PREP FOOTBALL REPORT

SPRINGDALE HAR-BER

Wildcats enter conference play on high note

No starting quarterback, no problem for Springdale Har-Ber last week as the Wildcats earned a big 27-18 road win at always-tough Pine Bluff.

Har-Ber (2-1) lost starting quarterback Blaise Wittschen the week before against Russellville to a concussion, and Wittschen did not pass concussion protocol last week. He will also miss this week's 7A-West opener against Bentonville, said coach Chris Wood.

"We will hold him out one more week just to be safe," Wood said. "So Hunter (Wood) will play quarterback for us this week."

Hunter Wood led the Wildcats last week by completing 6 of 10 passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns, and rushing for 108 yards on 22 carries and another score. Micah Seawood also had a huge game with four catches for 127 yards including a 56-yard touchdown reception.

Chris Wood said Hunter's size (6-foot-1, 180 pounds) was beneficial in the quarterback run game.

"They (Hunter and Blaise) are a lot alike in how they compete," Chris Wood said. "They are highly competitive. Hunter really hasn't been trained that much at quarterback, so he just kind of takes off when he needs to. Hunter is a bigger body, so he brings a little more to the run game."

That size was also beneficial last week when Pine Bluff was able to put a hit on him, but Hunter stayed in the pocket and delivered the throws, Chris said.

This week's foe is a familiar one as Har-Ber and Bentonville have staged some epic battles. The Tigers come into the game at 0-3, but Chris Wood said that record is deceiving.

"It's the first time we've played them this early in the season," Wood said. "It's like we told our guys. They are just a couple of plays away from being 2-1 like us. We've been able to find ways to win games when we haven't played our cleanest, and they've just come up a little short with a couple of opportunities.

"So there's really no difference in the two teams except for records, and you can't use records. We've all played good teams in nonconference, so records really don't mean anything at this point."

-- Chip Souza • @NWAChip

Fort Smith SOUTHSIDE

Williams to face longtime assistant Fimple

Like a lot of schools across the state this week, the Mavericks are trying to battle the unseasonably warm temperatures and had a couple of early morning practices in preparation of hosting Conway this week in the 7A-Central opener.

Coach Jeff Williams will see a familiar face across the field Friday night as longtime assistant coach Keith Fimple is now the Wampus Cats' head coach and has his team off to a 3-0 start.

"He's like a brother to me," Williams said. "But once the game gets going you forget about stuff like that and just focus on your kids."

Fimple was an assistant at Springdale Har-Ber before taking the Conway job in the summer. Williams said he had no doubt that Fimple would do well.

"He's a really good coach and you can see his handprints on the program in just a short time," Williams said. "He's had a little adversity like the double-overtime win against El Dorado and getting behind Bentonville and coming back to win, so his kids are battle-tested."

Williams said his team is healthy going into the conference opener. The Mavericks (2-1) are coming in off a 52-22 win against Rogers Heritage.

Defensive back Jaylin Coleman had a career night with three interceptions, including two that he returned for touchdowns.

"A lot of kids go a whole year and don't get three picks, and he did it in one game," Williams said.

Conway has a balanced attack, led by senior quarterback JoVoni Johnson (32-65 494 yards, 4 TDs) and running back Cary McClain (62-437, 3 TDs).

"I've been pleased with our offense, but we need to clean some things up," Williams said of his Mavericks. "We have had some foolish penalties, false starts and things like that, that we need to eliminate. We can't start out behind the chains against the good teams in this conference and be successful."

-- Chip Souza • @NWAChip

ROGERS HIGH

Mounties take momentum into league play

Mike Loyd called his Mounties' 28-27 win over Little Rock Parkview last week arguably the biggest in his tenure at Rogers.

Rogers (1-1) needed a late touchdown to take the lead and a stop to claim its first win of the season and the Mounties did it playing as many as six on both sides of the ball late in the game.

"A little old school," Loyd said. "We were watering them down and trying to sub as much as we could. I thought we were pretty physical. I think we shocked them a little bit. We made enough plays and got enough stops to win. It was a big win for us."

Linemen RJ Long and Valentin Camacho played somewhere close to 130 snaps, while TE/LB Matthew Watson, Will Sims, Mason Ross and Casey Allred also played both ways. Loyd also tapped offensive linemen Caleb Stanbery to play some on defense late.

Junior quarterback Hunter Loyd threw for 205 yards and accounted for three touchdowns (two rushing). Loyd's 1-yard run with less than four minutes left proved to be the deciding score.

The Mounties plays host to Van Buren this week to begin 7A-West Conference play. The Pointers present a different challenge from Parkview, which tried to run the ball more than throwing it last week. Van Buren will be more pass-oriented under first-year coach Casey Dick.

"It's gonna be the other extreme," Loyd said. "We're going air it out, spread it out, too. It'll come down to who makes the fewest mistakes. But we're gonna open it up ourselves. The game might end about 11:30."

-- Paul Boyd • @NWAPaulb

FAYETTEVILLE

Bulldogs show their resolve

The Fayetteville Bulldogs are doing a good job of putting last year's struggles behind them.

Fayetteville jumped ahead, fell behind, then rallied for a 36-35 victory over Bryant that left the Bulldogs 3-0 on the season. The fourth-quarter comeback was quite a reversal from last year when the Bulldogs lost a handful of close games, including two one-point defeats to Bryant, which began last week ranked No. 2 in Class 7A.

"Bryant had a great third quarter and it was like an avalanche coming down on us for eight or nine minutes there," Fayetteville coach Billy Dawson said. "But our players kept playing and our coaching kept coaching. We showed a lot of tenacity and resiliency and that says a lot about us."

The Bulldogs are focused now on Friday's 7A-West Conference opener against Bentonville West. Senior Darius Bowers is listed day-to-day after he was injured during the win over Bryant. Hank Gibbs, a junior who played a couple of series last week, will start at quarterback if Bowers is unavailable.

The Wolverines are 0-3 after being hit with injuries at key positions. But Fayetteville knows it can't overlook the Wolverines, who were the preseason pick by the majority of the league coaches to win the 7A-West.

Bentonville West beat Fayetteville 38-28 last year and won nine consecutive games before losing to Bentonville High.

"Bentonville West is very well-coached and they do a great job of getting the ball to different players," Dawson said. "They're explosive. They'll big-play you."

-- Rick Fires • @NWARick

LINCOLN

Wolves off to surprise start

Lincoln will carry plenty of momentum into Friday's 4A-1 Conference opener with Gravette at Wolf Pack Stadium.

The Wolves are 3-0 with an offense averaging 45 points per game. Lincoln features a balanced offense with senior quarterback Caleb Lloyd and running backs Christian Sellers and Christian Crittenden, who each rushed for over 100 yards in last week's 48-20 victory over Subiaco Academy.

Lloyd threw two touchdown passes and ran for three scores in the win over the Trojans.

"Our team starts with Caleb Lloyd and the things he's doing," Lincoln coach Don Harrison said. "Our offensive line is also doing a good job blocking for our running backs and giving Caleb time to throw. It helps when you've got two guys running for over 100 yards like Christian Sellers and Christian Crittenden did last week."

Lincoln hopes to take care of business against Gravette Friday, especially with a potentially big conference game looming the following week at Pea Ridge. Gravette is 0-3 but the Lions have a dangerous quarterback in Tajae White, who ran for over 900 yards and 10 touchdowns as a junior.

"It's an important game," Harrison said. "But we're going to practice the same way and treat this game like any other."

-- Rick Fires • @NWARick

MANSFIELD

Tigers off to strong start

Craig Bentley has spent the past two years molding the Mansfield football program into what he wanted including more of an emphasis in the weight room and that's paying dividends this season.

His Tigers are off to a 3-0 start for the first time since 2008, but he talked to his team about pushing forward during a bye week before beginning 3A-1 Conference play on Friday against West Fork.

"We've had to implement our program and expectations over the last two years," said Bentley, who is in his third year at Mansfield and in his first head coaching job. "The kids are understanding what we expect and what we're gonna have to do to be successful.

"We have a good group of juniors who won the conference in junior high and got thrust into key roles pretty quickly as sophomores."

Junior quarterback Ethan Stovall has accounted for 12 touchdowns (seven passing) through the first three games, after earning the starting job as a sophomore but missing time with a knee injury.

"He's the part that makes the engine go," Bentley said. "He's made a big jump from his sophomore to his junior year in understanding the offense and he's a run threat, too."

The Tigers finished only 2-8 a year ago, but a rash of injuries hurt, too, Bentley said.

"We lost three games by a touchdown or less," Bentley said. 'We could have easily been 5-5 or 6-4 and made the playoffs."

The strong start has been great, but Bentley has talked to his teams about reaching other goals, too.

"We told them it's been eight years since we've started 1-0 in conference, too," Bentley said. "We've put an emphasis on doing things that haven't been done in a long time and let's keep doing them. I'm impressed with the way our kids have handled the games so far."

-- Paul Boyd • @NWAPaulB

BENTONVILLE WEST

Injuries continue to plague Wolverines

The good thing about the start of 7A-West Conference play is West coach Bryan Pratt can leave his team's 0-3 start in the past and look ahead to the next seven weeks.

Pratt wishes he could do the same with the rash of injuries that has hit the Wolverines over the past month. West will still be without quarterback Will Jarrett, who was injured in the season opener against Owasso, Okla., and the Wolverines may have lost Pono Doctorello, a three-year starter at noseguard, for the remainder of the regular season with an injury he suffered during the game against Bryant.

"The injuries are still there," Pratt said. "We have some that are season-ending injuries and several that are waiting for a while. Will is still on crutches and won't be able to put any weight on it for another week.

"It's a deal where we're fighting through adversity. Not a lot of people thought we would start the season 0-3, including myself, but we're hoping the team can handle the adversity and get things going when it matters in conference play."

Wide receiver Jadon Jackson's playing status will be a game-time decision, Pratt said. Meanwhile, Slade Pearson -- who missed all of West's nonconference play -- will return this week to handle his duties as a deep snapper, but it will be at least another week before he sees action other than special teams.

"One thing we can say about our kids is they've never quit," Pratt said. "They've continued to play hard, and this will help us out in the future. For the second straight week, we played six sophomores on offense. That's good for the future, but not right now.

"The good thing is it's still early in the season. Nobody cares about your record right now. They want to know what your record is in November."

-- Henry Apple • @NWAHenry

GREEN FOREST

Tigers embark on 4A-1 Conference debut

After years of being a Class 3A school, Green Forest plays its first 4A-1 Conference game Friday when the Tigers travel to Prairie Grove.

"It's time for us to make a step up, and we're looking forward to it," Green Forest coach Bobby Bishop said. "It's not something we asked for. But with the growth in our community, we have to start competing as a Class 4A school.

"The first couple of weeks could be rough with Prairie Grove and Shiloh Christian. But we know what it's like because we've scrimmaged Prairie Grove and Gentry in the past and we've had Berryville and Huntsville on our schedule. I feel like we can compete with the bottom half of the conference, but we need to get where we can compete with the top half."

The Tigers (1-2) enter conference play following their first win of the season, a 31-30 decision against West Fork. Green Forest's defense denied West Fork on two-point conversion plays five times, then recovered a fumble with under 2 minutes remaining to seal with win.

"It was our best game of the season up to this point," Bishop said. "We didn't shut them down, but they didn't shut us down, either. It was a competitive game between two teams that want to get better.

"The win will give us some confidence heading into conference play against a tough Prairie Grove team. I've told our players just to play as hard as they can for as long as they can. It's very important that we go out there and play well."

-- Henry Apple • @NWAHenry

Sports on 09/20/2018