High school football report

Arkansas high school football report: Coach earns 200th victory; LR school wins playoff game for 3rd straight year

Wynne Coach Van Paschal earned his 200th victory Friday when the Yellowjackets defeated Little Rock Christian in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs. Paschal has coached at Brinkley, Sheridan, De Queen, Monticello, Barton and Wynne. The Yellowjackets host Morrilton in the Class 5A quarterfinals Friday.
Wynne Coach Van Paschal earned his 200th victory Friday when the Yellowjackets defeated Little Rock Christian in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs. Paschal has coached at Brinkley, Sheridan, De Queen, Monticello, Barton and Wynne. The Yellowjackets host Morrilton in the Class 5A quarterfinals Friday.

Wynne Coach Van Paschal received a game ball from his Yellowjackets on Friday after earning his 200th coaching victory in a 56-42 triumph at Little Rock Christian.

Paschal has been a head coach since 1991. He spent 11 seasons at his alma mater Brinkley (1991-2001), leading the Tigers to conference championships in 1995 and 1999. Then, he spent one season at Sheridan in 2002 before heading to De Queen in 2003-2004. Paschal was hired by Monticello in 2005 and led the Billies to the Class 5A state championship in 2009. He left Monticello after the 2009 season to head to Barton, where he spent seven seasons (2010-2016) and led the Bears to a Class 3A state championship game appearance in 2011.

Wynne hired Paschal, 55, earlier this year to replace Chris Hill, who guided the Yellowjackets to two Class 5A state championship game appearances in 2014 and 2016. Hill is now at Harding University as an assistant coach under Paul Simmons.

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Paschal wasn't focused on his 200th victory, though.

"I'll be honest with you, man, I've been so focused on Wynne when I first got here in March," Paschal said. "I haven't thought about it. Our radio guy asked me about when I got here. I told him, 'Call the AAA [Arkansas Activities Association]. They'll tell you, man.'

"It's special being able to advance in the playoffs."

Senior running back Ta'von Hicks rushed for 179 yards and 3 touchdowns on 30 carries. Senior Kris Miller had 184 yards and 1 touchdown on 10 carries.

Wynne (10-1), the No. 3 seed from the 5A-East Conference, hosts the 5A-West's No. 4 seed Morrilton on Friday in the Class 5A quarterfinals.

LR McCLELLAN

Playoff success

For the third consecutive season, Little Rock McClellan has won a playoff game.

In addition, the Crimson Lions earned a victory in the month of November in Batesville for the second time in three years.

McClellan (8-3), the No. 3 seed from the 5A-Central Conference, held off the 5A-East's No. 2 seed Batesville (7-4) 16-12 on Friday.

Senior quarterback Bennie Kemp ran for a touchdown and threw for a score for McClellan. Kemp had a three-yard touchdown run and a two-point conversion with 5:36 left in the second quarter to make it 8-0. Then, with 2:06 left in the third quarter, Kemp threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Andre Campbell and his two-point conversion run gave the Crimson Lions a 16-12 lead.

Batesville was driving with 42 seconds left from the McClellan 20, but the Crimson Lions stopped the Pioneers on fourth and 15 to earn the victory.

"It's a testament of the hard work we've put in and the preparation," McClellan Coach Maurice Moody said. "The kids believe in it. The kids want it. They've been through a ton of adversity."

Moody has led the Crimson Lions to five playoff victories since 2015, including three in 2015, one in 2016 and Friday's triumph at Batesville. He guided the school to its first state championship game since 1994 in 2015.

The Crimson Lions travel to 5A-West champion Alma on Friday. It's a matchup Moody is looking forward, with the Crimson Lions playing away from Lion Stadium for the 12th consecutive week because of ongoing construction with its field.

"You name me another school that hasn't played on their home turf all year long," Moody said. "But we're still playing in Week 12.

"It's going to be another tough road trip for us. We'll have to lean on our defense. They've done it all year long. Alma will pose some issues for us.

"We're going to have to hold onto the football and don't turn it over. It's going to be a huge test for us."

VILONIA

Coach calls it quits

Vilonia Coach Ron Young has resigned after two seasons with the Eagles.

Nick Newman, the school's athletic director, confirmed Young's resignation Wednesday to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Young's resignation was accepted by the Vilonia School Board on Tuesday night.

Young was 6-14 in two seasons with the Eagles, taking over for Michael Stout before the 2016 season. Stout served as Vilonia's interim coach in 2015 after Jim Stanley left the school.

Vilonia finished 1-9 this season and 1-6 in the 5A-West Conference. The Eagles defeated Clarksville 48-28 on Oct. 27. They had a 29-18 victory at Greene County Tech on Sept. 1, but had to forfeit the game later in September because of an ineligible player.

Newman, who was hired by Vilonia in February from Conway, said he wants to hire a proven winner.

"I want somebody that's going to come in here and be the best fit for our kids and our community," Newman said. "This is a blue-collar community. I want somebody that comes in and is willing to put in the work and have our kids put in the work."

Of the Eagles' 62 players at the end of the season, 32 were sophomores.

"The future is bright for Vilonia football," Newman said.

The coaching position is open on the Vilonia School District website. Newman said he plans to keep the position open until after the state championship games in December. He added that he wants to do interviews by January and have a coach in place by late February-early March.

High school football coaching changes

SCHOOL NEW COACH PREVIOUS COACH

Drew Central TBA Robert Cox

Pine Bluff Dollarway TBA Lee Hardman

Siloam Springs TBA Bryan Ross

Vilonia TBA Ron Young

Send additions/news to jmuck@arkansasonline.com

photo

Special to the Democrat-Gazette/JIMMY JONES

McClellan Coach Maurice Moody is shown in this photo.

Sports on 11/16/2017

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