The Palestine-Wheatley Patriots have been to postseason five times since resuming football in 1996.
Tomorrow's first-round game against Hazen will be No. 6 and the team's fourth consecutive trip. It will be the Patriots first home playoff game since hosting Altheimer in 1996.
What the Patriots haven't done is win a first round game.
Friday night, the Patriots hope to change that and if they can carry their regular-season efforts into the playoffs, it should be an easy win for P-W.
The Patriots, the No. 1 seed from the 3AA Conference, are picked by 10 and it probably will be worse. The Patriots are ranked second in Class AA in points scored with 457 and lead the state in offensive yards gained with more than 4,000 for the season.
P-W led the 3AA in points allowed, giving up just 92 points in 10 games on the way to a 9-1 overall season mark, the teams best since returning to football.
Hazen, the No. 4 seed from the 6AA Conference, comes in at 5-4 and were fifth in the 6AA in scoring and third in points allowed.
Patriots 27, Hornets 17
Likewise, the Hughes Blue Devils are making their third straight trip into postseason, the teams fifth since 1995.
In five previous first-round games, the Blue Devils are 1-3. Hughes made it to the quarterfinals a year ago as the No. 2 seed and the co-champions of the 3AA.
Their seeding is the same for Friday night's home game against Carlisle, the No. 3 seeded team from the 6AA.
Hughes, 8-2 overall, ranks fourth in Class AA in points scored, second in the 3AA.
Carlisle is 6-3 for the year and was the fourth best scoring team in the 6AA and the second best team in points allowed.
The Bison defeated Marked Tree last year in the first round before losing to Mount Ida in round two.
The Blue Devils defeated Des Arc, and Jessieville before running into powerful Junction City.
Hughes gets the nod this time but only slightly over Carlisle.
Blue Devils 28, Bison 27.
The rest of Friday's AA first round playoff games look like this: AA -- Pea Ridge 20, Danville 18; Barton 33, Earle 14; Bearden 26, Gillett 14; Gurdon 21, Glen Rose 13; Altheimer 26, Hampton 20; Charleston 35, Ola 10; Dierks 28, Jessieville 21; Hector 31, Mountainburg 14; Junction City 42, Eudora 14; Lafayette County 34, Mount Ida 20; Rison 38, Norphlet 13; Augusta 21, Cross County 14; Bauxite 22, Mineral Springs 20; Elkins 34, LR Christian 31.
*One of the most intriguing playoff games Friday will be Pine Bluff playing at Fayetteville in the Class AAAAA setting.
Pine Bluff (8-2) tied for the Class AAAAA-South title, but the Zebras came out of a four-way tie with the fourth seed and the long trip north. Lake Hamilton put Pine Bluff in this predicament with a 37-30 victory last week.
The loss stopped Pine Bluff's five-game winning streak and denied the Zebras a second straight outright league title.
Instead of playing Bryant, the fourth seed from AAAAA-Central, at home, Pine Bluff draws the most athletic team in the state after a four-hour bus ride.
However, Fayetteville (9-1) didn't enter the playoffs on an upswing, either. The Purple Dogs clinched the No. 1 seed out of AAAAA-West on Oct. 31 by whipping defending state champion Fort Smith Southside, 42-9.
They were prepared to wrap up their first undefeated season since 1957 and first outright conference title since 1963, but Bentonville, a team playing its last game of the season, stopped Fayetteville cold.
The Purple Dogs looked like a team that expected Bentonville (3-6) to roll over. Instead, Fayetteville gained just 99 yards and was shutout 33-0.
The key for Fayetteville this week will be if injured quarterback Woody Wilson, who has committed to Arkansas, is able to play. The offense obviously missed his play-making ability.
Fayetteville 31, Pine Bluff 29
*Top-ranked Little Rock Central rolled through the regular season as the only undefeated team in Class AAAAA. The Tigers stuffed every good offensive team they played, including Conway and its running tandem of Peyton Hillis and Kevin Wardlow.
Central opens the playoffs with another bruising fullback-type in Searcy's Weston Dacus. Searcy advanced to the playoffs with wins over Blytheville and Mountain Home the past two weeks since losing 35-20 to Jonesboro.
Those wins were against teams that combined for one win this year. The Tigers should have no problem advancing to the second round.
LR Central 34, Searcy 15
*Cabot (8-2) starts its run to match its 1999 state championship season with a first-round game against Russellville. The Panthers ran through Class AAAAA-East undefeated after dropping non-league games to Conway and Little Rock Central.
The Cyclones (6-4) advanced to the state semifinals last year with quarterback Landon Leach at the helm, but now he's playing for Arkansas. New quarterback Nathan Brown has led Russellville to four straight victories to earn its playoff berth.
Cabot 31, Russellville 28
Other AAAAA playoff predictions show LR McClellan 28, Jonesboro 21; Springdale 31, Benton 21; Camden Fairview 34, Bryant 21; Fort Smith Southside 28, West Memphis 19; Conway 38, Lake Hamilton 17.
In Class AAAA it looks like Harrison 42, White Hall 21; Vilonia 28, Hot Springs Lakeside 20; Crossett 27, Morrilton 21; Wynne 23, Arkadelphia 17; Pulaski Robinson 28, Paragould 14; Alma 21, Sylvan Hills 17; Batesville 30, Hope 21; Greenwood 22, Stuttgart 17.
And in Class AAA it should be Rivercrest 34, Mountain View 19; Ozark 24, Berryville 21; Central Arkansas Christian 31, Dover 20; Prescott 20, Dollarway 14; Atkins 22, Marianna-Lee 12; Newport 23, Piggott 13; Greenland 17, Prairie Grove 14; Warren 28, Nashville 14; Waldron 28, Green Forest 17; Pulaski Academy 35, Dardanelle 16; Dumas 21, Ashdown 20; Gosnell 28, Yellville-Summit 14; Star City 23, De Queen 14; Pulaski Oak Grove 31, Lonoke 13; Pocahontas 24, East Poinsett County 21; Shiloh Christian 35, Booneville 21.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Forrest City Junior Lady Mustang Coach Jacky England says his girls "are as ready as they can be," headed into tonight's season-opening game against Wynne.
Forrest City will host Wynne tonight at Mustang Arena beginning with an eighth-grade girls' game at 5 p.m.
"The girls know what to do. It's just a matter of going out and doing it," England, who came to Forrest City via Oklahoma and Texas, said.
He thinks his 13 eighth-grade girls have the chance to be very good this season.
He has 13 ninth graders as well and is looking forward to seeing all of the girls on the same team this season instead of having the talent split between two teams, which has been the case the past three seasons.
A year ago, the Blue and White junior girls' teams won a combined nine games.
"I have to put the best team on the floor that I possibly can," England says. "some girls may not play every game. I've got to give this team the opportunity to win ball games. That's what I was hired to do. Not everyone is capable of playing at this level."
While England still did not know who his starting five would be late Wednesday, he expects returning freshmen Astrain Allen and Fareeda Washington to be leaders on the floor.
"I really have no idea what to expect this season, especially in conference," England said. "The girls know more about the teams we will face than I do. We play nine different conference teams. They will all be tough."
England thinks his Junior Lady Mustangs will be more competitive this season since the junior high format returned to one team in each sport this season instead of fielding two girls teams and two boys teams for the past three seasons which split the talent.
England's ninth-grade girls will tip after the eighth-graders finish and the Junior Mustangs will finish out the three-game set.
Jimmy Williams is coaching the junior boys this year.
Professional wrestling returns to the Forrrest City area on Saturday, Nov. 22, when the ASWF and IWF will present a Slams TV taping card to benefit the Toys for Tots program.
The event is scheduled for the Forrrest City Civic Center and bell time is 7 p.m..
Admission to the matches willbe one new toy per person. All toys collected will go to the Forrest City Toys For Tots Program.
Legendary wrestling Hall of Famer "Handsome" Jimmy Valiant will headline the event which includes pro wrestlers Bruiser Graham, the Untouchables, the Thrillers, Psycho, Danny B. Goode, Pokerface, the New Breed, Mr. Showtime, Hollywood Jimmy Blaylock, the Southside Brawler, Ebony Idol and Freezer Thompson.
The event will be taped for a television airing on WHBQ Fox 13 of Memphis.