Benton has been knocking on the Class 6A title door for the past two seasons.
Coach Brad Harris said it's time for his Panthers to do more than just tap.
"It's time for us to break the door down," he said. "We've been in the Class 6A title game two years in a row, and that's in the back of our minds and our kids' minds. It's time for us to take that next step now.
"We don't know if it'll be this year's group or not. But our message is to get back there because that's the expectation of Benton football now."
There's no better time to make a move in a class that some coaches say is up for grabs.
"It's wide open, I think," Jonesboro Coach Randy Coleman said. "I think we'll definitely be able to compete with anybody, but I think it'll be as competitive as it's been in a long time."
Harris agreed, even though the Panthers have starters back in pivotal spots, especially at quarterback and in the secondary.
"I think it's a really big toss-up," he said. "We've talked about it a lot. I think Lake Hamilton is going to be really good, particularly on offense. Greenwood isn't going anywhere, and you've got Little Rock Parkview jumping in the mix now after making the move from 5A. They've got a lot of talent there.
"And over in the East, one of the scariest teams that we always seem to see is Jonesboro. Then you've got West Memphis and Marion. Look at what Searcy did last year to win the title. It's going to be as competitive as ever."
Harris likes what he sees out of senior quarterback Garrett Brown, who threw for 3,093 yards and 27 touchdowns last year for a team that scored 27 points or more 10 times.
"He's been sharp, really sharp," Harris said. "Anytime you can bring a quarterback back that's got as many starts under his belt that he has, it's a good thing. He's gotten a little taller, and his arm strength has improved a little bit."
Junior Cain Simmons and senior Cade Smith spearhead the defense from safety positions.
"We graduated some really good players from last year," Harris said. "So we'll have some different faces, but we like what we've got."
Rick Jones, who led Greenwood to eight state titles during a 16-year stint, resigned from the school in February to become a consultant at the University of Missouri for Coach Eliah Drinkwitz. Longtime assistant Chris Young is now at the helm for the Bulldogs.
The coaching change does nothing to sway Harris' opinion about his 6A-West foe.
"Greenwood is going to be Greenwood," he said. "They're going to do what they do. I know coach Jones has left, but they've got a different mentality up there."
That mind frame is a big reason why Young is confident the Bulldogs will be in the thick of things.
"We feel like we have some great pieces to the puzzle," he said. "It's just a matter of fitting them all together. Obviously, there will be a learning process at a couple of spots for us, particularly at quarterback and in the secondary."
Senior running back Hunter Wilkerson, 5-11, 194 pounds, ran for 1,251 yards and 21 touchdowns last season for Greenwood, including a 219-yard, 4-score outing in the semifinals against eventual champion Searcy.
Big things are also expected out of senior Jordan Hanna, who's made the move from the defensive line to linebacker.
"It's hard for us to even get a play off in practice because he's disrupting stuff," Young said about Hanna, who had 118 tackles and nine sacks in 2019. "The guy's motor never stops. He's going full speed all the time. Moving him around a little bit will give us an opportunity to take advantage of that."
Lake Hamilton Coach Tommy Gilleran benefits from one of the top running back tandems in 6A, powered by Owen Miller. The junior rushed for 1,950 yards and 23 touchdowns last year for Lake Hamilton, which saw a promising 2019 season end on the road at West Memphis in the second round of the playoffs. Fellow junior Tevin Woodley tacked on 1,250 yards and 19 touchdowns on the ground.
That pair will have to shoulder the bulk of the offensive load until starting quarterback Layne Warrick returns from an injury.
The senior, who totaled 1,024 yards and 11 touchdowns before suffering a season-ending foot injury last year, broke his collarbone during a scrimmage against Arkadelphia on Aug. 17. Gilleran said Warrick could be back by the time conference play begins in late September.
"We feel like we've got pretty good depth," Gilleran said. "Aside from Layne's injury, things have been going pretty good for us. We lost three offensive lineman from last year, too. But overall, we've got some talented kids that we think can help make up for what we've lost."
Jonesboro isn't anticipating a huge drop off on either side of the ball. Senior quarterback Cross Jumper is being relied upon to help the team take the next step.
"He's looked really great," Coleman said of Jumper, who accumulated 2,285 yards of offense and 20 touchdowns as a junior. "He's doing things on his own now, making checks, changing protections and communicating with linemen. When your quarterback can do that, that's when you know he's taken his development to the next level."
For Jonesboro's defense, senior cornerback Brodie Williams recently committed to Navy while senior linebacker Marco Avant, who transferred in from Forrest City, has pledged to play for the University of Arkansas.
Those two, along with defensive tackle Nate Light and linebacker Cameron Clark, are expected to carry a unit that surrendered 16 points per game a year ago.
Bolding has several players who hold college offers at Parkview, with senior quarterback Landon Rogers and senior tight end Erin Outley both committed to Arkansas.
"We've got some really good players, and with that, expectation levels rise," Bolding said. "When you've got four or five Division I players, you should win, you should be successful. Still, there's a lot of things that go into that, like having luck and staying healthy. You've got to kind of have a combination of all those things to have success."
Rogers, 6-5, 220 pounds, threw for 1,624 yards and 19 touchdowns last season. He'll have running back James Jointer back after the junior missed the final eight games last year because of a torn ACL.
The Patriots are big along the interior and have eight starters back on defense.
"What's going to help us big time is the fact that we don't have anyone playing both ways," Bolding said. "That's always a plus, and you can already see that in our practices. We're way better than we were at this time last year."