By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
It's the little things that help make a successful season.
For the Forrest City Mustangs, one of those little things is just lining up the right way, something the team has been struggling against for a couple of seasons.
Three games into the 2003 season and sitting with a 2-1 record, the Mustangs have, apparently, corrected that problem.
After an opening season loss to Wynne, in which the Forrest City defense gave up 26 points and 233 total yards of offense, the Mustangs have settled into a groove after soundly defeating Marianna and Osceola.
In those two games, the Mustangs have given up just six points and allowed just 214 total yards. Forrest City is second among the eight AAAAA-East teams in points allowed, giving up 32 total in three games. Jacksonville leads the category, allowing only 23 points in their first three nonconference games.
All eight conference teams will open conference play Friday night.
The Mustangs will host Jonesboro, who leads the eight teams in scoring with 103 points while Forrest City is fourth offensively, scoring 80 points in three games.
Forrest City, along with West Memphis, Jacksonville, and Jonesboro, are all off to 2-1 starts.
For the Mustangs, it is the second straight year the team has started the conference portion of their schedule with a 2-1 record. The team also started 2-1 in 1991, '92, '94 and in 1997.
In '91, Forrest City went on to finish with a 6-4 mark but dipped to 3-7 overall the next year. In '94, the Mustangs finished 4-6 while the '97 team went 7-4.
Forrest City's 1995 Mustangs started 3-0 but won only once more during the year to finish 4-6.
Three games into the season, Michael Boyd leads the Forrest City defensive unit with 16 solo tackles while Andrew Embry, who is one of the team's offensive leaders as well, has 14 stops to his credit.
Ben Horton, who took over at quarterback midway through the second quarter and played well enough to make a case to become the team's starter, is third in tackles after three games, with 11 solo stops. David Machen and Tremaine Collins are tied with nine tackles each.
At quarterback, Horton completed all three of his passing attempts -- hooking up with Lee Bonner for a 26-yard touchdown strike and finding Preston Echols twice. Echols' first grab was a 17-yard reception that turned a fourth and four situation into a first down at the Osceola seven-yard line to set up Sinclair's six-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter.
Offensively, senior tailback Demarcus Sinclair is emerging, along with Embry as a force in the Mustang backfield.
For most of the first half last Friday night the Cape Girardeau, Mo., Central Tigers tried to beat the Blytheville Chickasaws by running right at them, and all the Tigers got for their trouble was a three-point deficit.
Just before halftime the Tigers went to the air and seized immediate control of the game.
Central took a four-point lead late in the first half and continued to ride the passing of senior quarterback Mitch Craft in the final two quarters for a 28-3 victory over Blytheville at Haley Field in the Chickasaws' last non-conference game of the season.
Blytheville, 0-3 and loser of its last 11 games, opens AAAAA-East action Friday at West Memphis.
Blytheville didn't generate much offense as a team, but Chickasaws' senior Markese Allen carried 20 times for 86 yards. Danny Davis was Blytheville's second leading rusher with 15 yards on six tries.
Logan Rebstock, who looked pretty solid in the first two games at quarterback, struggled against Central, completing only 4-of-13 passing attempts with two second-half interceptions for 35 yards.
Blytheville totaled 141 yards to the Tigers' 368.
The Chicks had six first downs and suffered three turnovers -- all in the fourth quarter.
The Searcy Lions gave up the big play against Russellville last Friday in a 41-20 loss to the Cyclones.
Russellville used a 325-yard performance by senior Nathan Brown on 15-of-24 passing.
Russellville (2-1) finished with 510 total yards.
The Lions finished with 398 total yards.
Searcy senior fullback Weston Dacus rushed for 175 yards on 31 carries and scored two touchdowns to lead Searcy. He gained 105 on 21 carries in the first half.
Searcy opens conference play Friday against a Cabot team that lost 14-0 to Little Rock Central on Friday.
The Cabot Panthers have been doing some soul-searching this week after being shut out for the second time in three games -- something that doesn't happen much at all to the Panthers.
As Cabot prepares to open AAAAA-East Conference play against Searcy Friday, no one, most of all the Panthers, thought the team would be 1-2 at this point in the season.
Like many other teams that failed to live up to preseason expectations in the first three weeks, Cabot will try to forget about those three games and concentrate on winning the conference title.
The major culprit for the two Panther losses has been turnovers.
Cabot coach Mike Malham has said many times that this team must execute better than its opponent. He continues to drive home that point, to his players and to the Panther fans.
"We have to do things right to win because we're just not athletic enough to compete if we don't." Malham said. "That means not putting the ball on the ground."
The Panther defense has been as solid as ever, but malham knows the defensive unit can not continue to stay on the field for long stretches game after game.
Early in the season, many looked at Friday's conference opener as a relatively easy win for the Panthers.
Malham knew better and now, it's clear to everyone else.
"Nothing's going to come easy to us because we're not very athletic," Malham said. "There's not a single game on our schedule you can look at and say that's a sure win. Searcy's sure not one of 'em. If we don't give the ball away and we play without mistakes, we have a chance to beat anybody. If not, we can be beat by anybody."
The game kicks off at 7:30 p.m., at Panther Stadium
Sometimes the conference cupcake is just what a suddenly mistake-prone football team needs after a particularly sloppy game.
The Jacksonville Red Devils did everything from resorting to old mistakes that were thought to be straightened out, to continuing mistakes that have not yet been corrected, to making brand new mistakes in their 10-6 loss to Sylvan Hills last week.
They also get last year's AAAAA-East conference cupcake Mountain Home Friday, but Jacksonville head coach Johnny Watson sees a vastly improved group of Bombers, despite their 0-3 record.
Mountain Home ran a spread offense last year that was poorly suited for its personnel.
All of that has changed this season, and Watson sees it paying off.
"They've changed up everything and the running game seems to suit them better," Watson said. "They are 0-3, but they're on the right track and they're a better team now than they were this time last year."
Watson pointed to the Bombers' nonconference schedule as one reason their record doesn't reflect the improvement the team has made.
Mountain Home has played Fayetteville, one of the top teams in the state; Rogers, a team that is three times bigger than Mountain Home and on the upswing and Harrison, which was a close game for a half until the Bombers started making mistakes and suffered some key turnovers.
Mountain Home also has a new coach this season and a lot more players dressed out.
Jacksonville senior Chris Burns rushed for only 40 yards, but still led the team in that category against the Bears.
Mountain Home has little speed outside of its two quarterbacks. However, speed isn't necessary when the opposing defense isn't tackling.
That's a problem Watson said his defense has had in two of its three games.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Cross County coach Steve Williams turned around the Thunderbirds' football program last year, going 5-5 after snapping a 43-game losing skid.
Now Williams' team has their sights set on a postseason state playoff berth.
The Thunderbirds took a big step toward realizing that goal last Friday, knocking off an error-prone Palestine-Wheatley team 12-6. In the loss, the Patriots fumbled seven times including the miscue which led to Cross County's game-winning touchdown.
The win over P-W leaves Cross County 2-1 for the year and 2-0 in the 3AA Conference.
Next up for the Thunderbirds is Hughes Friday night -- at home.
It is a big game for both teams.
Like Cross County, the Blue Devils -- runners-up to the league crown a year ago behind Marked Tree and veterans of postseason play under sixth year coach James Wright -- are 2-1 for the year and 2-0 in the league.
Cross County senior tailback Rolandis Hill has been a terror for opposing teams on both sides of the ball.
The 6-1, 230-pounder has run for 396 yards (132 per game) while leading the team in tackles at middle linebacker. Hill racked up 21 tackles last week and the Thunderbirds' defense forced eight turnovers in the victory over Palestine-Wheatley.
Hughes patterns its 'no quarterback' Single Wing offense around senior backs Andre Walker, Johnny Payton and Ayodele Ogunsakin as well as one of the hardest-hitting defensive units in the league.
Through three games, the Blue Devils lead the 3AA Conference in offense -- scoring 103 points for a 34 point per game average. A year ago, the Blue Devils not only led the league in scoring, but also led the state in scoring for most of the year averaging close to 50 points per game.
Marked Tree's bid to win 30 straight 3AA conference games ended Friday night against Earle when the Bulldogs shut out the Indians 60-0.
Marked Tree played the game with just 18 players dressed out.
Meanwhile, the Palestine-Wheatley Patriots have a solid chance to get back on the winning track Friday when they travel to Rector, who has yet to win a game this year.
The Patriots 12-6 loss to Cross County last Friday denied the team a chance to start the year at 3-0 for the first time since the 1997 season.
P-W leads the 3AA Conference in defense -- allowing only 18 points through three games.
It was certainly a high-scoring night for four members of the 3AA -- Hughes, Earle, Salem and Walnut Ridge. Each team scored in excess of 40 points while Hughes and Earle eclipsed the 50-point barrier. It was the eighth time in the past 16 games that Hughes has scored 40 or more points in a game.
Four of the 10 teams scored less than 10 points last Friday -- Parkin, Rector, Marked Tree and the Patriots.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Last Thursday's conference-opening 22-7 win over Jonesboro MacArthur was especially timely and very big for the Forrest City Junior Mustangs.
And it came on the road -- another plus for the team.
Forrest City jumped out to a 14-0 lead and held on to beat MacArthur in the AAAAA-East junior high game.
Forrest City (1-1-1, 1-0) will host West Memphis West tonight at Sam Smith Stadium.
Both teams are 1-0 in the conference.
For West, tonight provides a chance to earn another victory over a Forrest City team in three days.
Tuesday, the West seventh and eighth-grade teams swept the Forrest City teams.
"This is a big matchup for us," Junior Mustang Coach Rich Trail said. "The kids know it and they realize that West will provide a challenge.But we're coming off a big win and we needed something positive to happen, so maybe we can take last week and continue to build on that."
Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
In other junior high games tonight, Hughes is at Salem and PWJH will host Walnut Ridge.
The Forrest City youth soccer program kicks into high gear tonight with a full schedule of games at the Sports Complex.
The action begins on Fields 1, 2 and 4, at 6 p.m.
The soccer program has eight teams in several age divisions from 9-under through age 13.
The league will play through Oct. 14 on Tuesday and Thursday nights.
The youth flag football league will begin Monday, September 29 and will play each Monday until Nov. 3.
The league is made up of six teams and all games will be played on Field 8.
Also tonight, the adult men's fall softball league teams will play on Field 3, starting at 6 p.m.