By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
After six seasons, Forrest City Mustang football coach Donnie Willis resigned as head coach this week.
Willis submitted his formal resignation Monday morning in a brief, hand-written letter which also thanked Superintendent Lee Vent and the district.
It is expected that Willis' resignation will be approved at the next School Board meeting set for Dec. 13.
Willis took over the Mustang football program in June 1999, replacing former coach Wayne Mayer, who resigned after three seasons.
The decision to resign wasn't an easy one for Willis.
"I prayed about it...I talked about it with my wife and family...I talked with my mother about it... and I have talked with Mr. (Mike) Bender," Willis said. "My mother gave me some good advice which helped me make the decision. As a coach and a person and as a family, we have been through a lot in the past few years, more than I am prepared to go through again. At times, it has been a bad situation. I've given this district my best -- as good as I can and I hope I have not treated anyone wrongly."
When Willis accepted the head coaching position, he said it was his goal to "build the program from the ground up."
While Willis made several strides with the program such as increasing the overall numbers of players, his six seasons were a roller-coaster ride which failed to produce a winning season.
After a 1-9 year in his first season, Willis' next three Mustang teams finished 4-6 overall and the 2000 team qualified for the Class AAAAA state playoffs, losing to Little Rock Central in the first round.
His best season came last year when his senior-laden Mustangs finished 5-5 overall but missed the playoff cut by one game. Willis' Mustangs finished 2-8 this season.
Overall, Willis ended his tenure with a 20-40 overall mark and a 12-30 mark in conference play.
Willis survived a move calling for his dismissal as head coach earlier this year when a vote by the School Board vote ended in a 3-3 tie following a marathon nine hour meeting.
"I appreciate everything Coach Willis has done for the Forrest City football program," Forrest City Athletic Director Mike Bender said. "I think he decided it was time to look in another direction to take the program to another level."
Bender said he and Willis had talked previously but said he did not know beforehand that Willis was going to resign Monday.
Bender said that Willis' duties for the remainder of the school would be something that he would have to work out with Vent.
Willis confirmed Friday that he will take over the senior boys track program, a position he held previously before becoming head football coach.
The head track coaching position opened when former assistant football coach and head baseball coach Reggie Murphy opted to take an assistant principals position with the district rather than taking the track job.
"I plan to start working with the track kids Monday and hopefully put together a good track season," Willis said. "There is no reason to be bitter about anything, because the bottom line at this point is to do whatever we can do to make the overall athletic program at Forrest city better."
"I think Coach Willis did the best job he can do as head football coach," Bender said. "He was under a some pressure, but not necessarily from the school district and not from me. We have visited and he feels he has put his best efforts into the program."
Bender said the Mustang coaching job is being advertised and that the search for a new coach has already started.
Bender said he will make the position available to any of the coaches currently on staff who may want to apply.
"We have some time but we want to wrap (the search process) up as quickly as we can," Bender said. "I personally would like to get someone in here by the next semester. Whether or not we can make that happen is anybody's guess. There's a lot that will have to be worked out to do that."
Bender feels the current assistants coaches will remain in place "unless they decide to make a change on their own."
"That," Bender said, "will be entirely up to them. Sometimes when yoU have a coaching change, there is the possibility that changes to the staff may be made. We will tackle that, if and when we need too."
Bender said he is looking for the best possible coach for the job.
"The main thing in this search is to consider the kids," Bender said. "We have to be sure we get the right man in here to work with our kids. Basically the coach has to be good to the kids and know how to handle the kids. We are looking for a unique individual. We don't care where he comes from, just as long as he is the right one for the job."
Bender said each applicant will be reviewed by personal interview and by watching film.
"We are looking for someone with character who is an outstanding coach," Bender said. "I don't think it would be fair to Forrest City, to the program or to the kids to look for any less than that."
Willis said the meeting with his staff and the football team to inform them of his decision went went well this week.
"Some of the kids took it hard," Willis said. "But I let them know that brighter days for the football program were ahead of them."
JONESBORO -- Brooks Taylor pumped in 32 points and Brandon Ballard and Cord Rose buried back-to-back 3-pointers late in the third quarter to snap a 46-46 tie and the Mustangs rolled on to a 72-61 win over the Hughes Blue Devils in the semifinals of the 20th annual KFC-Taco Bell-Pepsi Hurricane Classic being played at Hurricane Gym.
Hughes will face Paragould today at 5:30 p.m. in a consolation game.
The two teams battled back and forth the first half, with BIC (13-2) leading 15-13 after one quarter before Hughes rallied to take a 30-29 lead into the break.
Then late in the third quarter, Ballard buried a '3' from the top of the key and the Blue Devils answered with a trey from Xavier Dowden to tie the game 46-46 before the Mustangs took charge.
Playing with an injured ankle, Ballard drilled his second trey of the quarter, then Rose buried a '3' from the right wing with :51 left to give BIC a 52-46 lead after three quarters.
BIC then led 54-49 before Taylor went to work in the paint. The 6-2 junior, who scored 19 points in the second half, hung in the air and banked in an 8-footer, drawing a foul and sinking the free throw for a 57-49 lead.
He then cut to the basket and took a bounce pass from Ballard and scored for a 10-point edge with 6:25 remaining.
Taylor, who hit 14-of-19 free throws, then hit 5-of-7 down the stretch to pull out the victory.
Ballard finished with 14 points while Josh Nettles added 12 for BIC.
Marcus Washington, who hit a long three at the buzzer to give Hughes a 30-20 lead at the half, led Hughes (1-1) with 14 points while Jerry Jackson added 10.
BIC finished fourth in the Forrest City Grocery/Rumble on the Ridge tournament, losing to Forrest City in the consolation game on Saturday.
* Jonesboro's relentless man-to-man pressure and quickness made passing the ball a chore for outmatched Paragould, forcing 20 turnovers and holding Paragould to just nine field goals in a 60-24 victory over the Rams Thursday.
In other first-round action, Buffalo Island Central used a big fourth quarter to pull away from Hughes 72-61, Memphis Trezevant edged Greene County Tech 69-68 in overtime on Nicholas Davis' tip-in with :02 left and Overton, Tenn., rallied past Earle 68-63.
Overton and Trezevant will meet in one semifinal tonight at 7 p.m. with Jonesboro taking on BIC in the other semi at 8:30, a rematch of last year's final.
In consolation games, Earle plays GCT at 4 p.m. and Paragould battles Hughes in the other losers' bracket game at 5:30.
Playing its first game since Nov. 19, Jonesboro (2-0) struggled early offensively against the Paragould 2-1-2 zone, leading just 11-5 after one period.
Ryan Williams scored 10 of his 18 points in the second quarter, including a pair of 3-pointers as Jonesboro outscored the Rams 15-3 in the period.
Paragould (1-1), which lost 90 percent of its scoring to graduation off last year's Class AAAA playoff team, shot just 2-for-19 (11 percent) in the first half and 9-of-37 (24 percent) for the game.
*Zabian Sanders buried back-to-back 3-pointers in the final 1:31 of overtime to rally the Bears from a 5-point deficit, then Davis slipped inside to tip in a miss and move Trezevant on into the semis with a 69-68 win.
Sanders finished with 22 points, including 18 in the second half, while Jeremy Howard tossed in 20 for Trezevant (3-2).
GCT (4-2) rallied from a 53-44 fourth-quarter deficit to force overtime on Josh Turner's '3' with :32 left that tied the game 57-57.
*Overton outscored Earle 27-11 in the third quarter, then used a Ronald Sampson three-point play late in the game to rally past Earle 68-63.
Sampson scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half, including 8 in the third quarter as Overton rallied from a 31-21 halftime deficit to take a 48-42 lead into the final period.
Sergio Kerush added 12 points for Overton, which picked up 10 steals in the game.
Johnny Williams scored 22 points and had 12 rebounds for Earle, which jumped out to a 17-7 first-quarter lead.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
TURRELL -- Too many mistakes in the overtime period led to the first loss of he season for the Forrest City Junior Lady Mustangs.
Tied at 43-43 at the end of regulation, West Memphis Wonder outscored Forrest city 9-to-4 in overtime to clinch a 52-47 win in the semifinals of the Turrell Invitational Tournament.
Wonder will face the host team Turrell in the tournament championship game.
Wonder is a good team," said Forrest City Coach Chris McManners. "They came out and threw a press on us that we had not seen before."
That resulted in a 12-0 lead for Wonder two minutes into the game. Forrest City battled back and trailed 16-8 after one period and 23-15 at the half before closing the gap to 34-29 to start the fourth period.
"We had our chances to win the game in regulation, but the shots just didn't fall for us," McManners said.
Once again, Cassandra Jackson led the Junior Lady Mustangs with 19 points and five rebounds while Latterica Lucas added 12 points. Anna Horton finished with eight points and four rebounds.
The two teams will meet again Monday when the Forrest City junior high teams go to Wonder to start the conference portion of their schedule.
In other junior high games Thursday, it was Blytheville 50, MacArthur 35 and Jonesboro Annie Camp 32, Wynne 31 in junior boys action. MacArthur defeated Blytheville 38-20 in junior girls play Thursday.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Wynne and Greenwood have won state titles in football before.
Each team would like to add to their totals when the two meet Saturday at Little Rock's War Memorial Stadium to decide the Class AAAA state championship.
Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m.
Wynne is looking for its second state title in four years. The Yellowjackets defeated Stuttgart for the 2001 state title. Wynne also won the championship in 1986.
Greenwood will make their third finals appearance in eight years after trips in 1996 and 2000. The Bulldogs won the state championship in 2000 with a 30-2 win over Hope.
Greenwood advanced to Saturday's title game by defeating Pulaski Robinson 44-8 last Friday while Wynne was busy eliminating Alma 14-7.
The Greenwood Bulldogs stand at 11-2 for the year and were undefeated on their home field.
"I'm very proud of these guys, they played so hard" said Bulldog head coach Rick Jones. "Our kids just played fast and that's what we've been looking for and what they've done all through the playoffs and I just can't say enough about them."
Pulaski Robinson came into this game 12-0 and was making their third straight semifinal appearance. The Senators failed to make it to the championship game all three times.
Greenwood, which utilizes a passing game, had 344-yards of total offense against Pulaski Robinson, with 220 of that total in the air and 124 on the ground.
Greenwood's Daniel Stegall has 992 rushing yards for the season.
While Greenwood's Jones likes the "fun and gun" style of play, Wynne's Don Campbell is old school and will stay with the ground. Wynne averages one pass per game.
The Class AAAAA state title will be decided Saturday as well when West Memphis and Little Rock Central kickoff at 12 noon.
The game is a rematch of last year's title game, won by Central and a rematch of this season's opening game, also won by Central.
But don't count out West Memphis, who under head coach Lanny Dauksch, have peeked in the second half of the season and well into the playoffs.
The Blue Devils started the year at 1-3 but have since won nine straight games.
In last week's semifinals, Central downed top-ranked Springdale 30-21 while West Memphis went to overtime to beat Fort Smith Northside 35-34.
In Class AA and AAA, the final four teams in each class will square off tonight in the semifinal round with Rison at Junction City and Charleston at Jessieville in the AA games while Booneville will be at Pine Bluff Dollarway and CAC plays at Nashville in the AAA schedule.
Tonight's winners in each class will meet next Saturday at War Memorial to decide those state title.
Booneville won the AAA title in 2000. Dollarway won back-to-back stste titles in 1992 and '93.
Nashville's last title came in 1996.
Junction City is the defending Class AA state champion.
Rison has won state titles on four different occasions.