Tuesday, February 25, 2003

Snow leaves Mustangs in holding pattern

By FRED CONLEY

T-H Sports Editor

At least for tonight, snow has proven to be mightier than a hurricane.

Tonight's scheduled game between the Forrest City Mustangs and the Jonesboro Hurricane has been cancelled due to the inclement weather which moved across the state Monday night.

That means Dwight Lofton's Mustangs will have to wait a few more days to know if they will be playing at the Class AAAAA state tournament.

According to Forrest City Athletic Director Mike Bender, both schools will try to reschedule the game for either Thursday or Friday.

"We're going to look at Thursday as our first option," Bender said. "If that doesn't work out, then we will go Friday."

Even with pushing the game back, and should the Mustangs clinch a state tournament berth, the team would not open postseason play until Wednesday, March 5, at North Little Rock, site of this year's tournament.

"We have time to reschedule," Bender said.

Forrest City is locked in a tie for fourth place in the AAAAA-East with Blytheville with Jonesboro sitting in third place.

A Forrest City win over Jonesboro and a Searcy win over Blytheville in the final season games, would leave all three teams with identical 8-6 conference records, bringing into play the various tie-breaker rules to determine the league's No. 3 and No. 4 seeds into the state tournament.

West Memphis, the East conference champs, have already clinched the No. 1 seed into the state tournament while Searcy has already clinched the No. 2 seed.

The Mustangs are trying to return to postseason play after missing the cut last year.

Forrest City last made state tournament appearances in the 2000-01 season, losing to Camden-Fairview in the first round and during the 1999-00 season when they lost to LR Central in the first round.

The Mustangs made the cut during the 1997-98 season, losing to Springdale in the first round.

The Jonesboro girls have clinched the No. 3 seed into the state tournament.

The Forrest City Lady Mustangs will finish fifth in the league and are not in contention for a state tournament bid.

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Weather delays annual Razorback Rally for a while

By FRED CONLEY

T-H Sports Editor

A winter storm which moved across portions of northwest Arkansas Sunday combined with Monday night's snowstorm has postponed this year's annual Arkansas Razorback Rally.

The Rally, sponsored by the East Central Arkansas Razorback Club, was scheduled for Wednesday night at the Forrest City Civic Center with Arkansas football coach Houston Nutt set to be the featured speaker.

Tuesday morning, Buddy Billingsley said the weather and conditions are just too bad to try and hold the banquet.

"We are concerned about getting people here for the event and we just feel like the weather will keep a lot of people from attending, so we are going to postpone it for a while."

Billingsley said he is working toward an early April date.

"We are looking at two dates right now in April, both are tentative," Billingsley added. "We will try to nail one of the dates down as soon as we can."

Nutt was the featured speaker at the Rally two years ago.

Besides Nutt, former Forrest City Coach Harold Horton and former UA Razorback baseball coach Norm DeBriyn are scheduled to attend the rally.

Tickets are available now from several local merchants or from Billingsley by calling 633-4941.

The fourth annual Harold Horton Award will once again be announced at the Rally.

The Horton Award is given to the one Arkansas student-athlete who best serves the community during his UA career.

Don and Ellen Edmondson of Forrest City initiated the award through the Razorback Foundation in recognition of Horton's career as an Arkansas player, coach, recruiting coordinator and administrator.

Plaques honoring all four Horton Award recipients will be placed on the Hall of Honor at Mustang Arena according to Billingsley.

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