BOONEVILLE -- Johnny Barnes noticed something when he moved from Danville to Booneville prior to his ninth-grade year.
"The mindset here is one that I could never imagine," Barnes said. "It's amazing. When I came here, it was just shocking to see the mentality of this entire team."
Tradition runs deep in Booneville.
"Early on in the ninth grade, I'd look at a team and the guys are huge," Barnes said. "I'd ask them if they were scared, and they were like, 'no, we don't care.' Nobody cared about it at all; how big they were, how fast they were, where they're ranked. All they cared about was 'I'm going to kick your butt.' It was shocking."
Now, Barnes, a senior who starts on the offensive line and is on the rotation on the defensive line, is one of them.
"You get that mindset after a while," Barnes said. "We're going to go out there and smash you in the mouth and go our hardest until the last few seconds tick off."
That's why a third loss to Harding Academy to end nonconference play two weeks ago was difficult for the Bearcats and why the Wildcats won't get any Christmas cards from Barnes. Harding Academy eliminated Booneville from the playoffs the last two years, including last year in the Class 3A semifinals. With the way Harding Academy thrashed Prescott last year and McGehee two years ago in the championship games, the Bearcats are realistic in thinking the only thing in their way of winning a state title or two are the Wildcats.
"We could have won a state championship," Barnes said. "I saw some of my best friends, the seniors crying because it was their last game. It really affected me."
The Bearcats and head coach Doc Crowley eagerly accepted Harding Academy's invitation for a nonconference game this year when the Wildcats were moved up to Class 4A after being deemed overly competitive in Class 3A according to the new Competitive Equity Factor.
"I was a little shocked at first when I saw it on the schedule," Barnes said. "I was proud of Coach Crowley because they called and asked if we would play them so I'm proud of him for not backing down."
The game was easily one of the biggest nonconference games in the state in September, and one the Bearcats really wanted to win.
"The whole senior class was going all out all week, being leaders," Barnes said. "A lot of us gave speeches to the team prepping us up and telling them how much this game means to this team. Each day, we were watching film on them. We were out here late everyday going through every single play we had seen, every play they had run against us, every formation we thought they were going to throw against us."
Booneville suffered an early turnover, though, and never recovered with Harding Academy going on to a 44-14 win.
"We've got to move on from the turnovers, and we'll get that fixed," Barnes said. "I just thought, let's just get the ball back. Last year, I would make a mistake and I'd just beat myself up. Now, we just move on."
The Bearcats haven't shied away from anybody. They upgraded their nonconference schedule with a trip to Pine Bluff Dollarway to open the season and then played traditional rival Ozark. The Bearcats took something away from all of the games, leading up to 3A-1 conference play especially the game against Harding Academy.
"Against Dollarway, we had to get faster," Barnes said. "Ozark, we played pretty good. We didn't have many mistakes except on the offensive side and we cleaned them up. This game, we played a good game especially up front. We only had a few mistakes in the secondary. We were there, but we didn't make the play and they did. We've been watching all of the top teams, and we feel confident that this is the best team we'll see all year by far. We're pretty confident. I'm glad we played these guys. They showed what we have to get fixed especially on the defensive side, we need to condition more. We'll get that cleared up by playoffs for sure."
Barnes is a leader for the Bearcats in all aspects.
"His work ethic is just unbelievable," Crowley said. "He's one of the smartest kids I've ever coached. That's on the field and in the classroom. If he's not practicing football, he's got his head in the books somewhere. He's a great kid. He works his tail off, on the field and in the weight room. He's a freak."
That also helps Barnes play both guard and tackle on offense, and be in the consistent rotation on the line on defense.
"He's played guard for us, played some tackle," Crowley said. "He likes guard more so than tackle probably, but he does whatever we ask him to do. Being a smart kid like he is, he picks it up quickly. Whatever position we put him at, we feel like he can excel at it. Defensively, we've got five or six guys we rotate. He's one of those. He's going to be in the right gap, he's going to be where he's supposed to be, he's going to play hard. Most of our kids go both way. He knows he's got to work hard and stay in shape, and he does that."
Barnes scored a 30 on his American College Test and carries a 4.3 grade point average. He plans to either go to Arkansas Tech to become an anesthesiologist or to Ozarka College to become a commercial airline pilot. There's also a possibility that he will get offers to play college football.
"It's possible that I might get offers," Barnes said. "I will have to think about that pretty heavily. If I decide to be a commercial airline pilot, there's only one school in the state that offers that. I'll have to dedicate my future off of the pressure of people that want me to play college football."
His leadership qualities really started showing in the weight room during the offseason.
"He's not a kid of many words, but he's funny and has his own personality. You can't help but love him. The kids all love him. He's been a tremendous leader for us. That started in the weight room in the offseason. He dedicated himself in the weight room. He went up in all of his lifts. All the kids know that they know they can count on him to do what he's supposed to do."
At the state weight meet in May, Barnes lifted a combined 590 pounds with 245 power clean and 345 bench press to finish fifth in the 221-242 pound weight class.
He and fellow linemen Chase Plymale and Brett Welling all competed. Welling had a combined lift of 560 pounds in the 243-259 division while Plymale lifted 570 in the heavyweight division.
"They're mainstays for us," Crowley said. "There's lots of snaps between those three guys. They love football and love the weight room."
They were the only three that lifted in the state weight meet with their other seven lifters competing with the baseball team in the regional tournament.
"We would have won the whole thing if they had been there, but that's alright," Barnes said.
Barnes hasn't done squat since he was a sophomore to save his knees but lifted 455 then. His bench is up to 355, and he holds the school incline press record with 315 pounds.
"Absolutely, I love the weight room," Barnes said. "That's my favorite place."
The offensive line is obviously key for the ground-pounding Bearcats. They averaged 401 yards per game on the ground last year, rushing for 5,615 yards, which is second all-time in state history behind only Gosnell in 1998, according to the Arkansas Activities Association Record Book.
Last week, in a 75-46 win over Hackett, the Bearcats had 46 rushing attempts for 586 yards and scored 10 rushing touchdowns. They also threw for a touchdown, scoring on all 11 possessions.
Barnes, Welling, Plymale and fellow senior Cameron Osborne, who has really come on this season, form the nucleus of one of the best lines in school history.
"Those are our four seniors that have really done a good job for us up front," Crowley said. "All of our seniors are kind of in the same boat, playing a lot of offense and on defense. They jell really well together."
Johnny Barnes, 50, of Booneville, looks for a Harding Academy defender to block on Friday, Sept. 16, 2022. Barnes moved to Booneville from a neighboring town and quickly learned the culture in the Bearcats' program is far different from other football teams. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)
Johnn Barnes, Booneville seniorMore News
NoneJOHNNY BARNES
SCHOOL Booneville
CLASS Senior
HEIGHT 6-0
WEIGHT 245
THE SCOOP Barnes has started 23 games on the offensive line and also plays significantly on the defensive line. … He’s played both guard and tackle on offense, and leads the way for an offense that rushed for 586 yards last week against Hackett and for 5,615 yards last year, which was second all-time in state history. … Barnes has scored a 30 on his ACT and carries a 4.3 GPA. … He lifted a combined 590 pounds in the state weightlifting meet in May combined in both power clean and bench press.