ever seen in high school. I've been doing this 40 years with that 2005 Springdale team. Can this Greenwood team be comparable to that team?
[00:36:36] Speaker C: Well, I think the difference is the state's largest classification. And you know that the argument is always, could Greenwood beat, let's say Bryant wins the 7A state title. Could Greenwood beat Bryant in a one game playoff if they were to meet? Yes, they could.
[00:36:54] Speaker A: I think they could too.
[00:36:56] Speaker C: But could Greenwood go through a 7A schedule and play seven games against those guys plus three or four in the playoffs and play a two and a half month schedule against teams like that and played such physical ball? That's the question. Because they lose a Cash Archer, they lose a Cane Archer, they lose a Grant Carnes, they lose a Champ Davis, you know, they lose a Paul Brixie who's having a fantastic year, the leading tackler on the team. You know, that's what makes the difference between 7a and 6a. And don't forget 18 years ago teams decided that they couldn't play those bottom 16 teams in the state's largest classification threw up their hands, threw up the white flag and said we can't complete compete with those big teams.
So if Bryant wins on, on Saturday night, I'll vote Bryant number one in the final poll. I'll vote Greenwood number two. That's not Greenwood's fault. They weren't part of that when that happened 18 years ago. But still there's a difference between 6A and 7A.
[00:38:07] Speaker B: Absolutely well done.
[00:38:09] Speaker A: They were definitely class 5A team at that or they're a 4A team when they, when they split off like that.
[00:38:15] Speaker C: Right now would I love to see a Greenwood vs Bryant one game playoff for the overall state title home? Yeah, that would be fantastic. And could Greenwood win that game? Absolutely.
[00:38:27] Speaker A: Gentlemen, let's remember Brian still has to get by Bentonville first. So that would be our final pick of the, of the podcast. Class 7A state championship. 6:30 on Saturday night. Bryant versus Bentonville. Bentonville Tigers have really come together. They've really made it interesting with a great win over Conway. Conway really, you know, annihilated them early on and they came back and won. Bentonville is going to have some confidence. They know they can play with Bryant. Close ball game. I think Bryant wins it though. Rick, who you got?
[00:39:02] Speaker B: I think Bryant wins by at least a couple of touchdowns. I think that Brian, that much better than all the other other teams in.
[00:39:09] Speaker A: 7A and Leland, who you got on this one?
[00:39:12] Speaker C: Yeah, I've got to agree. You know, Brian is I think that much better and they win by two touchdowns. But man, Bentonville, you know that, that, that first game they gave up 55 points to Conway in September. But it's a different team now and it's the playoffs and, and like you said earlier, Graham, you know they've kind of righted the ship. They found out who they are. But man, Brian has just been so, so dominant.
You know, I mean you look over their stuff and it's just Jordan Walker, three year starter at quarterback. They've got Myron Thrash and Daniel Anderson running backs that are just big powerful running backs. I mean Bryant does everything correctly. They have a passing game, they can run the ball and they play tremendous defense. They're only allowing 12 points per game and only about 300 yards of offense per game. I think Bryant wins by two touchdowns but I think Bentonville puts up, puts up a good fight.
[00:40:18] Speaker A: Well, there you have it folks. That's our who you got for this week.
And that's going to bring us to the end of the Prep Rally podcast for this week. I'd like to thank our sponsor, West Termite Pest and Lawn.
And, guys, I'm heading down to Little Rock. Leland, I'll see you there.
And we'll see you again next week for another edition of Prep Rally. So for Rick Fires, for Leland Barclay in the River Valley, it's Graham Thomas signing off. We love.
