You could say Jacksonville's football conference season has been "up and down" through the first four games. The Red Devils are having trouble catching fire and putting together consecutive victories.
If the trend continues, then tonight's game against Forrest City should be a win for Jacksonville.
Jacksonville won their conference opener, lost their next league, won their third one and lost last week.
You could say that Forrest City, after an 0-3 conference start, found their footing last week in their first AAAAA-East win of the year over Blytheville.
The Mustangs' footing has been there all along, it has just been misplaced for a while.
Forrest City opened the conference season with a seven point loss to Jonesboro and then lost to Searcy by two points before being blown out of the water by 36 points in a shut out loss to Cabot.
So, tonight's game between the Mustangs and the Red Devils looms large and very important for both teams.
A Jacksonville win puts the Red Devils back into the thick of the chase for a Class AAAAA playoff berth.
A Forrest City win leaves the two tied with the same league record.
Forrest City Coach Donnie Willis said Thursday "it's do or die time for us Friday."
Jacksonville's Johnny Watson is probably thinking the same thing.
Past history in the series favors the Red Devils, who have won the past two meetings. Both were shut out victories. The Mustangs have not scored against the Red Devils in eight quarters.
Against Searcy, the Red Devils lost two fumbles which resulted in points for the Lions.
The Mustangs played keep away in their win over Blytheville. Forrest scored 27 unanswered points in the second half to post the win -- half of that early in the third quarter when Terrance Ware returned an interception for a touchdown and Tae Chism returned a punt for another score.
The Mustangs will need another big defensive effort tonight.
The bottom line is simple. Parkin is a terrible football team. Last week against Hughes, the Tigers had just 10 players dressed out as the Blue Devils arrived and had just 13 in uniform at game time.
The 13 Parkin players played ugly and the end result was just as ugly -- a 65-0 win by Hughes. It could have been worse.
Tonight, the Tigers will travel to Palestine-Wheatley with hopefully enough players to avoid ruling the game a forfeit.
Palestine-Wheatley has been on a roll lately scoring points almost at the drop of a helmet.
The Patriots lead the 3AA Conference in points scored with 279, 10 more than Hughes.
Palestine-Wheatley is healthy for the most part and everyone has been logging valuable playing time.
If Parkin plays (which may be too strong a word to use here) the way they did against Hughes, then tonight's game won't last long.
Look for the 35-point rule to go into effect at the half which means a continuous clock for the entire second half.
Look for another 60-point night by the Patriots who must win
each of the remaining games by 13 points or more to stay in the
hunt for a shot at the No. 1 seed into the Class AA playoffs.
At least Hughes knows that they will be be tested better tonight when they host Earle than they were a week ago at Parkin.
Tonight is a key game for the Blue Devils, who are locked in a three-way tie for first in the 3AA Conference with Palestine-Wheatley and Cross County but hold the points advantage over the Patriots and Thunderbirds, should it come to a tie-breaker to determine seedings into postseason.
The Blue Devils have won every one of their conference games by 13 points or more and lead the points standings with 65 points.
That shouldn't be a problem. Last year, the Blue Devils shut out the Bulldogs 48-0.
Earle came into this season as the preseason number three pick in the 3AA. Probably won't happen. In fact, a loss to Hughes tonight will more than likely leave Earle at home once the playoffs begin.
Marcella Witherspoon is Earle's main weapon in the backfield. In most cases, he is their only weapon. Earle leads the league in points allowed. That mark will be severely tested by Hughes offensive arsenal.
Defensively, the Blue Devils may be the hardest hitting team in the league.
The firewoks begin at 7:30 at Blue Devil Stadium.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
West Memphis East's game-plan against Forrest City Thursday night was singlefold -- stop the run."
That was fine with the Junior Mustangs.
Quarterback Wilson Parker hooked up with Rylan Nimocks twice in the first quarter for touchdown passes and a 14-0 lead.
It was just the beginning of what would be a 36-6 Forrest City victory in AAAAA-East Conference play.
Forrest City is 4-2-1 overall and 4-1 in the conference and thanks to West Memphis Wonder's 22-20 win over previously unbeaten Jonesboro Annie Camp Thursday, finds itself in a tie for first place with Jonesboro MacArthur.
MacArthur defeated West Memphis West Thursday 22-14.
A win over Blytheville next Thursday at Sam Smith Stadium coupled with an Annie Camp win over MacArthur, will give the Junior Mustangs the outright conference title.
"This is what we've been working toward all season," said Forrest City Coach Rich Trail. "To know that we are in the position to win the league title by winning the final game is fantastic."
The Junior Mustangs have already beaten Blytheville once this season -- taking a 26-12 win last week in a game that became a nonconference matchup after Forrest City returned to just one junior high football team this year.
After taking the 14-0 lead, East scored in the second quarter to make it 14-6 but Forrest City added two quick touchdowns, a Michael Holland run and a two-point conversion and a fumble recovery that was returned for a score by Samuel Sinclair which had the Junior Mustangs in front 30-6 at the half.
Fullback Cordell Tripp added Forrest City's final touchdown -- a 60-yard run -- in the fourth quarter.
"Parker had a good night throwing the football," Trail said. "Everybody did their job and this season has been a team effort."
*West Memphis Wonder scored with 1:05 left in the game and stopped an Annie Camp two-point conversion 30 seconds later to hand the Whirlwinds their first loss of the season Thursday night, 22-20 in junior high football.
Wonder's 1-yard touchdown run and ensuing two-point conversion broke a 14-14 tie and put Wonder up 22-14 with 1:05 left in the game. Annie Camp answered quickly, with a touchdown pass with 45 seconds to play. Wonder stopped the two-point try.
Annie Camp (6-1-1, 3-1-1 AAAAA-East) fumbled five times, losing four. Wonder improved to 4-5 and 3-3.
*Logan Nutt threw for one score and ran for another as MacArthur rallied past West Memphis West 22-14 Thursday in junior high football at Cooksey-Johns Field.
MacArthur moves into a first-place tie for the league lead with Forrest City.
*Terrance Boykin scored all of Wynne's points, including the game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter, as the Yellowjackets topped Marion 14-8 Thursday in junior high football.
Wynne is 7-0 overall and 5-0 in the AAAA-East
*Brian Coleman rushed for 113 yards and the Marked Tree defense pitched a shutout in a 16-0 junior high football victory over Palestine-Wheatley Thursday.
"We played hard and we probably beat them everywhere but on the scoreboard," P-W Coach Terry Clardy said.
The Indians, who led 8-0 at the half, improve to 7-0 for the year.
Marked Tree scored what looked to be a questionable touchdown in the second half after an apparent clipping call went unnoticed by the officials.
*With the help of two fumble recoveries for touchdowns by Craig Walker, Cross County was able to take a 22-12 junior high football victory over Walnut Ridge Thursday.
Cross County (6-2) will face Turrell next week.