By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Dwight Lofton's Forrest City Mustangs haven't played since Dec.5.
That's a 10-day lay off.
That concerns Lofton, whose Mustangs were just beginning to come into their own with back-to-back victories over Little Rock Central and Wynne.
Tonight, Forrest City makes the short trip to Wynne for the rematch.
The three-game set begins at 5 p.m., when the junior varsity Mustangs take the court. The Lady Mustangs will play second followed by the senior boys.
"I'm a little concerned about being off for so long," Lofton said. "While the time off has allowed the kids to hit the books a little harder for semester tests, I'm a little worried about the conditioning factor going into tonight."
In the first meeting between the two teams, Wynne nailed 11, three-pointers but still failed to make up the difference in the 77-62 loss to Forrest City.
The Mustangs complete the nonconference portion of their schedule on Saturday, when they go to Marianna for a 5 p.m. start.
Why Saturday?
Because Marianna is playing Little Rock Fair Friday night and both needed to play their home stand against Forrest City.
The Mustangs defeated Marianna on Nov. 21, at Mustang Arena.
Saturday's game will include a junior varsity girls' game.
"We need to get back into the mix," Lofton said. "We have a good chance to hit the holiday break at 6-3 with a win tonight and a win on Saturday."
The Mustangs will play at the Osceola Invitational Tournament over the Christmas holidays and will open on Saturday, Dec. 27, against Hughes at 2 p.m.
Meanwhile, Sue Jayroe's Lady Mustangs have been anything but idle.
The senior girls played three games overt the weekend at the McDonald's Shootout in Paragould, finishing 1-2.
The Lady Mustangs lost to poplar Bluff, Mo. and Central Arkansas Christian before defeating Paragould in Saturday's seventh-place game.
Jayroe's girls defeated Wynne in the first meeting at Mustang Arena but have not played Marianna yet -- as a varsity anyway.
In the first meeting between the two schools, the girls' game was a junior varsity matchup.
The Lady Mustangs enter tonight's game at 3-6 with four of those losses coming in two different tournaments.
The girls have one tournament remaining -- the Lady Cat Classic, which begins Dec. 27, at Conway.
After a poor showing against Poplar Bluff last Thursday, the Lady Mustangs regrouped on Friday and Saturday to play much better against CAC and Paragould.
The Forrest City Junior Mustangs received their AAAAA-East Conference championship t-shirts Monday. The Junior Mustangs completed a 6-2-1 season that included a 5-1 mark in the conference, which helped the team secure the league title.
The Junior Mustangs were coached Rich Trail, Stan Siler, Barry Hodges and Sonny Shields.
Forrest City returned to the one-team format at the junior high school level after three seasons of fielding two teams in each sport.