Saturday, at Little Rock's War Memorial Stadium, the final two state football championships will be decided.
Last Saturday, Fort Smith Southside won the Class AAAAA title and Stuttgart finished an unbeaten season by capturing the Class AAAA state title.
This time, it's defending state champion Warren taking on Rivercrest for the Class AAA title and Harding Academy going against Danville for the Class AA championship.
With that in mind, this is a good time to take a look back at the last 14 championship games.
1999: AAAAA-Fort Smith Northside over Springdale, 12-6; AAAA-Harrison defeats Alma, 10-7; AAA-McGehee over Nashville, 28-0; Shiloh Christian over Carlisle, 47-35
2000: AAAAA-Cabot defeats Fort Smith Southside, 28-21; AAAA-Greenwood over Hope, 30-2; AAA-Booneville downs Nashville, 29-21; AA- Rison in two overtimes over Shiloh Christian 30-29.
2001: AAAAA-Bentonville downs El Dorado, 23-16; AAAA-Wynne edges Stuttgart, 34-33; AAA-Warren over Booneville, 45-39; AA-Shiloh Christian over Augusta, 34-20
The state champs in the last six games have all had the bigger winning margin in the semifinals.
Southside won by 17 and Springdale won by 7 two weeks ago.
Stuttgart won by 25 and Sylvan Hills won by 19.
Coming into this week's finals, Warren won by 28 and Rivercrest won by 2 in Class AAA.
Harding Academy won by 22 and Danville won by 12 in Class AA.
That makes the pre-game hypothesis is an easy one -- the team winning by the larger margin did not have to play as hard the week before and will be more prepared and rested for the final task.
Here is one final look at Saturday's AA and AAA title games.
Rivercrest coach Mike Smith (65-19) led the Colts to a 6-1 record and a 3AAA Conference runner-up finish to Gosnell.
Rivercrest comes into its first championship game since 1986 with a 13-1 record. Defending state champion Warren is 13-1 and a healthy 36-5 under third-year head coach Bo Hembree.
Rivercrest owns a 29-20 playoff record and is making its 21st consecutive playoff showing in 2002.
Warren is 15-7 in playoff games and is in the championship game for only the second time in school history.
This will be the first meeting of the two schools.
From Rivercrest's point of view, whipping Warren is not impossible. The Colts were a 12-point underdog and on the road at Nashville last week and they came away 36-34 winners.
Warren has scored 39 points or more in all four of its playoff games leading up to this meeting.
The Lumberjacks are potent and have been over 40 on nine different occasions this year.
As stated above, it looks as if Rivercrest is as big an underdog as there has been in the playoffs over the years.
Teams, even when mismatched, are often within a touchdown of each other at this point simply because by getting this far they are one of the best football squads in the state.
Every team that reaches this point is, at the very least, on a four-game winning streak with at least two of those wins coming over conference-championship teams.
That's where Rivercrest is different. Due to good breaks, the Colts only met one conference champ along the way --7AAA tri-champion Nashville -- and only got by the Scrappers because of a missed 20-yard field goal.
Warren bids to become the first preseason pick to win the Class AAA crown since Osceola in 1997.
This classification was wide open at the start of the year with as many as 12 teams deemed capable of winning it all. Warren, though, has proven itself to be far superior than any of the other 11, including Rivercrest, which started the year at No. 5 ... Warren 32, Rivercrest 22.
Tommy Shoemaker (68-11) has the Harding Academy Wildcats at 14-0 on the season.
The Wildcats won the double-tough 6AA Conference with a perfect 9-0 record.
Coach Kenny Bell's Danville Little Johns are 14-0 and champions of the 4AA Conference. Bell is 53-38 at the helm of the Little Johns.
Harding Academy is 37-17 in postseason action and reached the playoffs for the eighth consecutive year.
Danville is 26-21 in postseason action and is coming off its first two post-Thanksgiving victories since 1980.
Danville has won both meetings, which were played 29 years apart.
Just two years ago, the Little Johns derailed Harding Academy, 37-20, in a second-round matchup at Searcy.
Danville lost the next week to eventual state champion Rison.
The most important meeting of the two schools came in the 1971 Class B State Championship game -- the second one ever held in Arkansas. Danville, under coach Hugh Parker, came away a 20-7 winner in a game played at Estes Stadium in Conway.
While the 1AA and 4AA Conferences may be two of the weakest in the state, there's always been a Northwest Arkansas presence in the title game since Shiloh Christian made its initial appearance in 1997.
This is the sixth consecutive year that a team from either the 1AA or 4AA has made it to the final game and the Northwest Arkansas' Shiloh Christian has won three of the previous five.
Danville enters the game with a pair of upset victories, including the 21-12 toppling of then-No. 1 Mineral Springs two weeks ago.
The Little Johns were underdogs once again when they defeated Mount Ida, 19-7, last Friday in front of its own friendly faces in Yell County.
Harding Academy has scored more than 600 points this year, but has given up more than twice as many points as Danville.
Defense usually wins championships, but Harding Academy's offense is so overpowering that the Wildcats hung 41 points on a Junction City team that was holding opponents to under 10 a game.
The question that begs to be asked is whether Danville can get the ball in the end zone and eat up the clock.
The fewer possessions the Wildcats have, the few chances they will have to score on Danville.
This could be very similar to last year's Shiloh Christian-Augusta game with the underdog chewing up the clock.
Eventually, however, Augusta ran out its own time and finished on the short end of a two-touchdown verdict. Danville can't allow Harding Academy to grab a big early lead or it will be over.
On the other hand, if Danville can just stay close until the end, there could be an upset in the making, probably not ... Harding Academy 32, Danville 26.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
PARAGOULD -- Defending champion Poplar Bluff, Mo., leads a talented field for the ninth annual McDonald's Shootout girls' high school basketball tournament, which begins today at Paragould High School.
The Lady Mules will draw a first-round bye in the tournament though since Obion County (Tenn.) Central pulled out of the tournament late and tournament director Kevin Gill was unable to replace the Lady Rebels.
Also absent from the Shootout field are the Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots, who under first-year coach Lanny Allen, opted to play in the Arkansas Tech Tournament of Champions this year.
The Lady Patriots' first trip to the tournament was during the 1998-99 season when they went 1-2, beating Izard County and losing to Greenwood and Marion.
The next year (1999-2000) the Lady Patriots reached the tournament finals after defeating Glendale, Mo. and Jonesboro, only to lose to Paragould 45-42 to finish second.
The Lady Patriots went on to win 19 of their final 21 games that year.
After sitting out the 2000 Shootout, the Lady Patriots were back in the field last year and finished 0-3.
Today's first-round games include Jonesboro and Bentonville at 5:30, followed by Paragould taking on Valley View at 7 and unbeaten Greene County Tech facing Pocahontas at 8:30.
Poplar Bluff takes on the GCT-Pocahontas winner in one semifinal at 7, while the other two first-round winners square off at 8:30 Friday.
The championship game is scheduled for Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
HAZEN -- If the unbeaten Palestine-Wheatley Patriots can get past C.V. White tonight at Hazen, the team has a chance to win it's second tournament title in as many weekends.
The Patriots (7-0) will play C.V. White today at 5:30 p.m., in the semifinals of the Hazen Invitational Tournament.
Last week, the Patriots defeated Stuttgart to win the DeWitt Invitational.
P-W advanced to tonight's game by defeating DeValls Bluff 62-46 Tuesday.
In tonight's second semifinal game, Hazen will play Carlisle Thursday at 8:30 p.m.
The two semifinal winners will play for the tournament title Saturday at 8:30 p.m. The two semifinal losers will play for third Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
Likewise, the P-W Lady Patriots, with only one loss so far this year, will play Carlisle tonight in semifinals action at Hazen. P-W downed Des Arc Tuesday to advance.
In tonight's second girls' semifinal other game, McCrory will play Hazen.
The two semifinal winners will play for the tournament title Saturday at 7 p.m. while the two semifinal losers will play at 4 p.m. in the consolation game.
Also tonight, the Forrest City Blue and White junior high basketball teams will square off at Mustang Arena.
The three-game set begins at 5 p.m.
* PREP BASKETBALL
Thursday, December 12
Tournaments
Senior Boys
Palestine-Wheatley vs CV White, 5:30 p.m.
Hazen vs Carlisle, 8:30 p.m.
Senior Girls
Hazen Invitational at Hazen
Thursday, December 12
Hazen vs McCrory, 4 p.m.
Palestine-Wheatley vs Carlisle, 7 p.m.
Friday, December 13
Hughes at Crawfordsville, 5 p.m.
(JBoys, SGirls, SBoys)
Monday, December 16
Sylvan Hills at Forrest City, 5 p.m.
Junior High
Thursday, December 12
FCity Blue vs FCity White, 5 p.m.
(at Mustang Arena)
* PREP FOOTBALL
State Playoffs
at LR War Memorial Stadium
Class AAA Championship
Rivercrest (13-1) vs. Warren (13-1), noon.
Class AA Championship
Harding Academy (14-0) vs. Danville (14-0), 6:30 p.m.