We're Back and So Is High School Football

[00:00:00] Speaker A: They keep moving up, moving up, moving up. And did you ever think you'd see Shiloh Christian competing in the same conference with Fort Smith Southside? You know, they might be down a little bit, but, man, they've won state championships, Arkansas's highest classification, and then Greenwood as well. So I think that's a big storyline. Shiloh Christian. Let's see how they do those two. [00:00:23] Speaker B: Open up conference season against Rick. We might as well just go ahead and get our spot now for that one because. [00:00:29] Speaker A: Absolutely, man. [00:00:30] Speaker B: Greenwood and Shiloh, it is high school football time in northwest Arkansas and the river valley. And the prep rally podcast is back for another season. [00:00:42] Speaker C: You're watching the Prep rally podcast. [00:00:48] Speaker B: Welcome. Welcome to the Prep Rally podcast. And just like our football section cover says, we're back. Graham Thomas here with the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette. I'm joined in our studio by the one and the only, Rick Fires. And in the river valley, Leland Barclay is with us as always. And, guys, it's good to be back. Ricky fires, how you doing, man? [00:01:13] Speaker A: Man, I'm doing great, man. I anticipate this. Football is my favorite sport by far. I don't care in NFL, high school, college, even little kids on Saturday. So I'm raring to go. What year is it? 2024. Seemed like I've been doing this 83 years, so I'm ready to go. Let's go. [00:01:29] Speaker B: 2024. Leland, how you doing over there? [00:01:32] Speaker D: Great. It's only year 42 for me, so Rick's got me by a few. [00:01:38] Speaker B: All right. Well, guys, you know, it's been a busy off season, and, you know, football really got going for us a couple of, you know, just a few weeks ago when we started working on our football sections. I want to, I want to show these to our audience here. The, in my, in my left hand over here, we have the River Valley Democrat Gazette football section, which was so, so well done with even a little bulldog on the front feature on the Archer brothers. And then in the northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette on Sunday, we had our prep rally football preview. Good chance, if you get a chance to look at these, these are, our guys did a great job on these. And truly the sign that football season is here whenever these things start coming out. So we were excited. And in particular, the COVID story was on Tommy Tice and Doug Lockridge, the. [00:02:30] Speaker A: Geezer Gazette, what I've been told. [00:02:33] Speaker B: Geezer Gazette. [00:02:34] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:02:34] Speaker A: Two old guys coming back to the sidelines. [00:02:37] Speaker B: So we were excited to do those stories. And of course, the Archer brothers from Greenwood. And, you know, what a, what a show they're going to put on this year. So without further ado, though, we're going to jump right into the gimme five for the river valley and Leland Gimme five on what the top five storylines of football season are going to be in the river valley. [00:03:03] Speaker D: Well, the Gimme five edition, preseason edition of football in the river valley, number one, it starts with, of course, the Greenwood Bulldogs. And it starts with them because really, is, is there anybody that's going to be able to not only beat the Greenwood Bulldogs but even compete with them? This is going to be one of those offenses that, you know, when we look back at offenses through the years, we think about the 2005 Springdale Bulldogs with Mitch Mustaine. You know, mustaine Manias, we called it. Then Boonville two years ago, ran for a state record rushing yards for a team in a season, and then the Bryant team from three years ago that rushed for 3000 yards and threw for 3000 yards, which was just an incredible achievement. Well, I think this Greenwood Bulldog offense can be very similar to that one or any of those. It's going to be prolific to say the least. Then number two, Fort Smith north side returns to the west. So even without McLean Moody, you know, the, the possibilities of them in the west after being in the central, you know, I think they can finish anywhere, anywhere from, gosh, third to 6th maybe in that conference. [00:04:24] Speaker B: Like, welcome back to the west. [00:04:26] Speaker D: And then Southside, of course. [00:04:28] Speaker A: Yep. [00:04:29] Speaker D: Comes down from the seven a west into the six a west with, as coach Kim Dameron said, a lot of new faces in a new league. So we'll see what that holds for them this year as well. And then the 3811 of my favorite conferences to watch and to cover. And this year, it is just going to be a great conference to cover. It's not just a one or two team race in the three a one. And how about the quarterbacks in that conference? It's going to be one of the most quarterback driven conferences in the entire state with returning starters. You know, you know, we could list every single one of them almost. That's going to have a huge bearing on those teams. And then, of course, number five, it's kind of a toss up between the five a West. And where do the Alma Airedales fit in and then the two a one. And where does Johnson County, west side and Mountainburg fit in in that conference? Which is going to be tough as well. [00:05:33] Speaker B: Just like any year. There's so many storylines to. We could, we could probably spend the whole podcast on every one of them. You know, Greenwood, no doubt. I mean, I'm kind of with you, Leland. I don't know who's going to, who's going to be able to do it. And that's in the entire classification of six a. You talk about north side going back to the west. You talk about Southside going down to six a west. I mean, that's no easy, easy task for them either. It's going to be, it's going to be a real challenge. And I'm with you if you find me a more fun conference in the three a one. And I'm there for it, because they have got just some really good football teams. The state champions come out of their last several years and shoot, it may again this year. We don't know. You know, we're in scrimmage week this week, Leland, so this will kind of move us into our river Valley sports report for, for this week. But, you know, we've got scrimmages to talk about. We got volleyball cranking up and just, you know, everything is truly kind of getting started this week after a, after a kind of a slow first half. [00:06:38] Speaker D: Of August, everything's gearing up. I know in volleyball, the teams are playing scrimmage games this week, and then the season actually begins next Monday, the 26th. Oklahoma. Softball has already started. And, you know, that's two of the best teams in Oklahoma are from the river valley, Poto and then Pecola. Both of them off to great starts as well. And then golf. Alma and Van Buren went up to the Springdale golf tournament and had a very good showing there. So, like you said, it is the school year, and especially the sports. School year is definitely, uh, here upon us now. [00:07:19] Speaker B: You know, you got some. It's, it's Tuesday as we film this, and we've, we've got some scrimmages. You went to a scrimmage just this last, uh, Monday night with, uh, Alma and Southside. What'd you think? [00:07:31] Speaker D: The Alma Airedales, as was picked in the preseason, will not finish fifth in the five a west, I can tell you that. And I guess I'm jumping ahead to the predictions, so. Well, you know, but I'm making one already that the Alma Airedales are not going to finish fifth in the five a less. [00:07:51] Speaker A: Well, who picked them fifth? [00:07:54] Speaker D: I think it was one of the statewide publications. [00:07:57] Speaker B: Okay, well, and technically, wasn't it the coaches, though? I mean, they. [00:08:02] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, the coach would do it. Yes. [00:08:04] Speaker B: So, you know, I mean it. I'm sure they were quite motivated when they saw that. And, of course, you got to see Southside. Southside's got, got some work to do is what it looks like. [00:08:15] Speaker D: From what, from everything I read, they're very young. But the thing about a young, inexperienced team with good coaches, they will improve and they do have a good quarterback. You know, he's a, you know, like a lot of them, he's going to be a rookie this year. But I think the, you know, potential is one of those words that gets thrown around in sports a lot of. But again, it's going to be very interesting to see what they do in the six a west because the six a west is so, it's kind of unusual because we really don't keep up with Lake Hamilton much. We don't see them during the summer. Russellville, we see some during the summer, but, you know, we don't get a real good feel for them. I didn't see Mountain home at all this summer in any of the seven on seven or team campsite that I went to. And then there's Siloam springs, like you said, already a new coach. So there's just a lot of unknowns going into the six a west, which makes it a really, you know, interesting year in that conference. [00:09:18] Speaker B: Yep. So the, the Barclays scrimmage tour continues Tuesday evening, and you'll have Van Buren and Farmington, and then on Thursday, you're heading over to broken Arrow, Oklahoma, to see north side in that scrimmage along with Rogers and Bentonville west. And then on Friday. Just escapes my mind where you're going. It's an Oklahoma school, but. [00:09:39] Speaker D: Well, I haven't decided yet. I may go to Salisaw because Salisaw is going to be really, really, really good this year under coach Brandon Tyler. And then I may go to Stigler to watch Pecola, which has, of course, Coda. Terrell. Terrell, who's being recruited by a lot of big time schools, too. So I'll make that decision. It may be Friday before I make that decision. [00:10:00] Speaker B: It may be a game time decision is what I'm hearing. [00:10:03] Speaker D: So it might be. [00:10:04] Speaker B: Well, I know this is, this is probably one of the weeks you look forward to so much because you get to see football almost every day of the week. So that's a, that's a fun week for you. Well, we will, we're going to take a break, and when we come back, we will jump on to the northwest Arkansas top five, our sports report with the great Rick Fires. We'll be back. [00:10:26] Speaker C: 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 rivervalleydemocrategazet.com. or call us at 479-684-5509 and be sure to say that you're a podcast listener. Now back to the show. [00:10:56] Speaker B: And we're back with the prep rally podcast. Well, Rick Fires, we are going to get your top five storylines for this football season with Northwest Arkansas schools. [00:11:08] Speaker A: You know what? This could be almost any year. When you win a state championship, the next year, they're going to be gunning for you. So I got to start with our favorable bulldogs. Not only did they win state championship in Arkansas's highest classification, they went 13 and zero went undefeated for the first time since, I think it was 1957, but the first time in the playoff era. So what an accomplishment by the bulldog. But, man, oh, man. You think they might ease up on us? No. They're starting off at Cabot. Then I think they go to broken Arrow, and then they come back home. They're home open against Texas high Texas. This is not Texas. Canada. Arkansas used to be really good razorback. This is Texas high Texas. So they could lose more games in the first two or three games than they last all year. Last year. So I think that's. That's just, you know, and, and they can respond to the pressure. I think Casey Dick really got it going over there. So that's my number one. Number two, we had this guy, kind of like me, just laying around under air conditioner, eating a mayonnaise sandwich, and boom. All of a sudden, they get a call. Farmington for junior leaves, go into private business, and here comes Tommy Tice. Arkansas Sports hall of Fame coach Tommy Tice. So he accepts the role over as new, the replacement at Farmington. He's the COVID boy on our prep rally podcast right there. Like I said, somebody said, the Geesezer Gazette, however you say that, tongue twister, for sure. But after, you know, reading this, I didn't realize. Tommy Tice said he's just not a temporary replacement. He plans on being there four, five, maybe six, seven years. I don't know, but that's gonna be fun, seeing him on the sideline. Hey, and we start circling games. How about this game? October 4, Harrison at Farmington. [00:13:08] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, I was looking at that today. I was like, boy, wow. [00:13:11] Speaker A: Where Tommy Tice made his hall of fame career right there at Harrison. So that. Hey, I got dibs on that. I don't know what you got playing for me, but I want that game. Let's go, number three. I've been around a long time like Leland, and you've been here, too. I remember the days when Shiloh Christian just romping all over these little bitty small schools where they wouldn't even play them again. But now, because of the equity factor of the private school, they keep moving up, moving up, moving up. And did you ever think you'd see Shiloh Christian competing in the same conference with Fort Smith Southside? You know, they might be down a little bit, but, man, they've won state championships, Arkansas's highest classification, and then Greenwood as well. So I think that's a big storyline. Shiloh Christian. Let's see how they do those two. [00:14:02] Speaker B: Open up conference season against Rick. We might as well just go ahead and get our spot now for that one because. Absolutely, man, Greenwood and Shiloh, we can. [00:14:11] Speaker A: Double team that, right? [00:14:12] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely. [00:14:13] Speaker A: All right. Number four. One of the teams that really shot up and gained some statewide recognition was the Elkins Elks. You know, when I was working in other parts of the state, I never heard of Elkins, but here they are coming off a school record 13 wins. And, you know, they got beat by the ventral state champion Harding Academy, but they were really, really good. Now the Elks have to replace Dizzy Dean DeShawn chairs two Allstate guys who are playing in college right now. And the question is, are they going to maintain that 1011 or are they going to slip down to seven, eight, nine? So that's to be determined. And I got to go back to one of my favorite guys. Oh, Danny absher over at Prairie Grove. They're back in four a, Prairie Grove. They did okay. They went, I think, eleven and two overall in a couple years playing in the five a west, very good conference. And I went over there for the picture day and somebody had maybe a Hootenburg or maybe the coach would pick it and Prairie Grove would pick second and somebody said, wow. Prairie Grove said, man, I guess they forgot about us. So Prairie Grove has some incentive. They're ready to get back into four a one and show them that they own that league, not the old elk. So that'd be fun to watch there. [00:15:32] Speaker B: I did find that fascinating, that Prairie Grove was picked second in the four a one. But, you know, and that just kind of leads us into our northwest Arkansas sports report. You know, we've had some weeks here as we've been getting ready for these football tabs to kind of look at this kind of stuff. And, you know, if you think about it, Prairie Grove really did kind of hold their own in the five minutes. So, you know, it would at all surprise me if they win the league. I mean, it's just not, you know, they're just not going to roll over for elkins, and neither are the other teams in that league. [00:16:02] Speaker A: Danny did say, I said, man, because I look around town over there and they're building everywhere in Prairie Grove, and I said, y'all gonna be back in five a pretty, pretty soon, maybe next cycle, cycle after that. He said the biggest thing with the depth, that they didn't have that depth. And he said, the families moving out, they're real young families, but, you know, they get up to middle school, then high school, but he said it'd be tough on them eventually. They're going to be a good five a program, but it may take a while. [00:16:31] Speaker B: You know, Rick, we got to host a lot, you know, just about all these northwest Arkansas schools up here for media day a few weeks ago and got to, I'm sure you got to visit with just about all the head coaches, and I did, too. And, man, there's going to be a lot of good football teams and a lot of good football players in this area, you know, and in the river valley and, you know, coming, you know, narrowing it down to who's going to be able to, to win these leagues and conferences and, and all that, it, it's no easy task. And you think about the seven day west and, you know, what Fayetteville's gonna try and do. I mean, I mean, I think it'd be just not fair at all to ask them to go undefeated again. But, you know, they're gonna be good. And then you got Bentonville over here to kind of laying in the weeds, you know, and, but yet the coaches pick Bentonville to win the conference, so. [00:17:17] Speaker A: And, you know, and they've done it parentally. They've been to conference champions. But, you know, if fable had one of them dynamic years last year, and we'll see how it goes, we're going to. [00:17:28] Speaker B: So you, it was alluded to earlier when Leland mentioned the Springdale Bulldog red Dog Invitational, the golf tournament. So that was Monday, the 19th out at Springdale Country Club, and the Fayetteville Bulldog boys won that tournament. You know, there's a lot of good golf teams in this area. The Rogers Mounties are the defending state golf champions, and they finished, like, fifth or something. Yesterday, and they've got a lot of good golfers. So we were able to see some, some things there. The, the Lady Wildcat invitational was the week before that. And, you know, the Rogers Lady Mounties, who are, you know, they're all sophomores, but they're all really good players. They won that one. So, you know, golf season now is officially underway. The Lady Wildcat and the red dog is usually kind of the, the official start because that's when all the conference teams in the seven a wet or the six a west are together here for that. Now, Rick, you had the tennis preview a couple weeks ago, and, you know, Fayetteville, Bentonville, it's kind of the same song, different verse for them, but they're the two dominant programs in this area. [00:18:34] Speaker A: Yeah, but, man, that's just why the Rogers heritage is really good, too. And so we're just going, I think it starts next week. We got a big meet next week. And we get that rolling. They're just a little bit behind golf, but they get that rolling. And, you know, just talking to coaches, everybody, of course, this time of year, all sports, they're all optimistic and we just see how it starts playing out. [00:18:58] Speaker B: The volleyball teams up in this area, they're going to be scrimmaging this week. And then, I know, come Monday, the 26th is when the season starts and a big one will be Greenwood at Fayetteville. And, oh, wow, you have a, Greenwood was the five, a state runner up and really could have easily have won the state championship and lost in a five set match. They're going to play at Fayetteville, defending seven or defending six a champion Fayetteville. And our guy, Paul Boyd. Nobody covers volleyball like Paul Boyd does. And he's, you know, I think later this week you'll see in the, in the northwest Arkansas Democratic Gazette, a big preview section for volleyball. And so, but again, a lot of good, good volleyball teams up here and in the river Valley. So, and then, you know, once those get going a little bit, we get into football season, then cross country cranks up, and then before you know it, we'll be into basketball. So, you know, the, we're going to. [00:19:57] Speaker A: Be busy, but it's a fun busy, isn't it, guys? [00:19:59] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. I mean, absolutely. The season really starts flying then. So. All right, we're going to take a break, and then when we come back, we are going to see who you got. [00:20:12] Speaker A: What'd that mean? [00:20:14] Speaker C: Stay on top of all Arkansas Razorback sports with a digital plus subscription on the Hogs Illustrated app. Get complete razorbacks coverage in one location. Your subscription gives you 20 plus issues of Hogs Illustrated magazine, the most unique and compelling coverage anywhere in the state, plus total access to all the content on wholehogsports.com, including breaking news, commentaries, analysis, features, recruiting award winning photos, and premium message boards. Subscriptions start at just $17 per month. Join the Hog Sports Network team at subscribe dot waco.com that's subscribe dot wehco.com or call 479-684-5509 to get your front row seat to Arkansas razorback sports. Go hogs. [00:20:58] Speaker B: All right, we're back with the prep rally podcast, and we are introducing our new segment this year. Who you got? Who you got? And, you know, on a typical week by week basis can be the games that are being played this week. Well, we don't have any games to pick just at this very moment, but there are a lot of things we can predict. So what we're going to do is we're going to go by classification, and I'm going to get the conf, the conference champion of the conference that we're covering up here, and then we'll also go for the state champion in that classification. So we will start with two a, and I will, I'll start us off on this one, the two a, one conference. You know, I'm going to go with Bigelow and, you know, defending state champion Bigelow and not pick to win that conference this year. I think Conway Christian was picked to win that conference. But you know what? I think there's something to be said about once you've done it, you know, that gives you a little bit of tradition and a little bit of can do mojo to you. So Bigelow returns eight starters on defense. I'm going Bigelow, two a one conference champion. Leland, who you got? [00:22:19] Speaker D: Absolutely. I agree. You know, state champions don't go down easily. I say bigelow, Rick, who you got? [00:22:27] Speaker A: I got Hector for no other reason than that's where my friend co worker Henry Apple's from. [00:22:33] Speaker B: I thought he was from Dover. Okay. [00:22:36] Speaker A: Close enough. [00:22:37] Speaker B: Class two a state champion. This one was tough. You know, the, that level of football. We don't have a whole lot of two a schools up this way, and we're not as, we don't get to see them as much. But through my research this morning, you know, there were a lot of tempting ways I could have gone Junction City. I could have gone Bigelow or Hector Conway Christian. But I'm one mineral springs, class two a champion. Leland, who you got? [00:23:06] Speaker D: I agree. You know, Junction City is hard to pick against. Conway Christian is the consensus pick to win the two a one, but I'm going back with Bigelow. [00:23:15] Speaker B: Oh, repeat. Championship. I like it. [00:23:18] Speaker D: Yes. [00:23:19] Speaker B: All right. Rick Fires, class two a state champion. Who do you got? [00:23:23] Speaker A: I'm going with the East Poinsettia county warriors, which is in Lepanto, home of the famous Turpin derby. I've been there. I bet I've lost money on betting on the little turtles. You know, they're just kind of like. They're just kind of like cast. They go all over the place. But I'm going to get my $2 back on the east porn set. County warriors winning state championship, two a. [00:23:45] Speaker B: All right, so that was. That wasn't so bad, now, was it, guys? All right, we're going to move into class three a here. And, you know, we. We've already talked about it once on this podcast how much fun the three a one conference is to cover and on a weekend, week out basis. So it was really, really difficult to. To pick a conference champion. You know, you could have gone Boonville. You could have gone Charleston. Who's won it before? You could be the. You could have gone with Mansfield or even one of the sleeper picks. But you know what? Who you got? I'm gonna go with Charleston to win the three a one conference. I. I just. I like coach Ricky May, what he's doing. So give me Charleston. Who you got? Rick fires. [00:24:29] Speaker A: I'm gonna go Charleston. To me, there's only two picks, right? Boonville or Charleston? I'm going Charleston. [00:24:35] Speaker B: All right, Leland, who you got? Three a one. [00:24:38] Speaker D: I am going the Mansfield Tigers to win their second outright conference championship in school history. [00:24:45] Speaker B: Wow. I like that. [00:24:47] Speaker D: I want to got a veteran quarterback coming back, and Jeremy Strozier. And I know Charleston's got Carter. Little Boonville's got Jace Washburn. One of the most exciting quarterbacks in the conference is going to be Bryson Hamilton from Hackett. So it's going to be a knockdown drag out every night in that conference, and it may end up in a three way tie. Who knows? But I think Mansfield has what it takes to win their second conference championship in school history. [00:25:14] Speaker B: If we end up in a three way ties, it possible we could all meet the gas station and Waldron, flip quarters and all that. That deal, and to see who gets in the championship or how, you know, I love stuff like that. Okay, state champion, class three a. You know, again, a lot of good teams out of the three a, one conference. So, guys, don't hate me. I'm gonna leave out of the three a, one conference, and my three a state championship pick is gonna be a team that is moving down from class four a. I'm going with the Rivercrest Colts out of Wilson, Arkansas, to win class three a, Rick fires. Who you got? Class three a champion. [00:25:55] Speaker A: I got the Prescott Curly Wolves, and because I saw them at the track meet. My goodness, those Curly wolves can go. They got a lot of speed. You know. You know, something that a lot of these teams up here north don't have, but, you know, they got a block and tackle, but, man, that speed factor. I'm going Prescott, and they got a lot of tradition. [00:26:16] Speaker B: Yeah, they almost won a state title last year, losing to Boonville in the state finals. Class three a, state champion. Leland Barclay. Who you got? [00:26:24] Speaker D: Boy, it came down to almost a coin flip, and I agree with you, Graham. Rivercrest dropping down from four a to three a is certainly a favorite. But again, I'm going back with. And it's kind of a safe pick. Prescott. [00:26:38] Speaker B: All right, so two Prescotts and one Rivercrest. All right, moving on to the class four ace. We got two conferences in class four a. We need to pick the winner of here, the four a one. So once again, I'll start us off here. As much as you want to try to say there's going to be a sneak pick in the four a one. I mean, I don't know how you can go against Elkins. I mean, they are. They're going to be really, really good again. And so I'm going Elkins and then the class four a four. You know, we've got Ozark, and you got a lot of good teams from that conference, I think. Ozark moving in with. With Kobe, will Banks. I'm going to go Ozark in class four a four a four. So, Leland, what do you say on four a one and four a four? [00:27:37] Speaker D: Yeah, the four a one. I mean, I get it. Everybody, you know, Elkins is kind of everybody's, you know, pick for, you know, based on the last couple of years, I think based on the last couple of years and what Prairie Grove was able to do in the five a west and go in there and be competitive, dropping down, you know, they've seen the way their style of football and what they've been through the last two years. I like Prairie Grove to win the four a one and feel pretty confident about it. Four a four again, Ozarke. It's hard to go against Ozark any year. And like you said, kobe will Banks, a returning starter at quarterback and really going to be one of the best quarterbacks in the state. He's. He's. He's. He's really good. And I think Lamar is going to finish much better in that conference than what kind of the conference coaches have picked. To think Lamar is going to be up there, too, because Caleb Green, another quarterback that's real good, that's returning for them. So I see Ozark edging out Lamar, and that's going to be a classic game between those two. You know, they met in the playoffs last year, and Ozark won. This year, they're reunited in the same conference, but I think Ozark wins it. [00:28:52] Speaker B: All right, Rick, rapid fire, who you got, man? [00:28:54] Speaker A: I got to follow up with leland. I'm going to go pre Grove, like I heard him say. Hey, they forgot about us. No pregrove in a four a one, Ozark. You can't go against Ozark and four a four. [00:29:06] Speaker B: All right, class four a state champion. So, you know, I'm taking the easy road out here, boys, but I'm. It's Warren lumberjacks for me. Boet boys, same way. [00:29:17] Speaker A: I gotta go. [00:29:18] Speaker B: Warren Leland, who you got? [00:29:20] Speaker D: Class four a, Warren lumberjacks. Remember this combination? Jackson Denton and Antonio Jordan. [00:29:27] Speaker B: All right, well, we'll remember those guys for sure. Now we're moving on up into the big boys a little bit. So, class five, the five a west conference. And, you know, Farmington seems to be consensus overall pick, but I'm going to. I'm going to break the chain here a little bit, and I'm going to go with the Harrison Goblins to win the five a west conference. They're picked third by the coaches to win the conference, but, you know, Harrison, they've just been kind of laying in the weeds. I know I say that a lot. I'm gonna say it again. Harrison's laying in the weeds over there and in the mountains, and they are my pick to win the five a west. Rick, what you say? [00:30:03] Speaker A: So you saying they're gonna come over there and beat Farmington at Farmington? I'm going to get you on that. I've got Farmington. [00:30:10] Speaker B: Farmington. All right, Leland, who you got? Five a west. [00:30:13] Speaker D: Well, I'm going to go with team number three, then, and pick the Alma Airedales. And. [00:30:18] Speaker A: Oh, wow. [00:30:19] Speaker D: Some of that is based on the scrimmage game from Monday night. They looked really good offensively and defensively. I mean, they've got skill players all over the place. Israel towns. Robinson is going to be unstoppable at running back this year. He had eight carries for 146 yards and touchdown carries of 69 and 47 yards on Monday night in that scrimmage game. So I think the Alma Airedales, now, that could be another one of those conferences that come down to, comes down to a tiebreaker as well. But, man, how big is that? Week ten, Alma versus Farmington. [00:30:57] Speaker B: Oh, man. Well, you know, it came down to week ten last year in that conference, so I. Can we all disagree? Class five a, who you got? It's going to be Little Rock park. [00:31:07] Speaker A: Yeah, we don't need to waste our time. [00:31:09] Speaker B: They may be the best team in state. So, Leland, I know you're got. [00:31:13] Speaker D: I think the who you got for that is who are they going to beat in the state championship game? [00:31:19] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. [00:31:20] Speaker B: Yeah. All right, so we're, we're unanimous on that one and maybe on this one, six a west, you know, and look who you got. I got Greenwood to win the six a west. [00:31:30] Speaker A: Yep, me, too. [00:31:32] Speaker B: But I'll tell you what I do think Shiloh Christian is going to score a lot of points on six a west teams, and it wouldn't all surprise me if Shiloh were to find a way to beat Greenwood. But right now, who you got? I got Greenwood in the six a west. Me, too, leland. Absolutely. [00:31:51] Speaker D: I think the, who, who do you have is probably who you got is probably who do you have that is going to stay on the field with them the full amount of time and not get mercy ruled? And it may be Shiloh Christian. What time on Friday night is the deadline, by the way? [00:32:10] Speaker A: Oh, wow. Yeah. [00:32:12] Speaker D: Well, you guys may need, you guys may need to keep that in mind when you cover that Greenwood Shallow Christian game. [00:32:19] Speaker B: Special rules for the people on that one. So I'm assuming we're in an agreement. Greenwood is gonna be six a West champion. All right. Or the class six a champion as well, Greenwood. So. And then that leaves us with the class seven a kind of saving the main event for last. And, you know, seven a west, you look at Fayetteville, you look at Bentonville, you know, Bentonville Western Rogers are going to be in the mix. But I'm going to go with the seven a West coaches. I'm going to go with the Bentonville Tigers to win the seven a West conference. Rick, who you got? [00:32:55] Speaker A: I got fable. [00:32:56] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:32:58] Speaker A: I mean, Delamar. I think he's going to be like centennial. I know he's going to play baseball. And then, you know, they got a new quarterback and they got stars all over the field. So I'm going fable, seven a west. [00:33:10] Speaker B: Leland, who you got seven a west. [00:33:12] Speaker D: Bentonville. They're going to have a good quarterback, as they always do coaches son this year. Plus, they run the ball and they play defense. [00:33:22] Speaker A: Yeah, they do. [00:33:23] Speaker B: Yep. And they part of the big thing, the big knock we had on Fayetteville for a good bit of the year last year was their running game and they got that together. And I think that's what helped them win the state title. All right, class seven a state champion. So, you know, there's a lot, you know, we talked about Bentonville, Fayetteville, there is always Bryant. But boys, I am going for the class seven a state champion. I'm going with the Conway wampus cats, Buck James, they're going to get it done this year. [00:33:51] Speaker A: And they got to move in at quarterback, too, don't they? [00:33:53] Speaker B: They do, they do. So, Leland, who do you got? Seven a champion. [00:33:58] Speaker D: Well, I'm with you. I think the power in the state's largest classification returns to the central conference this year. And it's based on the fact that, like Rick alluded to, Conway has a moving quarterback. Very good. Grayson Wilson, Brian has a three year starter, returning a quarterback, Jordan Walker. So based on those two things, I think the, not only the power of the state's largest classification returns to the central part. I think those two teams will meet for the state championship because last year, Bentonville and Fayetteville had the quarterback advantage with Drake, Lindsey and Carter and I. And those two guys were a big part of them getting to the state championship. I think this year it's Jordan Walker and Grayson Wilson getting those two teams. And I've got to go with Bryant because again, like Bentonville in the west, Bryant runs the football. They'll have 2000 yard rushers this year to go along with Jordan Walker. [00:34:57] Speaker B: All right, we got Conway, Bryant, Rick fires. [00:35:01] Speaker A: I just what he was talking about. Three year starter at quarterback. I got Bryant. Combined 16 starters include nine on defense. You got to play some defense, win state championships. I think Brian is back. And for the Hornets, I got them. [00:35:18] Speaker B: All right, all you seven a west football team. Did you hear that? We're all going with the Centrals. So we'd love to be proven wrong. [00:35:25] Speaker A: Not like they had one before. [00:35:28] Speaker B: All right, well, folks, that's going to wrap up our first prep rally podcast of the season. You can hear our podcast or anywhere where you get your podcast or watch on NWA online.com and YouTube. And boys, we're going to sign off for this one. We'll be back next week to talk about all the week zero games and recap some of the scrimmages. And it's going to be fun. I'm looking forward to it. For Leland Barclay in the river valley and Rick fires here in the studio, I'm Graham Thomas. We love you. [00:36:03] Speaker C: You're watching the prep rally podcast.