By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
PINE BLUFF -- For Altheimer, Saturday's Class AA state title game against Pangburn could be a wild ride.
But not as wild as Thursday's two-hour ride was which saw the Red Devils disqualified and then reinstated by the Arkansas Activities Association.
About 4 p.m. Thursday, AAA officials declared Altheimer ineligible to play for the Class AA basketball title game, and informed Melbourne, 65-51 losers to Altheimer in the AA state semifinals last Saturday, that they would be playing Pangburn.
At 6 p.m., the AAA reversed that course reinstated Altheimer and gave the team the go ahead to play in the title game.
Altheimer and Pangburn will close out the two-day, 10-championship game run when they take the court at Pine Bluff's Convention Center at 8:15 p.m., Saturday.
The state tournament finals begin this afternoon at 3:30 p.m., when Lonoke and Pulaski Academy hook up in the Class AAA boys' championship game.
In the meantime, AAA officials said they will continue their investigation into whether Altheimer coach Leon Harris is certified as a basketball coach with the state Department of Education, which prompted the two-hour melee Thursday.
Lance Taylor, associate executive director for the AAA, said if Harris is not certified, Altheimer will have to forfeit its entire season and the championship, if it wins the title.
In its earlier decision, the AAA concluded that Harris was not certified, forcing Altheimer to forfeit its wins and become ineligible for the championship game.
Based on that information, provided by a phone call to the AAA office, Altheimer was out and Melbourne was in.
Later, Taylor said Harris informed the AAA that he does in fact, have a provisional certification to allow him to coach and teach.
Taylor said the AAA will have to review the documentation and make a final determination.
Melbourne coach Mike Watson said he learned from Don Brodell, an AAA associate executive director, on Thursday evening that Altheimer was back in and Melbourne was out.
''I got a call from Don Brodell. He told me to wait. He said to practice like we were going to play, but he didn't know because Altheimer produced a document at 6 p.m. that they had to check with the Department of Education about. Brodell said he hated to do it to us, but they had to wait.
''I am confused and our players are confused,'' Watson said.
Melbourne Superintendent Gerald Cooper said when the AAA called earlier and offered the Bearkatz a spot in the title game, everyone was excited.
In 2001, poor monitoring of a supplemental instruction program forced Little Rock Central High School to give up its Class AAAAA state title.
The Tigers forfeited after a school board committee found that a player missed a class required under the program.
Central gave its title to crosstown rival Little Rock Hall, which it had defeated 63-59.
Altheimer is a member of the 6AA Conference, which includes Palestine-Wheatley.
In the featured girls' game today, West Memphis, the AAAAA-East champions and No. 1 ranked team in the state, will take on Bentonville at 5:15 p.m. in the Class AAAAA girls' title game.
West Memphis finished second a year ago, losing to Fort Smith Northside in the championship game.
Also today, the Class AAAA boys title will be decided as well as the Class A girls title.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Wynne's Todd Sparks earned medalist honors with a 38, but the Forrest City Mustangs took the overall team victory in the high school golf opener Thursday at Forrest City Country Club.
The Mustangs varsity boys won by one stroke 173-174 over the Yellowjackets.
Sawyer Ramsey led the way with a round of 40 while Jake Wade fired a 43 and Brian Hacker and Josh Coleman each finished with rounds of 45.
Sparks' 38 led Wynne while Matt Brown finished with a 43 and Joe McDermott finished at 45.
In junior varsity play, Forrest City's T.J. Drake shot a 70 in competition against seven JV players from Wynne, who combined for a 175.
In girls' action, Wynne's Morgan Hill finished the course with a round of 57 and Cori Kidder finished with a 67 to out-play Forrest City's Hannah Cohn, Paige Poteet and Marie Harris.
Cohn shot a 69 while Poteet finished with a 71.
Forrest City plays at West Memphis on Tuesday, March 18.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Jonesboro Lady Hurricane struck quickly and early Thursday in their AAAAA-East Conference fast-pitch softball game against Forrest City at the Sports Complex.
Jonesboro plated seven runs in the top of the first inning using three hits, five walks and one hit batter to set the stage for a 17-3 league victory over the Lady Mustangs.
The Forrest City girls fall to 1-3 overall for the year and 1-2 in the conference.
Forrest City travels to Jacksonville today for a varsity conference doubleheader beginning at 4 p.m.
Forrest City scored all three of their runs in the bottom of the fifth inning when Jessica Long and Angela Williams each singled and scored and Mallory Nelson walked and scored.
Jonesboro pitching held Forrest City to the three runs on seven hits. The Lady Mustangs stranded five runners.
Besides Long and Williams, Holly Simon, Tyeshia McDaniel, Jennifer Ballard and Kanetra Pendleton were the only other lady Mustangs to collect base hits.
Jonesboro also took the junior varsity game, winning 9-8 in four innings.
Forrest City led 6-3 after two innings before Jonesboro scored three times in the top of the third to tie the game at 6-6.
Jonesboro scored three runs in the top of the fourth to lead 9-6 before Forrest City's rally in the bottom of the inning fell short as the Lady Mustangs plated just two runs, leaving the tying and go-ahead runs stranded.
Randle Ross and Shardavia Davis led the JV team by scoring two runs each while Chasity Lowe, Risondra Deans, Amberly Elkins and Whitney Tracey scored single runs.
Registration for the adult men's and women's softball league has been extended until April 1. Adult league fees are $350 per team plus an additional $10 for each roster player living outside Forrest City.
Sign ups continue for the youth softball and baseball summer leagues.
For information call Kenneth Taylor at (870) 633-3667.