Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: You're watching the prep rally podcast.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: Welcome to the prep Rally podcast sponsored by West Termite, Pest and lawn Graham Thomas and Rick fires here in northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette studios. And Leland Barclay joins us from the River Valley Democrat Gazette offices in Fort Smith. And gentlemen, it's kind of like Leland said in his email earlier this week, it's time for the real games to begin. And I'm excited about conference play. Rick Fires, I know you're excited about conference play. And Leland, I know you're really excited about conference play. Ricky, how you doing today?
[00:00:42] Speaker A: Doing well. Pitt Mendes says turn up the jukebox. Is he the guy? Well, you know what? I don't have a jukebox, but I got some cds, some eight tracks, and I got them blurring right now for the start of the conference play the second season, whether you're three and zero, zero three, you get a fresh start and really looking forward to Friday night's.
[00:01:00] Speaker B: Games, Leland, it's time for the games that matter.
[00:01:03] Speaker C: Let the games begin. You know, I got one final Friday night last week at Hackett in short sleeves and shorts. So I'm happy. I'm ready to go bring on fall weather now.
[00:01:14] Speaker B: All right, well, let's bring it on just like you said. And let's not waste any time and jump right into the gimme five for this week in the River Valley. Lelandore.
[00:01:25] Speaker C: Well, as always, number one, we start with the River Valley player of the week. Senior quarterback Bryson Hamilton of Hackett had a historic game, truly historic game on Friday night from what I can find. He had eight rushes for 307 yards, including touchdown runs of 97 and 96 yards on consecutive runs in the first half, which as far as I can find, has never happened before in the history of Arkansas high school football, for a quarterback or anybody to have touchdown runs of 96 or longer twice in the same game. And then the next time he touched the ball, he went 68 yards for a touchdown.
You know, just an unbelievable performance by him. He also, you know, completed seven of ten passes for 134 yards and a touchdown in a 47 to nothing win over Mountainburg to wrap up non conference play for the Hornets.
[00:02:25] Speaker B: So I can only imagine you sitting up in the press box or in the stands or wherever you were at, you know, whatever your setup was over at Hackett last week, and this happened in real time, and your brain just going into overdrive trying to figure out the records on that.
[00:02:40] Speaker C: Oh, it was, it was funny because they came over to me, brand new press box, air conditioning, attack it. I wasn't expecting any of that brand new press box. So they came over to me at one point and said, the yards does he have now? And of course, he didn't carry the ball after that 68 yard touchdown run, but at that point he had eight carries for 307 yards. And yes, I started thinking, wow, is that ever happened? And you think about it, what has to happen for. For something like that to even be a possibility?
Packet Stevens forced a punt that rolled out of bounds at the three, which, of course, set up the 97 yard touchdown run. And then Mountainburg drove down to the three, got stuffed and lost a yard on fourth down. So they turned the ball over on downs at the four. Next play, Hamilton goes 96 yards and, you know, he ran a four four three at the camp at UCA this summer. And once he got through the line of scrimmage, I mean, he was just. He was gone and there was nobody going to catch him, you know, on the, on the field. So it was. And we got, you know, videos of all three of those, you know, rushes from the field. It was a. It was something to behold, for sure.
Number two, senior quarterback Angel Alvarez helped lead Clarksville to a 1914 win over Dover on Friday night.
[00:04:10] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:04:10] Speaker C: To end a 22 game losing streak for the Panthers.
[00:04:14] Speaker B: Good for them.
[00:04:14] Speaker A: Congratulations.
[00:04:16] Speaker C: He was twelve of 17 passing for 205 yards and a touchdown, and also had 20 rushes for 120 yards and two touchdowns. That's a great game.
[00:04:27] Speaker B: Really happy to hear about that. You know, we, we had siloam in their long losing streak, and now Clarksville, they're done with theirs. And, you know, Little Rock Central and heritage played last week and one of them ended. It was central. But, you know, anytime one of these ball teams can hit a long losing streak, I'm always happy to see that.
[00:04:46] Speaker C: Absolutely. That'd be a big boost also for the Panthers going into five, a west play that begins this week. And then number three, Blake Fors Grant, a quarterback from Southside junior, help lead Southside to a 41 to 28 win over Little Rock Southwest.
He was 17 of 28 for 267 yards and five touchdown passes for the second week in the row in a row. And the last Southside quarterback to throw five touchdown passes in consecutive games was Daniel Lenny in 1998. So a big night for Blake Forskite, Peyton Zimmerman. Six catches for 127 yards and three touchdowns, and then Jaden Webb rushed for 112 yards. And Southside had a big defensive stand right before the half to send Southside into the locker room with a 17 to six lead.
And now for four and five. And we never put these in order other than we always recognize our River Valley player of the week as number one, but for four and five now we're going to jump across the state line into Oklahoma.
Number four, Jackson Harris, a quarterback for Salisaw, rushed 14 times for 154 yards and two touchdowns as Salasol wrapped up non district play 30 with a 27 to 14 win over Eufala.
Number five. On Thursday night, right down the road from the black Diamond, Salisa central quarterback Braxton Goodson rushed 18 times for 251 yards and three touchdowns and also threw for 122 yards and two touchdowns in a 36 to 13 win over Roland.
[00:06:34] Speaker A: Is that eight man?
[00:06:36] Speaker C: No, that's. That's eleven man.
[00:06:38] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:06:39] Speaker B: You know, I was kind of.
[00:06:40] Speaker C: And that was at the past. The palace in the pasture.
[00:06:47] Speaker B: An honorable mention. Leland. I know it's not one of our teams necessarily in the river valley, but those viand Wolverines, my goodness, what a show they put on Friday night against Pecola.
[00:06:59] Speaker C: Well, and they returned to La, Florida county on Thursday night to start district play at Spyro. And, yeah, if you want to keep an eye on somebody that's just outside of our area, Mason Wright, maybe you've heard of his dad, you know, the great back.
Right. For Kenyatta. Right. For Viand. Several years ago, played for Oklahoma State. I think he was two time all big twelve and then also played in the NFL for several years, too. So he's. I think. Yeah, Kevin. I kept getting tweets and text from Kevin. He had a big game for sure.
[00:07:42] Speaker B: Yep. Well, that will lead us into our River Valley sports report for the weekly. And, you know, if it's anything like it is up in northwest Arkansas, this is going to go really, really quick because it is a very, very busy, busy week for not only for prep sports up here, but just for all sports in general.
[00:08:03] Speaker C: Well, and oddly enough, some of those sports are even starting to wind down a little bit of golf plays their district tournaments this week. In fact, I think almond, Van Buren and Greenwood are all in Mountain home on Tuesday for the golf conference tournament.
And then softball. Fast pitch softball. Oklahoma. The regionals start this week and go Thursday and Friday. There's 16 regionals in class two a. Both Pecola and Panama are hosting. And then those 16 winners advanced to the eight super regionals, with those eight winners advancing to the state tournament.
And then, of course, in volleyball this past week, Alma defeated Greenwood. Bamburan turned around and defeated Greenwood. And it's. That's a tight race. And volleyballs pretty much approaching the halfway point of the conference schedule. South side remains undefeated at seven and oh, they play Tuesday at Heritage, and then Hackett is, is, remains undefeated as well at 17. And, oh, and then, of course, like you said, conference play starts mountain home at Fortsmith. Southside's a big one. Hackett goes to Mansfield. So the, the gauntlet, that is, the three a one begins this week, and then, of course, the big one at shallow Christian. Greenwood against the Saints.
[00:09:27] Speaker B: Yep, we're excited about that one for sure.
A little sneak peek here. Rick and Leland will be covering that game this week for us and going to be a packed house at the champion Stadium over at Shiloh Christian. What a great atmosphere. I just hope, hope the weather will hold off a little bit. And it's time for the northwest Arkansas top five performances of the week. So Rick fires. Take it away, man.
[00:09:53] Speaker A: I got to start. I'm still buzzing. Anybody who saw this game are still buzzing. Texas high 55, Fayetteville 54 Fayetteville was so close. They represented the state of Arkansas very well. There was just a little mistake here, a little mistake there. They could have won this game.
It was interesting. I like to walk the sidelines, and I see a guy, a coach from Oregon there. I see a coach from Georgia there. There are talented people all over that field as far as staff. Garrett Odom, the fabled quarterback, through for 322 yards, five touchdowns. And it's interesting watching this kid, such a contrast from last year. Drake Lindsey, pocket passer, six foot five, throw it on a rope. But Garrett, he can stretch some plays out. He can roll right, roll left, and keep his eyes downfield, and finally find a receiver. He was really good at that. You know, everybody talks about Jason Delamar, big time athlete for Fayetteville, but, hey, they got a number two receiver, Katavian Taylor. Seven catches, 110 yards, two touchdown catches. Ram for a third touchdown. Just tremendous effort for Fayetteville, and they are regroup and get ready to play. Bentonville West Open Conference. Our player of the week up here, Kobe Grogan, Greenland senior, running back, 239 yards rushing, 32 carries. That's the workload. He brought the balance to the offense. Slade Norwood off to a fantastic start. He did. Young quarterback from green, and they really needed that ground attack. They won the game 40 218 after losing last year, blowing an 18 point lead, losing 56 52.
[00:11:42] Speaker B: Let me cut in here real quick. Those Greenland Pirates, I mean, they can, they've got, they can move the football. They've got a good offense.
[00:11:50] Speaker A: They can. And that balance, you love that, everybody. So you can't gang up on Norwood all the time. And Kobe brought that ground game to, to beat Green Ford.
[00:12:01] Speaker B: And they've got it. And they've got, just to add on real quick, they've got a young man named Brandon Vaughn, who I think may be the best football player on that team. He's a really good defense, defensive player. I think he's got like receiving career interceptions. He's a really good wide receiver.
Watch out for Greenland in the three a one. They're going to be a contender in that league.
[00:12:21] Speaker A: Absolutely. Perry Grove, man, they held on to win 34 32 over Coweta, Oklahoma. If I'm saying that right, one of the big plays in second half, they stopped a two point conversion that would have tied the game. Perry Grove just eats up the out of that wing t offense, 358 yards. And I count there's like three or four guys had, you know, 948-6645 so you don't have to just stop one guy. You got to stop four or five guys for Prairie Grove. Even a quarterback. Absher scored two touchdowns. Here's something kind of off the field that people need to be aware of, that Springdale harbor, which a few weeks ago beat Farmington, but they self reported a use of an ineligible player. Very unfortunate. You hate to see that. So instead of a 65 50 loss, Farmington gets to win a one nothing forfeit. And now they're two and one on the season because of that forfeit. Now we got volleyball going on strong, and our man Paul Boyd put me onto this. Bentonville in volleyball beat the two time class five a state champion Bentone three to two. Sounds like a very exciting match. As part of a try match with who else? Tulsa. Bishop Kelly was in there, but Bentonville beat Benton.
Tory Otter had twelve kills, 18 digs and just a tremendous. Volleyball is really big here in the western part of the state and around Jonesboro area as well. They were the nice win for Bentonville.
[00:14:03] Speaker B: I tell you what, you know, going back to that harbor self reporting thing, I always really commend teams when they do that. You know, we don't know who the kid was or, you know, who the ineligible player was. It might have been just, you know, someone in the fourth quarter who was just getting mop up time. But when you do that, I mean, I think everybody, you know, just has a tremendous amount of respect for teams that say, hey, you know, we had someone who was ineligible and, you know, we're owning up to it. And did you write rule? Yeah. And unfortunately for harbor, that takes away a win for him. But, you know, that's just how it goes now. We'll lead right into our northwest Arkansas sports report. And, Rick, it's a big week this week, you know, on the volleyball front tonight, Tuesday night, you know, Bentonville, that same Bentonville team you talked about is playing at Fayetteville, big matchup. And then it's the battle of Bentonville in volleyball on Thursday. Bentonville west at Bentonville. And Paul will be there for that one in cross country. It's the chili Pepper weekend. I said it's a busy week and it's chili pepper week, and that's the biggest race.
Yeah.
As far as sheer numbers go, I know they do this on a week when the razorbacks aren't in town. And, you know, I can only imagine the massive humanity that's out there, not only for the high school race, but the junior high races, the open runs, all the different things going out there.
You know, it's not prep rally, but we got the LPGA going on out here. That's a, that's a big deal. And of course, you know, we got high school football, and you guys have already kind of hit it at it, you know, Greenwood at Shiloh Christian. That's our game of the week this week, and it's going to be, you know, it's going to be a huge, huge six a west conference opener. I can't even imagine opening up a conference with, with.
[00:16:02] Speaker A: Boom. Don't mess around. Let's go.
[00:16:04] Speaker B: We've been talking about this one since July or so, but, yeah, you know, some other big games, too.
So, you know, they've already. Leland's already mentioned Hackett at Mansfield. How about this one? And in class four a, you got all those three and o teams facing each other. So Lincoln is playing at grab it. I think Elkins is playing at gentry.
Every one of those teams is three and. Ok, so someone's. Someone's not going to be undefeated after. After that one's all said and done, alma's heading over to the hills of Harrison for a big five a match.
[00:16:38] Speaker A: I go back to Tommy tice day and Frankie Vines. Man, I love that rivalry.
[00:16:43] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, they had a barn burner down at Alma last year. Harrison won, I believe, on the Hail Mary pass. Mountain home is coming over here to you down the, down the mountain to play Southside. They're used to those big trips.
North side is playing at Rogers. How about this? 10 three harbor at zero three Bentonville. Who would ever thought that? But that's still a really big game in the seven a west.
[00:17:07] Speaker A: Sure is.
[00:17:08] Speaker B: So, you know, there's a lot of just, you know, as I said, a lot of things going on, conference play, cross country volleyball, you know, and not, not to lose sight of this, but the girls golf state tournament starts a week from Tuesday. So I believe that's on October 1 or September 3, whatever it is. But the girls golf is down there in central Arkansas. That's going to be big.
[00:17:35] Speaker A: Graham going back to chili Pepper. I've covered that before, and it's almost a recruiting tool for university art. These teams come from, I'm in Santa, Texas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma. And after the races, these kids, they get on a podium. It said University of Arkansas. And seems like all the time they want to get their picture right there because University of Arkansas had one of the premier track programs in the country. And, you know, there's a college portion. But I remember watching these kids get there on that podium, and it's a big time picture for them. And I think it helps get recruits here.
[00:18:15] Speaker B: Yeah. And, you know, just a really cool deal. All right, we're going to take a break and we come back. We will get to our annual who you got segment.
[00:18:26] Speaker D: 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 nwA online.com nwapodcast to get started. You can also click the subscribe button on our websites, nWA online.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.
[00:18:56] Speaker B: And we're back with the prep rally podcast sponsored by West Termite, Pest and lawn Graham Thomas and Rick fires in northwest Arkansas. And Leland Barclay joined us in the river valley. And gentlemen, it's time for who you got? Who you got? And I'll be honest with you, I've been so busy this week, I haven't even had a chance to total up the standings from last week.
[00:19:15] Speaker A: So I won.
[00:19:17] Speaker B: I'm sure you did.
[00:19:19] Speaker A: I don't know.
[00:19:20] Speaker B: I know that. I know that we all pick Fayetteville to beat Texas high, so we all lost that one. But so we're gonna, we've got eight games to give to pick for you this week. And so we'll just go ahead and get started. And we'll start with what I hope is a really good game in class three eight. I know Leland Barclay would be there if he could, but we got Bryson Hamilton, the record setting runner for the Hackett Hornets at, and his team the Hackett Hornets playing at Mansfield.
Leland Barclay, who you got?
[00:19:53] Speaker C: You know, I picked Mansfield to win the conference before the season started. I know they're one and two. They. They beefed up their non conference schedule. I've still got to go with Mansfield to win this game, but Bryson Hamilton is more than capable of keeping them in the game. But I picked Mansfield to win the conference opener in the three a one.
[00:20:13] Speaker B: How much do you think Mansfield is going to see? Video of him going 96, 97 yards.
[00:20:18] Speaker C: Every single day this week.
[00:20:21] Speaker B: Rick, who you got?
[00:20:22] Speaker A: I got Hackett. I'm going with the hat. They've been so impressive. Yeah. So I go hack it.
[00:20:27] Speaker B: I'm going to go with Leland on this one. I take Mansfield.
I know they've had some. Some tough ones open up with, but I think they'll find a way to be able to. As long as they'll let Bryson Hamilton get behind him, they'll keep him in front of him. So I've got Mansfield. All right. Up in. Up in northwest Benton county. Class four a Lincoln at Gravit.
I'll start us off with this one and not going to go against the LDC. The lion destruction crew of the Gravit Lions. I'm taking Gravit and Gabe Holmes and the boys to get it done. Rick, who you got?
[00:21:05] Speaker A: I'm going to Guinea. I got the old Lincoln Wolves quarterback. Jones used to be. He was an all state running back. They moved him. Quarterback. He's doing a lot of good over there. Exciting game. Two 30 teams. I got Lincoln.
[00:21:20] Speaker B: All right, Leland, who you got?
[00:21:22] Speaker C: I mean, I agree, two 30 teams. It's a tough one, but I'm going to go with Lincoln as well.
[00:21:29] Speaker B: No respect for the LDC from you guys. All right, this boy, this is going to be a fun atmosphere, I think you like. Like you said, rick, anytime Alma and Harrison get together, it's like Tommy Tyson, Frankie Vines again, but, you know, now it's Chris Keelan against Rusty Bush, but still the Airedales and the Goblins. So, Rick, I'm going to start you off with this one. Alma at Harrison, who you got?
[00:21:54] Speaker A: I got the Airedales traveling all the way up to the hills and taking on Harrison Goblins and coming all the way back down with the victory for the Alma Airedales.
[00:22:04] Speaker B: So, man, I've been up to Harrison enough times. No, you just don't really see teams winning Harrison very much, except for the Goblins. So give me zero three Harrison to get their first win of the year against Alma. And that is the team I picked to win a the five a west. So, Leland, who you got?
[00:22:22] Speaker C: Well, and, you know, of course, you know, Garrison Stadium is not on the banks of Crooked Creek anymore, so they don't have that little mystique going, but a little tidbit about, you know, Frankie Vines and Tom Tice. You know, those two coaches coached in games against each other more than any other, any other two coaches in state history. They went head to head. And you're right, they're not up there this time. But Harrison's won the last six years against the Airedales. But I'm picking alma to. To end that losing streak against the goblins.
[00:22:56] Speaker B: All right. Got a lot of disparity here between all these, all these picks. I like it.
I think we're gonna have some more on this one, too. Class six, a newly welcomed class six a west member. Fort Smith Southside opens at home against the bombers of Mountain home, the trending upward bombers in recent years. So you know what? I'll start us off again on this one.
These long travel trips, don't mountain home is used to this kind of thing. They're used to it, and I think they're going to. This is one of the better teams that Steve Erie has had at Mountain home. Give me mountain home bombers to pick up the win on the road at Fort Smith Southside. Rick fires. Who you got?
[00:23:46] Speaker A: Hey, guinea. I'm Guinea. I'm a guinea. I got Fort Smith Southside at home against Mount Holmes. It's just hard for me to believe these guys are in the same conference now. But I think Fort Smith Southside will rise up and win this game at home.
[00:24:01] Speaker B: All right, what you got? Who you got, Leland?
[00:24:04] Speaker C: You know, prior to the season, I put together a list of about 25 games to watch this year in the river valley. You know, must see games, games to go to. This was not one of them. I did not see Southside being three and oh. I didn't see Mountain home being three and oh, but wow, what a blockbuster to start off six a west play. You know, mountain home, you talk about how good they've been this year. They've scored in all twelve quarters that they've played this year. So very good offensively. But I just think the Mavericks win the home opener in the six a west on Friday night.
[00:24:40] Speaker B: Hopefully have a good, really good crowd there at Portsmouth. South side Harold McElveen will have the coverage for us on that one.
It's still kind of the river valley. Russellville is in that river valley. But another good class six a game, Van Buren at Russellville. Leland, who you got?
[00:24:58] Speaker C: You know, Van Buren has struggled at Russellville through the years, and I think even though both of these teams, I think, are very good offensively, I think Russellville being at home is the difference. I picked the Cyclones to win this game, to open up the six a west.
[00:25:16] Speaker B: I'm a go.
Enjoying a lot right along that. Russellville will take it over Van Buren.
Rick, who you got?
[00:25:23] Speaker A: I'm going to take Van Buren pointers.
[00:25:26] Speaker B: All right.
You know, that's, it seems like this was a really exciting game last year.
Leland, am I wrong? But didn't Van Buren kind of jump out to a big lead, had to hold on late in this one last year?
[00:25:41] Speaker C: Yeah, they've. They've played some really good games through the years, and, yes, they did.
[00:25:46] Speaker B: All right, let's move on up to class seven a Fort Smith north side at Rogers. The Rogers mounties, two and one.
Both teams didn't play last week. Northside with a win against Coeda in their last outing.
I'm going to go with the Rogers Mounties to. To get the home win to start off 70 west conference play. Leland, who you got?
[00:26:08] Speaker C: Well, you know, I was talking to a conference coach recently, and he mentioned Fayetteville, Bentonville, and Rogers in the same breath with Fayetteville and Bentonville. So that speaks very highly of Rogers. And I don't remember a time in the conference when Rogers was really mentioned consistently at the top of the conference in the conversation, especially with Fayetteville and Bentonville. And I think this Rogers team has the potential to be very special, and I think they, they open up the seven a West conference schedule at home with a victory.
[00:26:46] Speaker B: Rick fires.
[00:26:47] Speaker A: I'm going Rogers. Leland talked about 20 years ago. Rogers almost dead as far as program, but, man, they've really come on eight wins. Eight wins and a coach talking about, man, we just get over the hump. These won the games are going to have to win if they want to get a deep playoff run. I think Rogers takes care of business in this game.
[00:27:08] Speaker B: All right, how about this? 1203 teams, Springdale harbor, one and two on the field, but officially zero three at Owen. Legit zero three on the field. Bentonville, you know, both teams in need of a big win.
You know, I'll start us off on this one. It's at Tiger Stadium. You know, I think Bentonville will figure out a way to beat Springdale harbor, even though I think you could see a lot of points score, because I think harbor is a good offensive football team. But I'm going to take Bentonville to beat Springdale Harbor. Leland, who you got?
[00:27:42] Speaker C: You know, they say that, you know, a team is what their record is. That's not the case with the Bentonville Tigers. It's all about, you know, in real estate, they talk about location, location, location in non conference play. In high school football, it's competition, competition, competition. Benville is not an zero three team.
They're there. They rebound this week and starts on a trajectory upwards.
[00:28:09] Speaker A: Rick Leland's 100% right. It's about who they played. They ain't scared. Like we say in Arkansas, they ain't scared of nobody. They were lost two out of three last year. Still got the championship game. So I got Bentonville in this game as well.
[00:28:24] Speaker B: All right, our game of the week.
You two guys are the picks. Everybody wants to know on this one. Greenwood at Shiloh Christian. So I'll just get mine out of the way. I just don't see anybody beating Greenwood. Greenwood. Greenwood. Greenwood in a very high scoring affair against Shiloh Christian. Leland, who you got?
[00:28:43] Speaker C: You know, I think if a team is going to have a chance against Greenwood, which their, their first string offense has scored 23 out of 26 possessions in non conference play, they're going to have to score with the Bulldogs. And I just don't see Shiloh Christian with a backup quarterback being the team that can score with Greenwood. So I think Greenwood. And just wait until you see the capsule that comes out on Thursday and the score that I've predicted.
[00:29:15] Speaker B: Rick's pick. Who you got?
[00:29:17] Speaker A: Well, I don't know what his produce. Please tell me you picked 14 to seven. I don't want to see. With our deadlines. I don't want to see 65 55, please. But Greenwood will win this game whether it's 14, seven, or 5550.
[00:29:36] Speaker B: All right, well, that's going to be a fun one. I really hope it ends up being a good ball game. And, you know, again, you guys that we pick against, if y'all. If y'all ever prove us wrong, we'd love to hear about it and know that you're listening to the podcast, so. All right, well, that's gonna wrap us up for this week's prep rally. We'd like to thank our sponsor, west termite Pest and lawn. And, guys, it's the real games begin for Rick fires in northwest Arkansas for Leland, Barclay and the river valley. This is Graham Thomas signing off. We love.
