By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The playoff road for the Palestine-Wheatley Patriots and the Hughes Blue Devils got a little easier Friday night.
Both the Patriots and Blue Devils did their part by winning their first-round Class AA playoff games.
They got some unlikely help in determining their second-round matchups set for this Friday.
But then again, first-round upsets seemed to be abundant in every classification Friday.
Fort Smith Southside, the defending Class AAAAA state champion,was beaten 35-0 on its home field, by No. 3 seeded West Memphis, the only AAAAA-East team to survive the first-round.
Top-seeded Cabot, No. 2 seeded Jonesboro and No. 4 seeded Searcy all lost.
The conference thought to be among the weakest in all of Arkansas in all of the preseason mags, the 1AA ,shocked everone by going 4-0 in the first round.
The preseason outlook for the 1AA Conference had the league ranked sixth out of the eight AA conferences.
Hughes, seeded second from the 3AA Conference, knocked off No. 3 seeded Carlisle from the 6AA 36-22.
The Hughes victory snapped a string of 15 consecutive first-round victories by Carlisle. It also sends Hughes, which is now 3-1 in their last four playoff games, dating back to last year, into Friday's second-round where they will host Mountainburg at home.
Mountainburg, the fourth seed from the 1AA, upset unbeaten and sixth ranked Hector 13-6.
Mountainburg was the preseason fifth pick in the 1AA after finishing 1-9 during the 2002 season.
The Dragons turned things around to finish 5-4 overall and 4-3 in the 1AA. They were fifth in the conference in points scored.
Over at Palestine-Wheatley, the Patriots, who lead the state in offensive yards (getting closer to 5,000 with each game) won their first-ever opening round playoff game by defeating No. 4 seeded Hazen 52-20 at Patriot Field.
The Patriots move into the Class AA rankings at No. 10 and improve to 10-2 for the year. P-W will host Pea Ridge Friday.
Pea Ridge, the No. 3 seed from the 1AA, knocked off No. 2 seeded Danville Friday 28-13 to advance.
Palestine-Wheatley running back Brad Barton enjoyed another big game, running for more than 200 yards on 17 carries and scoring twice to lead the Patriots.
Barton scored on runs of 80 and 15 yards.
Hazen led briefly, 8-6, but the Patriots snuffed out the upset attempt, answering with a 10-yard touchdown run.
Rashun Barnes found the endzone for the Patriots and Palestine-Wheatley went on to take a 28-14 lead at the half.
Pea Ridge was picked to finish third in the 1AA, which is exactly where the Blackhawks ended.
With an overall season mark of 6-3 and 5-2 in the conference, Pea Ridge was third in the 1AA in scoring this season.
Pea Ridge defeated Mountainburg 28-22 in conference play.
The Blackhawks won four of their final five games to finish strong.
It is the second straight year for Hughes to move into the second round.
A year ago, the Blue Devils defeated Des Arc in the first game and then downed Jessieville to advance to the quarterfinals.
In other playoff games, the Cross County Thunderbirds defeated Augusta 34-12 for the first time in the school's history and will face Rison Friday in the second round of the playoffs.
Wynne also advanced to the second round by defeating Arkadelphia 28-12.
The Yellowjackets, the No. 3 seed from the AAAA-East, will face Crossett on the road Friday night.
On Friday, the Cross County Thunderbirds won their first-round playoff game, defeating Augusta 34-12.
Saturday night, the Cross County Junior T-Birds and Junior Lady T-Birds, downed both Palestine-Wheatley junior teams to win the Wheatley Invitational Tournament.
The Junior Lady Thunderbirds led by five at the half and ended up winning 36-20 over the P-W Junior Lady Patriots in Saturday's championship game.
The matchup was a repeat of last year's title game, which P-W won.
Cross County defeated Brinkley in Thursday's first round game to get to the title game.
Keisha Stovall led Palestine-Wheatley with 11 points while Chelsea Jumper added five.
"We got down at the half and we just didn't pick it up in the second half," said P-W Coach Lanny Allen.
In the junior boys game, Phil Hicks had 19 points for P-W, but it wasn't enough as Cross County took a 50-46 win.
Tied at 46-46 late in the fourth period, the Junior Patriots turned the ball over resulting in the game-winning points for the Junior T-Birds.
"We had far too many turnovers," said P-W Coach Terry Clardy.
The P-W junior teams are scheduled to play Hughes Tuesday night, but according to both schools, that game may be cancelled or rescheduled.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Before the high school cross country season started, Forrest City Coach Lewis Etheridge said his goal and the team's goal was to finish in the top 15 at the state meet.
Mission complete. Goal realized.
Etheridge's Lady Mustangs cross country team finished 15th at the state meet held recently at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs.
The 15th-place finish was three spots better than a year ago, when the Lady Mustangs finished 18th overall.
Not bad for the Forrest City cross country program, which is only three year's old.
"When we started the program,most of the coaches who have had long running cross country programs told me it would take from 3-to-5 years to build a successful program," Etheridge said. "So I feel like we are on track and where we need o be."
The 15th-place finish means even more considering Etheridge's five-person team is made up of four freshmen and one junior.
That made Forrest City the youngest team, gradewise, at the state meet.
"Most of the other teams there were junior/senior-laden squads," Etheridge said.
The team's top runner all season, Melanie Cook, once again led the way at the state meet, finishing the three mile course in 23 minutes four seconds. It wasn't Cook's best time of the year but it was a solid time.
Cook's best time came earlier in the season when she completed a regular season meet in 22 minutes, thirty-two seconds.
Randi Gipson finished second behind Cook at the state meet, completing the course in 23 minutes, 33 seconds, easily her best time of the year, shaving more than 30 seconds off her previous best.
"Randi may have been the surprise at the state meet for us," Etheridge said. "She has been improving each time out."
Alyssa Aldridge ran third in 23:56 a time which was a little slower than her previous best while Krystal Long, the team's lone junior and the only team member who has been with the program from the start, ran the course in 24:39. Carrie Shepherd ran fifth with a time of 27:38.
"Carrie shaved more than 10 minutes off her previous best time," Etheridge said. "In the first meet of the season, it took her more than 38 minutes to complete the course."
Thomas Broussard, the only boy in the cross country program this season, ran the state meet course in a time of 25:42, his season best time.
"Thomas has come a long way this season," Etheridge said. "It is his first time ever to run cross country and he stayed with it and improved each time out. To be the only boy on the Forrest City team and to stick it out, showed a lot of character on his part."
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Forrest City Lady Mustangs will open the 2003-04 basketball season tonight at the Mount St. Mary's Heavenly Hoopfest tournament in Little Rock.
It could be a wild ride all the way around for Sue Jayroe and her Lady Mustangs.
With strong thunderstorms being forecast across the state tonight with the threat of sehail and strong winds Jayroe's girls will face the host team Mount St. Mary's at 8:30 p.m.
The two teams are familiar with each other already.
"We played them twice during summer camps," Jayroe said. "And they beat us twice, but we did not have two of our regular players and starters with us then. We were missing Trinia Wynne and Sequoria Grady. Both will be with us tonight, although Wynne will not start, but she will play."
Jayroe said three Lady Mustangs won't make the trip to play in the tournament and are serving suspensions due to breaking team rules.
Taking the floor as starters tonight for Jayroe's Lady Mustangs will be senior guard Crystal Seawood (formerly Summage) and juniors Viveca Kimble, Torrie Willis, Deandria Washington and Grady.
A year ago, the Lady Mustangs lost to Watson Chapel and Sylvan Hills at the tournament and defeated Jacksonville.
A win over Mount St. Mary's tonight will put the Lady Mustangs against the Russellville-El Dorado winner Wednesday at 7 p.m. A loss tonight brings Forrest City back Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., against the Russellville-El Dorado loser.
"I would hope that the basketball fans don't judge our entire season on this one tournament," Jayroe said. "We have some talent and we have the chance to be a good basketball team this year. Remember, we will be playing without three of the girls who will log a great deal of playing time for us this season."
The Lady Mustangs will open at home on Saturday, Nov. 29, when they play the Pulaski Academy Lady Bruins in a girls' exhibition game at the seventh annual Rumble on the Ridge tournament.
The Forrest City Mustang boys basketball team will open the season Tuesday, Nov. 18, at Little Rock Central.
The junior varsity boys will play at 6 p.m., followed by a varsity boys game
The Mustangs will play Provine, Miss., in the opening game of the Rumble on the Ridge Tournament, on Thanksgiving Day at 6;30 p.m.
Forrest City will host Marianna at Mustang Arena on Friday, Nov. 21, a gamne that will include a junior varsity girls' game.
RUSTON -- Despite watching his team defeat the Houston Jaguars 106-72 in an exhibition game Sunday afternoon at the Thomas Assembly Center,
Louisiana Tech head coach Kurt Budke was not pleased with his team's performance.
For the second straight game, senior forward Amisha Carter led the Techsters, this time scoring 23 points and pulling down nine rebounds while six other Tech players scored in double figures in the victory.
However, Budke said his team didn't come to play with the intensity he expected.
"I really didn'' like it; I really wasn't happy with our effort to be honest with you,""Budke said. "I thought we came out flat. We shot the ball too quick. I didn't think we rebounded very well. I didn't think we stayed in stance defensively enough. I just thought we were very flat today."
After a relatively slow start, Tech jumped out to what appeared to be a comfortable 42-27 lead with 2:43 remaining in the first half. However, the Jaguars - behind the hot shooting of former Techster Kodak All-American Debra Williams - stormed back to only trail 44-38 at the half.
"I think maybe the girls thought this was going to be a walk-through," Budke said. "What they didn't understand was that this (Houston) team was made up of all former college players who played with a lot of pride."
Williams, who starred for the Techsters in the mid 1990s, led Houston with 25 points, hitting 10 of 19 field goals, including four of seven from behind the arc.
The Techsters shot 55 percent (21-38) from the field in the second half on their way to outscoring Houston 62-34.
Junior guard Erica Smith-Taylor, formerly of Palestine-Wheatley, scored 18 points, Amber Obaze and Aarica Ray-Boyd added 12, Lakiste Barkus and Shan Moore chipped in with 11 and Tiffany Thompson scored 10 in the victory.
The Calvary Christian School Eagles opened the basketball season with a bang Friday night, defeating Covenant Christain School 95-86.
Point guard Kyle Smith led Calvary with 40 points while center Jason Cantrell added 31 points toaccount for 71 of the team's 95 points.
when they defeated covenant 95 to 86 two big players for calvary keep them
The Eagles will play Jonesboro CHE tonight.
In the senior girls basketball game, Covenant Christian School defeated Calvary Christian High School 41-35