By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
PARKIN--The Palestine-Wheatley Patriots want to finish second in the 3AA Conference. What they know for certain is they are assured of no less than third place when all is said and done.
The Patriots held off a determined Parkin team 16-14 Friday night to remain in a tie for second place in the league with Salem, a 32-8 winner over Cross County.
That makes the Patriots' season-ending game Friday at Salem a battle for the second seed into the Class AA state playoffs and home field advantage.
The loser will be the third seed and will open on the road at either Des Arc or Hazen from the 6AA. Barton leads that league while Hazen and Des Arc are tied for second.
Des Arc plays at Barton this week while Hazen plays Woodlawn.
Ray Gardner scored both Patriot touchdowns and finished with 167 rushing yards. P-W quarterback Clyde Kennedy passed for both two-point conversions.
P-W led 8-0 at the half but Parkin tied the game at 8-8 in the third. The Pats regained the lead early in the fourth with a touchdown and two-point play.
Parkin scored late in the game but missed the two-point try to come up just short.
Brandon Roberts finished with more than 100 rushing yards for the Patriots, 7-2 overall and 5-1 in the conference.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Sylvan Hills Bears put themselves back into contention for a postseason berth Friday by defeating the Forrest City Mustangs 26-7 at Sam Smith Stadium.
While the win gives the Bears a shot at the AAAAA-East's fourth seed, the loss all but ended Forrest City's hopes for a second straight state playoff appearance.
The Mustangs have dropped four of their last five games and are 4-5 overall and 2-4 in the conference with one last game remaining Friday against West Memphis, who beat Jacksonville 15-12 Friday to get into the race for the league's fourth seed.
Once again, it was the Mustangs' lack of offense that led to defeat.
"Offensively we are not very good," said Coach Donnie Willis. "The defense played well and made some big plays but you can't keep you defense on the field as long as we have been keeping our defensive unit on the field. They can only last so long before the game starts to wear them down."
In fact, Forrest City's lone touchdown against the Bears was by the defense when Tony Jones scooped up a Sylvan Hills fumble and returned it five yards for the Mustangs' only points.
The Bears scored twice in the first half to lead 14-0 at the break.
Chase Campbell scored on a 20-yard run with 6:24 to play in the second quarter and Chad Brown scored on a five-yard run with 1:17 showing.
The Bears tacked on a 46-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Colby Sanders to Keegan Dunn in the third to push the lead to 21-0 before Jones scored on the fumble recovery to cut the Bears' lead to 21-7.
Sanders hit Trey Beale with 8:19 remaining in the game to post the final score after missing the point after kick.
The Bears improve to 4-5 overall for the year and 3-3 in the conference, tied with West Memphis.
West Memphis owns the head-to-head tie-breaker over the Bears after a 14-13 win two weeks ago over Sylvan Hills, who will wrap up the season Thursday against Little Rock Mills.
Cabot locked up the conference title by turning away Jonesboro 41-7 Friday night. The defending Class AAAAA state champs will close out the season Thursday night at Jacksonville.
Jacksonville's loss to West Memphis left the Red Devils at 5-4 overall and 5-2 in the league, tied for second place with Mills, a 15-12 winner over Blytheville.
"We had to have wins over Sylvan Hills and West Memphis to get to postseason," Willis said. "Even if we get the win over West Memphis, it won't get us into the playoffs. All we can do now is try and get ready for Friday's game and next season."
The Mustangs finished with just 106 total yards against the Bears -- 73 rushing and 33 passing. Forrest City had only 25 rushing yards in the first half.
Lafayette Smith led the Mustangs with 51 yards on 16 carries while Montrell Ashcraft finished with 19 yards.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
HUGHES -- Suddenly Friday night's season-ending game against Dumas has new meaning for the Hughes Blue Devils.
Needing a win over Brinkley to clinch the second-place seed into the Class AAA playoffs from the 6AAA Conference, the Blue Devils stumbled Friday at home, losing to the Tigers 45-35.
Meanwhile, Dumas was putting away Lonoke 20-13.
Brinkley's win gives them the second seed behind Pine Bluff Dollarway, who has clinched the first place seed from the conference.
Hughes can wrap up the third place seed with a win over Dumas on Friday. A Dumas win leaves the Blue Devils in fourth while the Bobcats would take third.
The Blue Devils drilled Dumas 74-42 a year ago.
Hughes broke a 14-14 tie against Brinkley in the third quarter to lead 21-14 but three straight turnovers by the Blue Devils (two interceptions and one fumbles) led to 25 unanswered Brinkley points and a 39-21 lead to start the fourth quarter.
Hughes scored twice in the final quarter but couldn't overcome the Tigers' lead.
Hughes and Brinkley were tied at 7-7, 14-14 and 21-21.
A third place finish in the conference will send Hughes to Oak Grove for a first-round playoff game while a fourth place finish sends the Blue Devils to Pulaski Academy.
The Forrest City Junior Varsity Mustangs will close out their season tonight at Jonesboro.
The JV Mustangs are 6-2 going into the game.
The varsity Mustangs will close out their season on Friday, when they host West Memphis for the Cotton Bale Trophy game.