By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Dwight Lofton's Forrest City Mustangs have a tall order waiting for them on Thanksgiving Day.
When the Mustangs take the floor on Day 1 of the upcoming Forrest City Grocery Rumble on the Ridge tournament, they will be facing Mississippi's top ranked team -- the Provine Rams.
Forrest City and Provine are scheduled to play at 6:30 p.m., on Thursday, Nov. 27, as the seventh annual Rumble on the Ridge tournament gets underway.
Provine is making its first appearance in the Thanksgiving tournament as are Denham Springs (La.), Bradley Central (Tenn.), John Carroll (Ala.), and Pulaski Academy (Ark.).
Forrest City is once again the host team for the tournament and is joined by returning Rumble alumni, West Memphis (Ark.) and Hoover (Ala.).
Provine, ranked No. 1 in preseason, are the defending AAAA champions and return three starters -- led by point guard Charlie White.
While the Rams were strong a year ago, this year Provine is bigger and more versatile than last year.
Provine Coach Luther Riley along with players Willicent Seymour, Jarvis Williams, William Jones, Derrick Thomas and White are chasing another state championship.
Already preseason articles indicate that Riley really isn't surprised his Rams are ranked No. 1 by the Clarion-Ledger newspaper in the preseason MHSAA Top 20 boys basketball poll.
Provine returns three starters -- including White, the state's reigning Mr. Basketball -- and four of its top six players from last year's 26-5 team that dethroned defending state champion Lanier 64-62 for the AAAA crown.
White, who has committed to Mississippi State, runs the show for the Rams and will be counted on more so this season since the Rams graduated five seniors from last year's squad.
Riley knows that being crowned No. 1 before the season even begins has it drawbacks.
"Everybody is going to want to beat us now since we're No. 1," Riley said. "It's a challenge and we've got to meet the challenge every night."
Provine has future matchups against Lanier and No. 5 Callaway ahead of them. Callaway played in last year's Rumble on the Ridge.
White, a 5-foot-10 senior point guard, averaged 14.5 points, 7 assists, four rebounds and four steals last season.
Joining White on the floor will be 6-7 senior William Jones, 6-6 junior Jarvis Williams and 6-5 seniors Willicent Seymour and Derrick Thomas.
Riley expects the added size will mean a more physical game on their part.
The Mustangs, who made the Class AAAAA state tournament a year ago and battled No. 4 El Dorado to the wire before losing in the first round, returns several players who earned a great deal of playing time a year ago.
Lorenzo Spearman and Deangelo "Buck" Braddock lead the Mustang returning players.
Forrest City will open the season on Nov. 18, on the road at Little Rock Central and will have two games under their belts headed into the Rumble.
A new twist for the Rumble this year includes the first-ever girls game, which will be played on Saturday, Nov. 29, at 6:30 p.m., immediately preceding the boys' championship game.
The Forrest City Lady Mustangs will play the Pulaski Academy Lady Bruins.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Forrest City Mustangs don't have as much time to prepare for their final season game against West Memphis as they would like to have.
Instead of playing on Friday this week, the Mustangs will host the Blue Devils Thursday night at Sam Smith Stadium.
It is the annual Cotton Bale Trophy game. But right now, that means little.
For the Mustangs it's all about postseason and whether or not they will be playing past this week.
Forrest City has to defeat West Memphis to get into the the playoffs. Lose and they stay home. Should they qualify, the Mustangs could go as either the third seed or as the fourth seed into the Class AAAAA state playoffs.
West Memphis is assured a spot in postseason -- they just don't know what seed they will be wearing or where they will be going.
The Mustangs, after an 0-3 conference start -- have bounced back to win three straight conference games to put themselves in position for their first postseason appearance since the 2000 season when the Mustangs finished fourth and faced Little Rock Central in the first round.
History could repeat itself.
A fourth place finish would send the Mustangs right back to Quigley Stadium in Little Rock for yet another meeting against the Tigers, who have held down the top spot in the Associated Press poll for much of the prep football season.
A third place finish would send the Mustangs a little farther -- to either Fort Smith Southside, 5-1 in the AAAAA-West or to Fayetteville, unbeaten in the West.
History is also on West Memphis' side in the annual season-ending conference battle against Forrest City.
The Blue Devils have won the past five games. Since 1975, the Mustangs have defeated West Memphis only eight times.
But these Mustangs appear to be on a mission and in the world of high school football, anything is possible on any given night.
Forrest City's last victory over West Memphis, a 29-14 triumph in 1997, came in the middle of Sam Smith Stadium.
"West Memphis has been beaten this season," said Forrest City Coach Donnie Willis. "They have lost to Cabot and Jonesboro so that gives us hope. We just have to believe that we can play with them and come out with the win."
Searcy is also in the running for a playoff spot. A Forrest City win would almost certainly leave the Lions at home.
Should the Mustangs defeat West Memphis (4-2) and Searcy (3-3) defeats Mountain Home, it would create a three-way tie with the Mustangs for the third and fourth playoff spots from the AAAAA-East. Cabot and Jonesboro have already locked up playoff berths.
In the case of a three-way tie, the two teams with the most points (based on 13 points awarded for each conference victory by 13 points or more) would go head-to-head for the two playoff berths.
That would be Forrest City and West Memphis. And a win over West Memphis would put the Mustangs in the playoffs wearing the league's third seed.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
CONWAY -- The Central Baptist College basketball teams split their opening weekend of college basketball games.
The Mustangs were on the road at McKenzie, Tenn., to take on the Bethel College Wildcats while the Lady Mustangs headed north to Branson, Mo., to play the College of the Ozarks Lady Bobcats.
The Mustangs (1-0) spoiled the 2003 Bethel College homecoming by defeating the Wildcats (0-1) 86-81.
Sophomore Robert Davis, a 2002 graduate of Hughes High School, led the Mustangs with 26 points (including 4 of 5 from behind the arch). Davis had 6 assists, and 2 steals.
CBC was 19 of 36 (.528) and Bethel was 16 of 32 (.500) from the field.
CBC junior Orien Hatcher scored 12 first half points, nine of them from behind the arch. Junior Shawn Stone with 12 points.
CBC led 45-34 at the half, using 60 percent shooting from the three point line.
In the second half,CBC continued their long range assault on the Wildcats as they again shot 60 percent from behind the arch (3 of 5 from the second half and 9 of 15 for the game).
The CBC Lady Mustangs (0-1) fell to the College of the Ozarks (1-0), 81-56.