By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Forrest City Mustang football coach Donnie Willis and his staff have lots of time on their hands.
With the season opener still a month away, Willis says the team has plenty of time to get ready.
Maybe, too much.
"We've never had this much time to prepare for the first game," Willis said as players filed into Mustang Field House to start picking up their equipment. "A month is a long time, but we will just take our time. We don't have to get in a hurry."
Willis said today will be used to hand out equipment and to give physicals to those student athletes who have not yet taken the exams.
The Mustangs will hit the practice field Tuesday at 8 a.m. and will start two-a-day drills on Thursday, from 8 until 9:30 a.m. and again from 5 until 6:30 p.m.
Forrest City will host Poplar Bluff, Mo. on Friday, Sept. 3, for the nonconference season opener.
"The first few days will be tough for a lot of them who have not done much this summer," Willis said. "And it's supposed to get a lot hotter by the end of the week."
Tuesday's practice will be used as conditioning for the players.
The Mustangs, 5-5 a year ago, are starting summer drills with a roster of 75 and plenty of holes to fill. The Mustangs graduated more than 20 seniors in May from last year's squad.
*The junior high Mustangs will be taking physicals today beginning at 4 p.m.
The Junior Mustang coaches will hand equipment Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m., at the junior high field house and practice will begin Friday -- for eighth and ninth graders -- at 1 p.m.
*In the past five years, the Jonesboro Hurricane has slowly ascended up the ranks of the AAAAA-East.
Coming off an 8-3 season and second-place finish in the AAAAA-East, Jonesboro began preseason practices today/
The Hurricane will practice in shorts and helmets the first three days, working a morning session for two hours and then practicing two more hours in the afternoon from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Hurricane coach Jim DeVazier, who has guided the team to four postseason trips in five years since taking over in 1999, is yet to claim his first AAAAA-East championship.
The 2003 season produced DeVazier's most successful team, which went 6-1 in league play and finished second to Cabot before losing to Little Rock McClellan in the first round of the state playoffs.
Cabot has won four straight AAAAA-East titles and six in the past seven seasons.
The Hurricane will use the first three days to work on basic fundamentals, retention of its offensive and defensive playbooks and physical endurance.
As far as having the extra practice time, DeVazier likes the idea.
Jonesboro ended spring workouts with more than 80 players on its roster, most of which will begin two-a-days this week.
DeVazier expects participation to climb to between 70 and 75 this season after hovering in the 60s the last few years.
Forrest City will play at Jonesboro on Sept. 24 to open the conference portion of the season schedule.
*The Mountain Home High School Bomber football team wrapped up its first week of practice Thursday and will take a long weekend off until resuming drills on Monday.
Second-year head coach Shane Patrick has 40 players participating, but expects that number to climb, maybe a s high as 55 or 60.
The first week of drills has been spent prepping the squad for team camp at Harrison.
The Bombers took part in the camp on Monday, but were rained out on Thursday in what was scheduled to be the final day.
The team will resume drills today at 4 p.m. Mountain Home will practice again on Tuesday in the afternoon, take the field on Wednesday morning and will spend Thursday in the weight room. Friday will be an off day, giving the team its final long weekend until the conclusion of the season.
The Bombers will begin to hit on Aug. 9.
"We'll put on pads on Aug. 9, so next week will be spent doing a lot of teaching," said Patrick. "Part of the reason kids like to play football is because they like to hit. So hopefully by the time we can do some full-fledged hitting, they'll really be hungry."
The other East conference members -- West Memphis, Cabot, Jacksonville, Searcy and Sylvan Hills-- also begin summer drills this week.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The "Professor" returns this month.
The Times-Herald Professor Pigskin Football Contest returns to the 2004 run on Tuesday, Aug. 31.
Each week, readers will be given the chance to choose the winning football teams from a list of specially selected high school, college and NFL games.
At stake each week is a $50 cash prize, which will be awarded to the person who has made the most correct selections.
In the event of a tie between two or more entrants, the specifically designated "tie-breaker" game will come into play to help determine a clear winner.
The "tie-breaker" game this year will alternate weekly between the Forrest City and Arkansas Razorback game.
If the Forrest City game is used as the tie-breaker, the Razorback game will be one of the picks and if the Arkansas game is used as the tie-breaker, the Forrest City game will be used as a pick.
Readers will be asked to not only correctly guess the winner of the tie-breaker game but also guess the score of the tie-breaker game.
The person closest to the actual score will be declared the tie breaker winner.
If the tie-breaker game fails to determine an outright winner, the prize money will be equally divided and the decision of the Professor Pigskin judges will be final.
Each week's list of games will appear in the Tuesday edition of the Times-Herald along with the entry form and the name of the previous week's winner.
All entries must be received and postmarked by noon on the Friday following Tuesday's published list.
For example, all entries for the Aug. 31 Pigskin, will be due by noon on Friday, Sept. 3.
This year, readers are being encouraged to use only the official Pigskin entry form --either the original or a photocopy -- and all entries should be printed or typed clearly.
Any "unreadable" entries will be discarded from that week's contest.
Entries may be dropped off at the Times-Herald main office, located at 222 North Izard, in the outside mailbox or in the "Professor Pigskin" box which will be located on the front desk in the Times-Herald lobby from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
The annual Times-Herald preseason football special section will be published on Wednesday, Sept. 1.
East Arkansas Community College will offer two Hunter Education courses -- Aug. 9, 10 and 12 and again on Sept. 13, 14, and 16.
Each of the two sessions will be from 6 until 9:30 p.m. in the EACC Learning Resource Center, Room B-129. The classes are free.
The Arkansas Hunter Education Program is dedicated to the sportsmen of Arkansas with its central theme being safety and sportsmanship. The program is structured to acquaint students with the many wildlife oriented recreational opportunities and recreational shooting sports available to them.
Hunter ethics and responsibilities, survival and first aid, conservation and wildlife management, firearm safety, muzzle loader, archery, and tree stand safety will be covered at each session.
Hunters who were born after 1968 must now carry a valid Hunter Education card. A card is also required of youth applicants for permit hunts.
Youths who are 16-years-old and under the direct supervision of a licensed adult, over the age of 21, do not need to have a card.
All participants must pre-register with Hunter's Ed Coordinator, Keith Price by calling 870-633-8083.
For more information about he classes, call EACC at 870-633-4480 ext. 214