Mountain Pine is enjoying its best football season in a decade.
But if the Red Devils want to advance to the Class 2A quarterfinals, they'll have to do it at a neutral site Friday night.
The Red Devils' second-round game against Des Arc will be played at Allen Tillery Field at Fountain Lake High School. Mountain Pine's grass field at Stanley May Field is in poor condition because of rain throughout this month.
Red Devils Coach Sam Counce said the decision to move the game was for safety reasons and for better quality of football.
"It will go up to your ankle," said Counce of the field. "One end of it is not too bad. The other end is too rotten.
"We had snow all day today. So it's just a mess."
Mountain Pine practiced at Fountain Lake on Wednesday and will do so again today.
"They were very accommodating," Counce said of Fountain Lake's administration and football program.
The Red Devils defeated Hackett 35-26 on Friday at Stanley May Field behind senior Elijah Browning's 219 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns.
Junior quarterback Collin Smith had 127 all-purpose yards, 70 passing and 57 rushing. He accounted for a pair of touchdowns, one passing and one rushing.
Smith has led the Red Devils offensively this season, rushing for 1,248 yards and 16 touchdowns, and passing for 859 yards and 16 scores.
"He's had a great year," Counce said. "He believes in himself. He's confident."
Mountain Pine (8-3) has an opportunity Friday to win nine games for the first time since 2008. The 2008 Red Devils, coached by the late Jody Frazier, went 9-2.
The Red Devils haven't won a state championship since 1979, the second of back-to-back Class A titles under Lonnie Sutton. Counce, who is in his third season at Mountain Pine, said the Red Devils are building toward an elite program again, just two years after they had to forfeit their final five games because of low numbers.
"We're trying to establish the Mountain Pine tradition in years past," Counce said. "We're trying to build the program back. We've got a good group of kids. We've got some things in place."
SYLVAN HILLS
Confidence builder
Sylvan Hills won its first playoff game Friday night since 2007 with a 31-29 victory at Russellville in overtime.
Coach Jim Withrow, who has been at the Sherwood school since 2007, said it was big for the Bears.
"A lot has been made about it," Withrow said. "We haven't closed the deal. But it gives us a lot of confidence."
Trey Jackson scored on an 8-yard run in overtime, then Braden Withrow, the coach's son, threw a two-point conversion pass to Chris Adams to help the Bears win.
Jim Withrow said at the moment the conversion pass happened, he wasn't thinking about it being his son out on the field. Instead, he was focused on the team itself.
"Later on, you'll look back. It will hit me later on," Withrow said. "He was with me last year for the tough loss against Watson Chapel [in the Class 5A first round].
"But it does mean a lot. It was a good feeling."
The Bears (4-7) struggled in their first season back in Class 6A after a 10-year stint in Class 5A, winning three games overall in the regular season while going 2-5 in the 6A-East Conference. But Withrow said playing in the state's second-largest classification was good for his team.
"It hardened us a little bit," Withrow said. "There's athletes on every team. They do something different. It makes you a better football team."
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Sylvan Hills travels to Marion (8-2), the No. 2 seed from the 6A-East, on Friday.
The Patriots beat the Bears 26-7 on Sept. 28 in the teams' 6A-East matchup earlier this season.
"There's a lot of things that they do that are tough," Withrow said. "Coach [Keith] Houston does a great job there. They've got it going on. They're very fast. We have to look at what we did last time and make some adjustments."
Withrow said the Bears are getting better over the past couple of weeks and hopes for a second consecutive playoff victory Friday against the Patriots.
"I think we're a good up and coming team," We're going to play a lot of sophomores. The seniors that are here, they do a good job of leading. I like where we're heading. They're doing a lot of good things."
JUNCTION CITY
Finding an identity
Junction City started 1-2 with losses to Class 3A Smackover and Haynesville, La.
Since then, the Dragons have won seven consecutive games, including a 37-8 victory over McCrory on Friday in the Class 2A first round.
"Once we hit conference play, we found our identity and found our confidence," Junction City Coach Steven Jones said. "Our defensive coordinator, Brad Smith, made some adjustments. It's been lights out since Week Four. The kids have played hard."
The running back duo of senior Dhante Gibson and junior Jakiron Cook has led the Dragons offensively.
Gibson has rushed for 1,065 yards and 14 touchdowns, while Cook has 874 yards and 13 touchdowns.
"Both of them are different players," Jones said. "Dhante is a downhill guy, while Jakiron is a speed guy who can make a guy miss in space."
Also, senior wide receiver Kevontae Haynes leads the Dragons' receivers with 562 yards and 7 touchdowns.
"We have three explosive weapons," Jones said. "We try to do a good job of getting the ball out to those guys."
Junction City (8-2) hosts Mountainburg in a second-round game Friday. The Dragons are attempting to reach their second consecutive state championship game. They advanced to the Class 3A state title game a year ago, losing to Rivercrest.
"We have to continue to finish drives," Jones said. "We've been a good football team all year between the 20s. In the red zone, we have to find ways to punch it in. We have to have great ball security.
"Defensively, we have to continue to stop big plays."
EXTRA POINTS
Smackover's Class 3A second-round game against Danville will be played at Memorial Stadium in El Dorado because of poor field conditions at Buckaroo Stadium. It's the second time in four seasons that Smackover has had to move a playoff game to El Dorado. Smackover moved its 2015 Class 3A semifinal game against Rivercrest to El Dorado, which it lost 15-13. The Buckaroos (9-1) had a first-round bye last week and are the No. 1 seed from the 5-3A Conference. ... Salem senior running back Jordan Turner can reach the state's all-time top 10 single-season rushers if he runs for at least 65 yards Friday against Earle in a Class 2A second-round game. Iven Brown of Gosnell had 2,700 yards in 1998, according to the Arkansas Activities Association record book. Turner has rushed for 2,636 yards and 37 touchdowns this season for the Greyhounds (8-1), the No. 1 seed from the 3-2A Conference. Cecil Langston of Rivercrest holds the state's single-season rushing record with 3,211 yards in 2015. ... Stuttgart Coach Josh Price will coach against his former school, Dardanelle, for the first time Friday night when the Ricebirds, the No. 1 seed from the 2-4A Conference, host the Sand Lizards. Price was 70-37 in 9 seasons with Dardanelle (2007-2015) and won consecutive 4-4A Conference championships in 2014 and 2015.
Sports on 11/15/2018