By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Forrest City Mustangs and Lady Mustangs will end the regular season tonight when they travel to Cabot for their final AAAAA-East Conference game.
There is little drama surrounding the season finale for either of the teams.
Last Friday, the Mustangs defeated West Memphis to secure a place in the upcoming Class AAAAA State Tournament for the second consecutive year.
They got a little help from Sylvan Hills, who knocked off Jonesboro, which secured the tournament's No. 3 seed for Forrest City. It doesn't matter how tonight's game against Cabot turns out -- the Mustangs will still be the third seed into the state tournament bracket.
The Lady Mustangs are playing out the season, having been eliminated from postseason play several games ago.
Likewise, both Cabot teams are on the outside looking in, unusual for the Lady Panthers, usually a perennial postseason favorite.
The Mustangs, 11-11 overall, can equal their best conference mark under fifth-year coach Dwight Lofton with a win over the Panthers tonight.
A win would leave the Mustangs at 9-5 in the league, which would be the same as last year's ending mark.
This marks the team's third trip to postseason under Lofton. They are still looking for a first-round win.
Chances are, the Mustangs will face Camden-Fairview in the first round of the state tournament, which will be played at Forrest City.
Camden-Fairview plays Texarkana tonight in their final game and a win would allow them to lock up the AAAAA-South's No. 2 seed setting up the first-round game against Forrest City on Thursday, March 1, at 5:30 p.m.
Pine Bluff will be the No. 1 seed from the South while El Dorado and Lake Hamilton are battling for the third and fourth seeds.
Jonesboro will represent the East as the No. 4 seed while Blytheville is No. 2 and Little Rock Mills is the No. 1 seed.
Tonight's two-game set begins at 6 p.m.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
BEEBE--Hughes Coach Wes Swift has a simple answer when it comes to questions about his first-round matchup against little-known Lamar in the Class AAA Region 3 Tournament which starts Wednesday at Beebe High School.
"If we play like we're capable of playing, then we will win," Swift said.
Swift, in his fourth year with the Blue Devils, has his sights set on a return to the Class AAA State Tournament.
His team made it last year only to be ousted by Lonoke in the semifinals. The Jackrabbits went on to win the state title.
As they say, that was then and this is now.
Swift's Blue Devils have played Lonoke three times this season and own three victories -- the latest one coming last Saturday night when the Blue Devils took a 61-56 victory in the 6AAA District Tournament finals.
The Blue Devils are one of two No. 1 seeds into the regional tournament, the other being Pulaski Academy.
The Lamar Warriors, making their first postseason appearance since 1993, are 13-12 for the year and upset Beebe in the semifinals of the 5AAA district to get to the regionals.
Warrior Coach Shane Thurman, also in his fourth year, says facing Hughes "won't be easy."
"I went and watched them play Lonoke Saturday and I was very impressed with what they do as a team," Thurman said. "Their quickness will be a problem for us and as far as I could see they are solid at every position. Hughes plays about nine deep."
Thurman says he can go about nine deep into his roster, with one glaring difference -- "Beyond my starting five, my bench doesn't have the quality that Hughes has."
Lamar is led by 6-2 power forward Caleb English, who is averaging 17 points per game and eight rebounds and 5-10 shooting guard Justin Wyles, who is averaging about 14 points per game.
Swift says he has not seen Lamar play.
"I don't know much about them," Swift said. "We just have to go and play and do what we do best and I think if we do that, we can stay in the driver's seat."
The Blue Devils are 28-1 on the year and ranked seventh in the most recent Associated Press basketball poll.
A year ago, the Blue Devils defeated Pulaski Academy in the first round of the regional tournament, lost to Pulaski Robinson in the semifinals and then defeated Pine Bluff Dollarway in the third-place game to earn their ticket to the state tournament.
Hughes and Lamar will tip at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday. The winner gets the Oak Grove-Dumas winner on Friday.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
If the weather holds, the Forrest City Mustangs will step onto the baseball field at the Sports Complex Thursday against Searcy.
Hopefully, that will happen at 4 p.m. in a varsity-junior varsity doubleheader.
The Mustangs were originally scheduled to open the season today at West Helena, but that game was reset to Friday a couple of weeks ago.
Probably for the best.
"We couldn't have played it today even if we had wanted to," said first-year Mustang coach Reggie Murphy. "Everything is still too wet."
Thursday is still a wait-and-see situation. Weather forecasters are calling for rain between now and then.
The West Helena game will be played in Forrest City Friday.
"We're still working hard but we really don't know if we're ready or not," Murphy said. "I think we're ready. The kids have been working hard. We've spent a lot of time on drills and fundamentals and now we just need to go out and play and see where we are at."
Murphy said he is very close to determining a starting nine.
"There are a couple of positions that could go either way," Murphy said. "There will be a lot of kids who will get a chance to play. Several kids have stood out and others are still competing."
Murphy said his Mustangs will have a lot of speed on the bases and he plans to use that speed.
"Right now, we are a little stronger in the infield than we are in the outfield, but I think once we can get those guys who are still in basketball dressed out, that will certainly help us."
Murphy says he plans to use a three-man pitching rotation and that could go to four later in the season.
The bats are coming along as well.
"We have spent a great deal of time in the cage hitting against live pitching and the bats are coming around," Murphy added.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots are one of two Arkansas high school girls' teams to earn a national ranking.
The Lady Patriots (28-1) are ranked 14th in the Fox Fab 50 Southwest Region rankings.
The seven-state Southwest Region includes Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
Fort Smith Northside (21-2) is No. 3 in the region rankings and also is in the national Fox Fab 50.
Northside and Palestine-Wheatley are currently ranked one-two in the most recent Arkansas polls.
Criteria for the rankings comes from strength of schedule, won-lost records and from word-of-mouth by state media representatives.
The Lady Patriots will open Class AA Region 6 Tournament play on Wednesday, against Augusta.
P-W is the No. 1 seed into the regional, which is being played at Harding Academy in Searcy.
They are the two-time defending regional tournament champs.