By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Provided Wynne doesn't pull a Hughes and cancel Thursday, Forrest City will open the junior high basketball season.
The Junior Mustangs and Junior Lady Mustangs were set to open Monday night, but because the Hughes football team is playing into the postseason, that game was cancelled.
"I know Wynne's football team has made the playoffs too, but I don't think that will affect their junior high basketball teams," said Forrest City Coach Jimmy Williams.
Williams will coach the Junior Mustangs this season after guiding both the Blue boys and girls Mustang squads a year ago.
His Blue Mustangs finished fifth in the conference and with an overall record of 15-7. The Blue team opened with a six-game winning streak.
The Blue girls finished 6-12 for the year.
Also this year, the junior high basketball program reverts back to just one team after three seasons of fielding a Blue team and a White team.
Williams has a good mixture from each.
"I think we got eight players from the White team a year ago and seven players from the Blue team," Williams said. "So we have a good blend and I think a lot of talent on the floor."
The White Mustangs, who were coached last season by Sonny Shields, finished 4-14. Shields moves over to assist Williams this season and will coach the eighth-grade boys.
The White girls' team, coached last year by Monty Thornton, finished 3-14. Thornton moves up to assist high school girls' coach Sue Jayroe this season, along with Amber Main.
However, that doesn't mean the Junior Mustangs are as ready as they should be for Thursday's opening game.
All of Williams' players, except for two, played football, which means the Forrest City coach has only had the majority of his team on the practice floor for a little more than week.
"We're not totally ready," Williams said. "But we need to play and we will try to play the best we can against Wynne. It's good that we have basically the same guys as last year and we are bringing back some experience."
Williams said he will be counting on Stephon Weaver and Marcus Britt as the on-field leaders this season.
"They both played AAU ball all summer and did very well. They will bring a lot of experience back with them," Williams said.
But the Junior Mustangs should be more than a two-man team. Williams says Kelson Stewart, Rylan Nimocks and Terrill Lee will be key factors for the team this season as will Chad Doyle, Kellon Bowman, Jeremy Washington and Wilson Parker.
"We should be able to go very deep on the bench," Williams said. "We have some talent."
Williams expects his Junior Mustangs to be contenders for the AAAAA-East Conference title along with perennial favorites West Memphis Wonder and Jonesboro Annie Camp.
Also, of note, the AAAAA-East Conference junior high tournament will be played at Forrest City's Mustang Arena this time around.
The Forrest City Mustangs will open the season on Tuesday, Nov. 18, when they travel to Little Rock to play the Central Tigers in their opening game.
The Lady Mustangs will open Monday, Nov. 17, at the Heavenly Hoops Tournament at Mount St. Mary's in Little Rock.
Both teams will play in the Rumble on the Ridge Thanksgiving Tournament.
The Lady Mustangs will play an exhibition game against the Pulaski Academy Lady Bruins on Saturday, Nov. 29, immediately preceding the Rumble championship game at 6:30 p.m.
It is the first time in the seven-year Rumble that the schedule has included a girls contest.
The Wheatley Junior High Invitational basketball tournament will be played Thursday and Saturday at Wheatley Junior High gym.
The tournament will feature the Palestine-Wheatley Junior Patriots and Junior Lady Patriots as well as McCrory, Cross County and Brinkley.
Two boys games and two girls games will be played Thursday and the championship and consolation games will be played Saturday.
The Junior Lady Patriots are the defending champs from last year's tournament while the Junior Patriots lost to Brinkley in last year's boys' final.
The junior girls will open their season tonight at Patriot Gym against Arkansas Baptist as will the senior Patriots and Lady Patriots. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m.