By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
OSCEOLA -- If Monday's preseason scrimmage game against Osceola was any indication of the what the future holds for Jonesboro, then the Hurricane haven't lost a step from last season.
"I thought that Jonesboro might be down a little this season," said Forrest City Coach Donnie Willis, after he and his Mustang coaching staff returned from watching the scrimmage. "But after seeing what they did against Osceola, Jonesboro may be even better than they were a year ago. They are not as big, but they are very good."
Despite losing nine starters on defense from its best season in 20 years, Jonesboro appeared in midseason form Monday night, dominating Osceola 41-14.
Jonesboro senior quarterback Jim Harris, an all-state selection who has drawn college attention from Arkansas and Illinois, drew much of Willis' praise.
"Harris is a phenomenal athlete," Willis said. "He did some things that you don't normally see at this level. He is a gifted athlete with natural ability."
It was a Jonesboro performance Willis didn't really want to see.
"Jonesboro looked very good and so did Osceola. Osceola is huge along the offensive line but they are learning a new offense which might have slowed them a little," Willis said. "We can match up with both teams, we just have to play mistake-free football."
The Mustangs get both Osceola and Jonesboro in back-to-back games this year.
Osceola is Forrest City's final nonconference opponent on Sept. 19 while Jonesboro is Forrest City's first AAAAA-East Conference opponent on Sept. 26. Forrest City travels to Osceola and hosts Jonesboro.
Harris picked up right where he left off for Jonesboro in 2002, passing for a pair of touchdowns and running for another to lead the Hurricane.
Harris completed 3-of-4 passes for 36 yards and rushed seven times for 84 yards in just two quarters before sitting out the entire second half.
His only rushing touchdown of the game was a 77-yard run midway through the second quarter when he scrambled out of the pocket and weaved his way down the field between defenders to the end zone.
"Let me put that into perspective," Willis said. "Osceola has some good athletes and good speed in their secondary. But he (Harris) made them look slow and out of position with that run."
JHS coach Jim DeVazier wasn't celebrating the 41-14 win.
"This game doesn't mean anything," DeVazier said. "Osceola is 0-0 and we are 0-0. It all starts next Friday night."
DeVazier did smile when the questions turned to Harris, who who transferred to Jonesboro last fall from Mississippi County Christian Academy and whose dad is the offensive coordinator for Osceola.
"Jim made some big plays. He's a big-play guy and he makes us go. He got some cramps there right before halftime and he has a little bit of a groin injury that was really getting tight on him and that's why we didn't play him in the second half," DeVazier said.
Jonesboro had 287 yards total offense while Osceola finished with 249. The Hurricane ran 49 plays from the line of scrimmage, amassing 251 yards on 45 carries.
Jonesboro junior tailback Cowan Hutson led the Hurricane with 74 yards on 11 carries. His 30-yard touchdown run on Jonesboro's first play of the second half gave the Hurricane a 27-6 lead.
Hutson took a hand-off on the play designed up the middle, cut to his left and then back to his right to avoid a pair of Osceola defenders and then exploded the final 15 yards on his way to scoring.
"Hutson proved Jonesboro is not a one dimensional team with just Harris," Willis said. "They have some good running backs."
Jonesboro lost nine senior starters on defense from last year's 9-3 team and entered the game with a reasonable concern about how the newcomers to the unit would perform.
The Seminoles, while able to move the football, couldn't convert their drives into points for most of the night as turnovers took a toll. Osceola fumbled six times, losing three and had one interception.
It was a long night from the Osceola sideline for former Former Forrest City Coach and current Seminoles coach Clinton Gore.
"One thing we haven't decided about is what we're going to do, what we're going to hang our hat on," Gore said about the team's new pass-oriented offense. "I thought we would throw and catch the ball a little bit better than we did. Every time we caught it, we threw it down on the ground after the play and they recovered it."
After Jonesboro went up 7-0, Osceola cut it to 7-6 with 9:44 to go in the first half as quarterback Evin Moore scored from one-yard after converting a fourth-and-8 with a 10-yard run the play before.
Jonesboro back-up quarterback Carter Harbuck followed Harris' lead by tossing an eight-yard scoring toss to junior split end Averey Taylor in the third quarter.
Jonesboro opens the season on Sept. 5, when they host New Madrid County, Mo. Osceola will host Blytheville in their season opener.
The Mustangs open on Sept. 5, when they host Wynne.
The Forrest City Mustangs will host West Helena tonight at Sam Smith Stadium in a preseason scrimmage sanctioned by the Arkansas Activities Association.
Admission at the gate is $1 and the scrimmage will begin at 6 p.m.
Mustang head Coach Donnie Willis said tonight's scrimmage will be a "controlled outing" for both teams.
"We want to see everyone play and we want to see how the players are going to respond in game situations," Willis added. "We will know a lot more about ourselves after tonight and what we have to do to get ready for Wynne."
The Mustangs will dress out about 54 players, including the largest senior class (25) since the early 90s.
The Calvary Christian School junior varsity and varsity volleyball teams picked up a pair of victories last Friday on their home court.
The JV Lady Eagles defeated Faith Heritage of Memphis in both matches.
Megan Best led the winning effort by scoring seven points off serve while Summer Hess had six as the junior varsity girls won 15-7, 15-6.
Following the JV game, the Lady Eagles took a straight game victory over Faith, winning 25-14, 25-11 and 25-5 under new volleyball rules this season in which teams have to win 3-of-5 games instead of 2-of-3 and game point being 25 instead of 15.
Katie McNair led the Lady Eagles by scoring 20 points off serve while Melissa Smith had 16 points and Hannah McMahand had 15.
Calvary will host Central Baptist Friday, Aug. 29. Calvary is coached by Carole Smith and Suzanne Hess.
*The Calvary Elementary Eagles soccer team won their opener last Saturday, defeating Central Baptist 11-0.
Seth Smith and Fletcher Myers scored three goals each while
Jeremy Barnett had two and William Burks and Hunter McMahand had
one goal each.
The Forrest City Junior Mustangs will play in a preseason jamboree tonight at Osceola.
The Junior Mustangs are coached by Rich Trail, Stan Siler, Barry Hodges and Sonny Shields.
The team officially opens the season on Sept. 4, at Marianna. The eighth-grade team opens Sept. 2 at home.