[00:00:00] Speaker A: We're back with a special post season basketball edition of Prep Rally. Join us as we recap the state finals in hot springs and the local state tournaments, all coming up next on Prep raLly.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: You're listening to the Prep Rally podcast.
Now here's your host, Graham Thomas.
[00:00:19] Speaker A: Welcome to the Prep Rally podcast sponsored by West Termite, Pest and Lawn. I'm Graham Thomas with the northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette. My man Ricky fires here in the Fayetteville studios. And Leland Barclay joins us in the river valley. Well, guys, it's been a few weeks since we've been able to get together for one of these things through various innocent, sundry, lots of just interesting times going on around here. But in the meantime, we've gotten basketball season completed in northwest Arkansas on the high school scene anyway. And so we're going to take a little time this morning to kind of go back over a little bit of this. And I think it's just only fair that we start today's podcast by going back to last week's state championship games.
Rick, I know you were here in northwest Arkansas kind of keeping tabs on them, but Leland and I got to go to a few of these. And I tell you what, I love the hot springs set up down there for the state finals.
It's kind of a cool environment. Hot Springs is a nice town to go visit. And it was good to be back for the state championship games. I was thinking about, it had been since 2015 since I had attended the state finals down there.
I pull into hot springs on Thursday. This is right when the three a girls game, it was the very first game and there wasn't a parking spot to be found anywhere around that area. This is before I had my media parking pass, too. So I had a good walk in, but I need a good walk, by the way. Yeah, we all do. But you get in there and you just see all these fans and the school spirit is just really something, don't you think, Leland?
[00:02:08] Speaker C: Absolutely. I think it's a great venue for high school basketball. The setting, because I think three of the games this year sold out, 6500 is, I guess the announced capacity of Bank Ozk arena there at the hot springs convention center. So I think three of the games sold out, even the ones that are around 2000, 903,000. It's still a great atmosphere.
And compare that to the football state championship games, which puts 7000 in a stadium that seats, I don't know, what, 40 or 52,000. It's a much better atmosphere for state championship games.
[00:02:50] Speaker A: Oh, I couldn't hear anything. My ears were just ringing most of the time. And people come by to come visit and I barely could hear what was going on.
[00:02:59] Speaker D: Another aspect of it, I thought it was really cool. Like Farmington. Both their boys and girls got there and they played them back to back. And I think that is so. I don't know how long they've been doing that. Maybe they've been doing it forever. I've been down there for a while like you guys. I just echo what you say. Just a great, tremendous. We're not moving that anywhere. They should always have it there. But I think it's cool that they can work with the schools and get their fans back to back there.
[00:03:25] Speaker A: So let's take you back to hot springs. I think we're going to start off with the class five a girls game. The Greenwood Lady Bulldogs secure the three peat. And I got to visit with coach Reeves for about 25 minutes before they played that game, and I kind of had a feeling they were going to win that one. They had lost to Bologna earlier in the year, but just the way Greenwood is, they're going to drop some games here and there in a regular season. But you don't discount Greenwood during a postseason game. No. And they certainly delivered. And what a run it's been. I think that's state title, number eight overall for Clay Reeves at Greenwood, number eleven in his career. And he told me this. Leland, you might have the specifics, but I think the first two or three times at Greenland that he went to his state finals, he didn't win, but what is he in Greenwood? Like eight and one in state championship games? Something crazy like that.
[00:04:29] Speaker C: Yeah, and that's true. The first three times he went, he lost.
Obviously, he's a good example of perseverance because now he's won eleven, which is more than any coach in state history.
[00:04:45] Speaker A: They really left. No doubt. I mean, they jumped all over Bologna and really just never let the foot off the gas. Brooklyn Wolsey had a big game, 21 points. Anna trustee was the MVP. Kyler Piercy Percy. I don't know how you say it, Leland.
She's the next best player that's going to roll through there and kind of carry the torch for the next group of Greenwood girls.
And this is a different Greenwood team in terms of a lot of times, Greenwood would have 1112 players that he could bring in and not miss a beat. Well, this time around, his depth was a little bit limited. He did not sub in that game until about four minutes left. And that's only because he had to, because Piercy fouled out.
[00:05:34] Speaker D: I was reading that in your story. I said, wait a minute, I got to read that again. They didn't sub until that late in the game. Amazing.
[00:05:40] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, kind of the Iron Horse warriors there with that starting five. Now, Leland, you've seen Greenwood a lot this year, so that wasn't really a huge surprise to you. But for me, it was certainly eye popping that he just didn't feel comfortable subbing there.
[00:05:59] Speaker C: Well, I mean, obviously his top five were very good.
In fact, I think it's safe to say it's the best five in the state.
They defeated central during the regular season. They defeated Conway during the regular season.
I think it's probably the best five in the.
You know, one thing that I think when we talked to coach Reeves, he points back. Know, they lost to Mountain home in conference play, the fourth conference game of the season, and they had went up there and they got beat by, I think it was eight points, maybe seven. And he said that loss was all on him, that he had been letting his team get away with a few things that he had noticed in that game, and that they came back and they corrected them. And over the next ten conference games, the last ten conference games of the season, they scored 802 points. Now, that's simple math. That's 80 points a game over the last ten conference games. And, of course, they won the conference outright. They beat Russellville twice, including handily the second time. They beat Mountain home handily the second time.
And then they had a couple of tough games in the state tournament. They had foul trouble again in one of the state tournament games. So I wouldn't say they cruised into the championship game, but I think they cruised certainly in the championship game itself, 77 51 win over Bologna, which, like you said, had beaten them very early in the year. Anna trustee was just coming off not playing. I think she'd had a little bit of an injury, and I think she only scored four points in that game in limited play.
And in the opening game of the state tournament. When they played Sheridan, they were up 62 to ten at halftime.
[00:08:04] Speaker A: Just amazing.
That first state tournament game can sometimes be the toughest because you're trying to get your bearings under you. And no trouble for them. Well, speaking of no trouble, let's move on to the Farmington girls. And they ended the year with 31 straight wins, including the victory over Morton by mercy rule in the state championship game.
Believe it or not, they did have some close ball games back in December and early January. Before they got into their conference. But what a year for the lady Cardinals. They finished 37 and one. And, Rick, you saw a good bit of them the previous week at the state tournament at Farmington.
[00:08:49] Speaker D: You know what? I'm certainly not going to argue with Leland about best starting five. But my goodness, that Farmington team, they had the Ellens and they had an outstanding point guard to run the show and reach the senior point guard. Been doing that her whole life.
Then they got Bersher's 63 down there. And then their two Fords. Right. There were just excellent players. So just a tremendous job. And you know what? I shouldn't bring this up, but I'm an old guy. I'm going to bring it up anyway. That's what I miss about the overall because I asked somebody, I said, I don't see a lot of games in Central. Who's the best girls team down there? And this person told me, Central. Little Rock Central. I didn't realize. Yeah, he's telling me Little Rock Central. And then Greenwood beat them. But who's Greenwood? And Little Rock Central and Farmington and maybe a couple others. Man, I just missed you overall.
[00:09:46] Speaker A: Well, Bergman gave some of those big schools trouble in the Fort Smith tournament of.
[00:09:54] Speaker C: I mean, they showed how good they.
[00:09:57] Speaker A: Could be as know what a know.
Just like, I mean, I kind of. I'd. I'd put Farmington starting five. I'd like to see them and Greenwood go at it and know. See what happens.
[00:10:13] Speaker D: We know the coaches killed it. I'll never forget. The coach said, why y'all killing Rick? You know, we just won state championship. Now the girls feel like loot. You know what? Then you guys don't have to play. Let the teams who want to play in it play. You don't think AA likes money anyhow? That'd be a big time money draw play at the Ferris center down at UCA or something. But anyway. All right. I get off it.
[00:10:36] Speaker A: Well, I could have done the math here and added up I just didn't have the time this morning. But I'm looking back at Farmington's last 20 or so games. And every one of them was at least by 20 points, it looked like. And some of those a lot more. So what a special group of kids. And I think they'll lose some key pieces off of this team, but they'll still be pretty good for next year. And then right after the Farmington girls won their state title, the Farmington boys took the floor and weren't able to get the victory against a really good little Rock Christian team. But I tell you what, man, Lane Taylor goes for 40 points in a state championship game in a losing effort. But that's special, guys. I mean, you just don't see that much in a state final going for 40 like that.
[00:11:26] Speaker D: Well, you can tell.
I don't know. The other kids just did. Maybe it was the situation or something. They didn't have their usual game, and lane was trying. He put the team on his back, trying to keep them in there. But, man, little Rock Christian, I got to see a lot of them. They got some athletes and all over the floor. Not just landed the kid to go into Louisiana Tech.
So they just had a lot more balance in that game than Farmington did.
[00:11:55] Speaker C: Yeah, well, and as far as Lane Taylor's concerned, it's not like little Rock Christian was, you know, backing off of him and just letting.
They kind of knew who Lane Taylor was.
[00:12:08] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:12:08] Speaker C: So it wasn't like he was getting open shots and open looks, and they were letting him drive to the basket.
[00:12:14] Speaker A: Yeah. And the big thing in that one was little Rock Christian jumped out to a big lead and was really just kind of able to maintain that. Farmington got within nine or eight a couple times, but just wasn't able to really get closer. And like Rick said, it wasn't the best ball game for some of the other guys on the team.
Little Rock Christian manned up, all of them.
It wasn't just lane.
They put some pretty heavy defensive pressure just on the whole team.
[00:12:44] Speaker D: Lane was exhausted. You could tell he was exhausted after that game. And the kid just tried and tried to keep him in there. And you know what? They got beat by a defending state champion. So no shame in that.
[00:12:55] Speaker A: Yeah, it's really hard to win the state championship at that level. There's so many different paths that you have to kind of get through. And what a great year for Farmington, though. I think they finished 34 and three.
Here's what we're going to do. We're going to take a break, and when we come back, we will dig into the Class three A games and the Class two a game. This is prep rally.
[00:13:22] Speaker B: If you're enjoying this podcast, consider a newspaper subscription to the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette or the River Valley Democrat Gazette. We have a special offer for our podcast listeners, so visit nwanline.com nwapodcast to get started. You can also click the subscribe button on our websites, nwanline.com and rivervalleydemocratgazette.com, or call us at 479-684-5509 and be sure to say that you're a podcast listener. Now back to the show.
[00:13:58] Speaker A: Welcome back to the Prep Rally podcast sponsored by West Termite, Pest and lawn Graham Thomas with Rick Fires and Fayetteville studios. Leland Barclay joins us from. Looks like the work room again.
[00:14:10] Speaker C: It's my wife's craft room.
[00:14:13] Speaker A: That's the room, right?
[00:14:14] Speaker C: It's the quietest room in the house.
[00:14:16] Speaker A: Yeah. So let's talk about the class three a girls and boys, just like what Rick said, having the Farmington games with both teams back to back. Man, I thought that was so cool how we had that with the three a, too, with Bergman getting kind of a double feature there for those teams and fans. That's always a nice deal. The Bergman girls, man, during the class three a state tournament, Elkins got to watch a lot of them. And the Bergman boys throughout that week. Henry Apple and I were there, and I tell you what, those bergman girls, they didn't go 43 and this year, but they went like 43 and three and brought the state title back to Bergman. And what a special year for them. Rick, I know you've seen and dealt with them a little bit, but I had to go look up where Bergman was on the map. I knew it was somewhere in that Harrison area, but I was like, man, it's like northeast of Harrison.
[00:15:13] Speaker D: I think I've been through there maybe one time 25 years ago when I lost trying to get to Branson or something. But I'm like you, but I love these small schools, the kids that grow up together, and then they achieve that senior year, especially for the senior to come out of the hills and their whole town is there, and they get to play in a big set they never get to. Most of them won't get play in a setting like hot springs Banco ZK arena. But they'll always have that memory and walk off the court with that championship plaque.
I bet they're still talking about it up there at the co op shop up there.
[00:15:53] Speaker A: Well, so I didn't get to see any of the Bergman girls. I was en route to hot Springs, but luckily 137, the buz was carrying all the games on the radio, and I got to finally picked up a signal somewhere between Y City and hot springs.
[00:16:09] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:16:09] Speaker A: And, man, they kind of dominated Salem from the start, and that was a decent Salem team. We saw them during state term, defending state champions, actually.
But those bergman girls, Ruby Trammel and the Helitzka, the younger and the freshman of the coach, just a really good job on their part and happy for them that they were able to bring home a state title. I thought the Bergman boys were certainly capable of winning one, too.
We saw them. I believe we saw them play Lamar on Saturday at the three a state tournament, and they beat Lamar. But those bergman boys, I felt like they could have played with a lot of teams around, no matter the classification. They had some special kids and just fell a little bit short in the state title game against Central Arkansas Christian.
[00:17:10] Speaker D: And they were projected to be one of the top three A teams, and they had that mark on them all year long and taking everybody, it's cliche. You have take everybody's best shot. They all got up for Bergman, and Bergman was right there. It's just like last year when they lost Manila in overtime. It wasn't as close this time, but now just a know there's only one team that can win a state championship in these classifications. So just a great job all year round for those guys.
[00:17:41] Speaker A: Now, Leland, didn't you see a lot of Bergman in the regional?
[00:17:46] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:17:46] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:17:47] Speaker C: And they were. I tell you, you talk about starting five. That's really good. They are, and they don't take those guys off the floor much, either. And they have just a perfect balance. They've got the 67 junior Sawyer Schubert inside, who had 18 points and nine rebounds against Lamar in that semifinal game. And then they've got Kaden Ponder, a 65 senior inside, who was really a very athletic six five and did a lot of things for them. And then they've got Dylan friend, the shooting guard, who's 28 against Lamar, who can fill it up, and Zion Fultz, who's another really good guard. Both of them are juniors. And then you throw in Bryson Bauer, a senior who just kind of does a little bit of everything for them, rebounds, scores some.
He hits some really key baskets for them in the regionals, even though he's usually not one of their top scorers. He does score, and it seems like it's always at key times. So all five of those guys, they have a really good, balanced team.
They can score inside, outside, and, yeah, there's a reason why they've been in the finals the last two years.
[00:18:59] Speaker A: And, hey, they'll be back, too, because friend Schubert and Zion Fultz, I think, are all coming back. They'll lose Bauer, and they'll lose, you know, a lot of good players kind of going to roll through there. And we haven't seen the last of the Bergman Panthers.
[00:19:17] Speaker D: No.
[00:19:18] Speaker A: And honestly, we haven't seen the last of the Bergman lady Panthers, either. They're going to lose Ruby Trammel, who is the MVP, but they've got a lot of good players coming back, so we'll be excited to bring them back on.
And the last state title game that involved teams from Northwest Arkansas and the river valley would have been the Mansfield Lady Tigers, who saw their undefeated run to the season kind of come to an end against an undefeated Mount Vernon and Ola team. And, Leland, you were there in the house for that one, so I'll kind of let you kind of take the lead on this one. I wasn't able to see any of it, but we kind of thought that Mansfield would be challenged. But from the looks of things, they really battled. And it was a game.
[00:20:08] Speaker C: Oh, absolutely. It was. The only two remaining undefeated teams. The only two undefeated teams going into the state finals. Mansfield was 32 and Mount Vernon Enola 42. And in the semifinals last year, Mount Vernon Enola beat Mansfield 50 to 30 in the semifinals.
Early in the third quarter, it was 32 to 19, Mount Vernon Enola. And then Mansfield came back, and over the next seven minutes ended up taking a 40 to 37 lead with 536 left in the game. And it was 46 44 with two minutes left. And then Mansfield had three turnovers in the last two minutes, didn't score again, and Mount Vernon Inola got a couple of baskets and won it 50 to 44. But it was a tight game, especially in that fourth quarter. It was kind of back and forth.
But Mount Vernon Ola won their second straight state title.
[00:21:15] Speaker D: Just so people listening on our podcast now, it's consolidated school somewhere near Batesville, Conway somewhere right in there. Is that correct?
Well, they can play some basketball there, that's for sure.
[00:21:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
On the Mansfield kids, you talk about a group, I know they're going to lose Alison Edwards. Right. But they've got some pieces on there that are going to. They're just good in everything. They're good in volleyball, they're good in basketball, softball. I mean, they're just successful athletic program.
[00:21:49] Speaker C: Yeah. Their girls last year, last school year, finished in the final four in every single sport. Volleyball, softball, basketball, track, you name it. They were in the final four, at least the final four in every single sport, and they're making a case for that again this year.
[00:22:11] Speaker A: Well, if memory serves, they will lose some pieces from these teams, but they're also going to return some good players that are going to help them, which bodes well for the future.
[00:22:25] Speaker D: Now, isn't Allison three seniors?
[00:22:28] Speaker C: It's really good.
[00:22:30] Speaker D: Leland, didn't Allison sign for softball? Is that what she's doing for college.
[00:22:35] Speaker C: Yes, she's one of the top softball players in the state. They will return the 63 Kaylee Ward and anytime she's a sophomore, 63 sophomore. So I'm sure the team will be focused around her next season.
[00:22:54] Speaker A: We'll find a role for, I'm sure.
All right, we're going to take another break, and when we come back, we'll do a final top five for basketball season. This is prep rally.
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[00:23:53] Speaker A: Welcome back to the prep Rally podcast sponsored by West Termite, Pest and lawn Graham Thomas and Rick Fire is with you from the northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette studios. And Leland Barclay joins us in the done. We've done top five for football all season. We've done top five for basketball. Let's do one more top five.
We're going to call it this time, top five stories of the year. And why don't we let Leland start us off and I'll go after Leland and then Rick will finish us off.
[00:24:27] Speaker C: We'll make it the river Valley top five ish.
[00:24:32] Speaker A: Yeah, it's hard to do just five for the entire river valley. So we'll give them a few bonuses there.
[00:24:42] Speaker C: Sports for basketball, obviously, we start with the Greenwood lady. Bulldogs won their eigth state title 77 51 win over Bologna. Anna trustee finished her career as the all time leading score in Greenwood history with 1953 points. And that puts her in some pretty good company as far as the big school scores. And that would be six A and five A in state history. And, of course, three seniors started on that team, kind of the triplets. Carly Sexton, who's she hit a big basket, I guess it would have been three years ago or two years ago in the state tournament.
And then Brooklyn Wolsey and we talk about some of these girls that we watch.
And I tell you, I'd hate to get in a three point shooting contest or a horse playing contest with a lot of these girls. And I tell you, Brooklyn Woolsey can hit the three. And she was a key in this season. And Carly Sexton, some big three pointers. All three of them made the all state team, as well as the state tournament. All tournament team as well. Clay Reeves. Now, eleven state championships. That matches John Hutchcraft as the most ever for one coach, but he won six in boys and five in girls at Guy Perkins.
Ricky Smith has eight state championships in girls basketball, which is the most for any coach at one school.
And, of course, Clay Reeves ties him with having eight at Greenwood. Eleven overall.
When we talk about the greatest of all time, Clay Reeves, he's way up there.
[00:26:33] Speaker A: Let me interrupt here. What's funny, we were talking about his first one that he won at Greenwood, and he says, you know, it's funny how that one worked out, because we talk about the two best teams in the league that year. In five a was bologna, which was coached by Alvin Riley, and Siloam Springs, which is coached by Debbie Sharp. And Clay said, I couldn't have beaten either of those teams. I couldn't beat them all year. I couldn't even get close to them. But both of them lost in earlier rounds, and that paved the way for this Greenwood monster we've seen. So, anyway, sorry to interrupt you there, Leland, but I thought.
[00:27:09] Speaker C: That's okay. Well, you know, that's kind of the way it is in the state tournament. It's about. So much about the state tournament, and basketball especially, is, you know, we talk about how good, you know, little Rock Christian was just a really tough matchup for Farmington boys.
So, like you said, those teams get knocked off, and then it paves the way for a third seed to go and win the state title. And then the three seniors for Mansfield girls, Harley Fuller, who set a state tournament record with nine three pointers in the state tournament. And then Kylie Kinsley Ward, a senior. And then Allison Edwards, just an all around great athlete.
Three seniors that led Mansfield to a 32 and record going into that championship game, and just a great season for them. And then the north side lady Bears, they won the outright conference title with 15 straight wins after losing the conference opener at home to Fayetteville. So just a tremendous season for them. They got knocked off by Central in that second round game.
It's funny, Graham, you talked about talking to Clay Reese for 25 minutes and how easy it is to talk to some of these guys. Well, get Ricky Smith started on that first round buy, and it'll be another 20 minutes conversation. But next season it looks good for them. They have one of the top juniors in the state. Ariana Gooden, one of the top juniors in the state. And north side's girls program will go for their 1000th program win next season. Ricky Smith will go for his 800th career win next season. So it'll be fun to watch the Lady Bears going forward.
And then at boys basketball, how about the Alma Airdales won their first conference championship in about, I think, eleven years and then beat Whitehall, got them a state tournament win before having to play Little Rock park view and losing to them. And they start no seniors this year. Started no seniors.
Easton Boggs is one of the top, obviously, sophomores in the state. Israel towns Robinson also made all state, and boy, he's tough to stop inside. And then the Van Buren boys, they were the second seed in the conference, had the third most wins. They won 23 games this year, had the third most wins in team history over the last 70 years of basketball. And just again, three seniors who were great to watch, Drew Braswell, Jackson Kazelle and Glavin McDonald, lost to Pine Bluff in the first round, even though Van Buren had a lead late, lost to Pine Bluff. And of course, Pine Bluff went on and won their second straight state title. And then the Lamar boys started one.
You know, coach Sampley had said going into the season, they were just hoping to make the state tournament to get these young guys that experience, and then they get all the way to the semifinals before losing to Bergamund. So there'll be another team to watch going forward, some great young players. Lane Miller was a senior who will be missed, a great athlete. He also played for the Lamar football team that had a couple of good runs, too. So a lot of great memories in the River Valley this basketball season.
[00:30:51] Speaker A: All right. No doubt about know the way our setup is. Typically we don't get to see a lot during basketball. A lot of the river Valley teams kind of stay in the river valley, except for like, north side, south side, et cetera. So didn't get to see a lot of those teams until state tournament week. Or to echo what you said about the Lamar boys and girls, they were fun to watch and could really play well at times. All right, I'm going to go top five stories of the year for the Northwest Arkansas girls basketball, and number one is clearly going to be the Farmington Lady Cardinals, going 37 and one. What a team they had. And just a lot of options.
I wouldn't say they had one star player, but they had five really great players that if one of them was not having a good night, well, the other four were going to pick them up. And lord help you if they were all having a good night, it was curtains for you. It was over.
Number two, what a fun year it was to cover the six a west. Early in the year, you had Fayetteville knocking off Northside, then you had Springdale knocking off Fayetteville, and then you had harbor knocking off so and so. And there was just a lot of chaos in that conference. And eventually, Northside did kind of emerge as the best team in the league. And they earned with, what, eleven or twelve straight wins to close? I can't remember what it was, Leland, however many conference wins they won at the end there in a row, but they lost their first one. And whenever a league is fun like that, when there's a lot of parody and you don't really know how it's going to go, it really makes for an exciting time as a sports writer, because sometimes when you go into a game and you kind of figure that this is going to be an ugly night, it can affect your experience with it, but not this year in the six a West, that's for sure.
One team in particular that really, I think, was a great story coming out of the six a west was the springdale girls. Coach Heather Hunsucker did a great job. They won a handful of games last year, and, well, this year, guys, they won a school record 23 games. They went 23 and ₩8 a state tournament game. Got to the quarterfinal round, advancing as far as any of the teams that we had up here. And what a great run for the Springdale.
[00:33:34] Speaker D: Yeah, just a couple of years ago, they lost 20 games. Two or three years ago. Great job.
[00:33:40] Speaker A: They really turned things around, and their chaotic style of play. Really enjoy getting to watch them play several times.
The Bergamin girls run to the state championship. It's just win. Whenever one of your teams that you cover wins the state title, it's a special deal. We try and treat it as such. And congratulations to the Bergamund Lady Panthers, winning their second state title in three years. And certainly have a lot of pieces set up to make another run at it next year. And then last but not least, I don't want to forget about the special year the gravit Lady Lions had. And, Rick, you can kind of speak to this, too, but they were really close to making a state final themselves. And coach will Pittman and, and his staff did just a great job. I got to see them back in December in their Christmas tournament. And they had all the pieces. They had shooters, they had post play. They had guards that could handle the ball. They played in the conference. They're the ones that played Farmington the great. What a great year for the. At Lady Lions. So. And that will do me for the top five stories of the year.
[00:34:53] Speaker D: All right, Graham, I'm going to piggyback off you about talking about the CA. It's like I'm looking at your test, I'm reading just what you. And copying it, which I think I did on math test about fourth grade one year. But, man, every Tuesday and Friday night in the six a West, the boys Tuesday. And it start in November and all the way. And then you go into frantic February, then March Madness. You know, you always going to get a great game. I know the central teams won. The boys and girls won. But, man, Fayetteville boys, Springdale, Bentonville west boys were tremendous. But I got to start with Springdale harbor. They won the lead champ 15 ₩1.27 games overall. With only two seniors.
You're talking about a team to stack for next year. Courtland Maldrew, Jackson Conley, Hayden Wood, who I didn't realize how good a basketball player he is. He's tremendous sports. Two sport athlete. So congratulations to Tommy defenball. They really got it going over there.
Elkins. They had a great year in football. They followed up with the great year in boys basketball. That new gym over there, I don't know what they call it. The purple planet.
[00:36:15] Speaker A: The purple. They call it.
What do they call it? The palace of the Boston Mountains is what they called it during the state tournament.
[00:36:25] Speaker D: The palace of the Boston.
[00:36:26] Speaker A: The palace. The basketball palace of the mountains.
[00:36:29] Speaker D: Oh, okay.
Yeah, I think we got to come up. We work on, you know, just get the state championship, the Bergman boys, and. Thank you. The bergman boys and the Farmington boys. Really great job getting the state. And I got finished off with Lane Taylor. Man, I've been watching him since he was a freshman, and he just developed. And one of the coaches, little rock coaches, said nobody gets more out of their ability than Lane does. I think he's just tremendous. I think North Texas is going to get a steal out of this kid.
I'm going to miss watching just like Matt Wilson before I miss Matt Wilson filling it up over there. And Lane did tremendous job. And I know Johnny Taylor and his son coaching his son all those four years. Just what a great experience. So it was just a great year.
And I was talking to an old guy like me, and we was watching that Springdale, Springdale harbor game. And I remember that little Rock central when they played at harbor. And the athleticism, especially in the six A and these big schools, I like the old school guys, but there's some of them kids 20 years ago couldn't get on the floor with some of these kids. They are just, it's almost like watching small college in these six A, maybe five a, too. So just tremendous athletes, good kids. So really enjoyed it. I'm really going to remember this year in basketball.
[00:38:01] Speaker A: All right. Yeah, take your swig there, Rick.
[00:38:04] Speaker D: Still fighting that flu.
[00:38:06] Speaker A: Oh, man. Yeah, it was a rough February, I'll say that. It hit hard, didn't it?
[00:38:13] Speaker D: Absolutely.
[00:38:14] Speaker A: All right. Well, that is going to wrap us up for the last basketball edition of prep rally for this year, folks. You can listen to prep
[email protected] you can find it on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. We would like to thank our sponsor, west termite Pest and lawn, for their support all year. Guys, we're heading to spring sports season. Some of us have already done a little bit of that. And I got my first high school baseball game in of the year last night.
[00:38:48] Speaker D: Softball game. Great softball. Really good teams in softball this year.
[00:38:53] Speaker A: We're going to do a little bit of everything this year, Rick. A little bit of softball, baseball, soccer.
We're going to do it all.
As for when we'll be back with another prep rally, we'll just stay tuned. We'll definitely be back. And guys, it's March madness time. We get to enjoy it a little during spring break. And man, it's going to be fun. So for Rick fires, for Leland Barclay, I'm Graham Thomas. We love.
