By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Palestine-Wheatley senior quarterback Fred Leak wanted to get to "The Rock" this season.
On Monday, he is headed that direction -- but not for the reason he had originally hoped for.
After reaching the Class AA state quarterfinals a year ago as a junior, Leak and the Patriots made it their off-season goal to get to Little Rock this season for the Class AA state championship game.
While the Patriots fell short of realizing that goal, bowing out for the second year in a row in the quarterfinal round, three P-W seniors were named as nominees for the upcoming 2004 Hooten's/State Farm awards.
Leak was named this week as a finalist for the defensive player award while P-W Head Coach Terry farmer was named as a finalist for coach of the year honors in Class AA.
The State Farm Awards honors Arkansas' top offensive player, defensive player and coach of the year for each of the state's football classifications during a special ceremony catered by Marketplace Grill. That ceremony is set for Monday, Dec. 13 at the IMAX Theatre in Little Rock.
The Hooten's Arkansas Football staff selected three finalists for each category.
Joining Leak in the defensive player category are Joseph Hall of Junction City and Wayne Wainwright of Rison.
Farmer is joined by Rison's Clay Totty and Jessieville's Don Phillips as finalists for Coach of the Year.
Farmer has led the Patriots into postseason in each of his five football seasons at Palestine-Wheatley.
Farmer is 32-18 at Palestine-Wheatley for a .562 winning percentage.
Under Farmer the Patriots are 4-5 in five state playoff appearances. He has coached Leak since the eighth grade.
Leak was the Patriots' starting quarterback and defensive back. He was named to the All-State team this year and to the All-Conference squad.
In helping lead the Patriots to a 9-3 season and a Class AA top 10 ranking, Leak completed 48 of 65 passing attempts for 1,012 yards and nine touchdowns this season. He ran for 630 yards and scored 14 rushing touchdowns.
Defensively, Leak had eight interceptions this season.
The Class AAAAA Offensive Player of the Year finalists are LR Central running back Mickey Dean, Bryant receiver Richie Wood and Benton receiver Josh Brown.
Defensive Player of the Year finalists are LR Central safety Kevin Thornton, Springdale safety Matt Taylor and Jonesboro linebacker Johnny Hutson.
Coach of the Year finalists are FS Northside's Darrell Henry, West Memphis' Lanny Dauksch and Springdale's Gus Malzahn.
The Class AAAA Offensive Player of the Year finalists are Tim Childress of Batesville, Darren McFadden of Pulaski Oak Grove and Lucas Miller of Greenwood, while the Defensive Player of the Year finalists are Nick Cowger of Vilonia, Ryan Evans of Alma and Cord Gray of Wynne.
Class AAAA Coach of the Year finalists are Billy Dawson of Siloam Springs, Rick Jones of Greenwood and Johnny McMurry of Monticello.
In Class AAA the Offensive Player of the Year finalists are Cody Burns of Dollarway, Jesse Gates of Central Arkansas Christian and Aaron Langford of Pulaski Academy.
The Class AAA Defensive Player of the Year finalists are Marcus Arnold of Rivercrest, Jeremy McDonald of Booneville and Brett Shrable of Hoxie.
Class AAA Coach of the Year finalists are Tim Perry of Central Arkansas Christian, George Shelton of Dollarway and Chris Wood of Nashville.
The Class AA Offensive Player of the Year finalists are Drew Hill of Charleston, Kreg Kell of Harding Academy and Bubba Noakes of Ola.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
PARAGOULD --The Paragould Lady Rams and Greene County Tech Lady Eagles advanced into the semifinals of the McDonald's Shootout with wins Thursday night at Paragould High School.
Paragould defeated Forrest City 47-35 by controlling the tempo of the game and breaking from the uptempo style that the Lady Rams had been using earlier in the season.
"If we can control the tempo that's going to enhance our chances of winning," Head coach David Moon said. "They want to go up and down score a lot of points. We want to press, but playing three or four games in a row, it probably wasn't a good idea for us to press."
Forrest City returns to Paragould today to take on Poplar Bluff, Mo. at 4 p.m. in a loser's bracket matchup.
A year ago, Poplar Bluff defeated the Lady Mustangs 69-34 in a first-round matchup at the Shootout.
While Paragould led throughout its game, the Lady Eagles had to play from behind in most of their 54-47 victory over Greenbrier.
In other first-round games played Thursday, Memphis Ridgeway downed Poplar Bluff 61-45 in a contest that was close until the fourth quarter and Central Arkansas Christian downed Jonesboro 60-50.
Against The Lady Mustangs, 4-3, Paragould, 7-0, executed their halfcourt offense successfully and was patient in their shot selection throughout the game.
While the Lady Rams patiently shot their way to the lead, it was their defense that kept Forrest City off-balance.
"I don't think we shot very well, but they played real good defense," said Forrest City Head Coach Jacky England. "Boy, I was struggling to find something that would work for us."
Paragould's defense made the difference in the game as the Lady Rams were able to keep the Lady Mustangs out of sync on the offensive end of the floor.
"I don't think they made any mistakes (in their defense)," England added. "We just did what we needed to do correctly and when we did it right we had a chance to score, but if we made any mistakes we were done with that possession."
The game was close in the first period, with Paragould holding a 10-9 lead. Early in the second period, Paragould's Nikki Mitchell and Forrest City senior Sequoia Grady matched each other shot for shot, in an effort to give their respective teams the edge.
Both were named Players of the Game.
Paragould eventually broke through to take a 22-17 lead at the half.
The Lady Rams stayed on the offensive as Casey Schatzley nailed a three-pointer with 1:11 left in the third period to give Paragould the 31-24 advantage to start the final period during which Paragould outscored Forrest City 16-to-11 to nail down the win.
Mitchell led the Lady Rams with a game-high 12 points. Casey Schatzley finished with seven.
Grady led the Lady Mustangs with 11 points.
*In Thursday's opening game Memphis Ridgeway downed Poplar Bluff, Mo. 61-55 getting 14 points from Lakendra Phillips while Poplar Bluff got 16 points from Jennifer Hillis.
Ridgeway led 16-14 after the first quarter and 35-25 at halftime. After three quarters RHS led 44-36, but pulled away down the stretch.
*In the final game of the evening, the Lady Mustangs topped 2003 finalist Jonesboro 60-50.
Rachel Allison received player of the game honors for JHS, while Amanda Morris was tabbed from CAC, which faces GCT tonight at 8:30.
PARAGOULD -- After taking a 13-7 first-quarter lead, Jonesboro couldn't hold on Thursday night at the McDonald's Shootout and fell to Central Arkansas Christian, 60-50 in senior girls' basketball.
In other tournament games, Greene County Tech beat Greenbrier 54-47, Paragould beat Forrest City 47-35 and Memphis Ridgeway beat Poplar Bluff, Mo. 61-55.
The Lady Hurricane (5-3) was outscored 24-14 in the second period and 29-23 in the second half. Rachel Allison scored 22 points for JHS while Talya Haskins added 8.
Greene County Tech trailed for three quarters before outscoring Greenbrier 18-9 in the fourth quarter. Megan Hale led the Lady Eagles with 18 points while Keisha Forkum and Brooke Eason each added 8 points.
Paragould got 12 points from Nikki Mitchell and led the whole way in a victory over Forrest City.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Cassandra Jackson scored 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Forrest City Junior Lady Mustangs to a 31-26 win over West Memphis West Thursday night at Mustang Arena.
Forrest City improves to 6-2 for the year and evened their mark at 1-1 in the AAAAA-East conference.
Chaquita Britt added seven points and eight rebounds for Forrest City while Sharita Britt finished with six points.
The Junior Lady Mustangs led 12-6 after one period, 19-10 at the half and 27-12 to start the fourth.
Forrest City will host Earle Monday night at Mustang Arena.
*MacArthur improved to 7-3 overall and 2-0 in AAAAA-East conference junior girls' basketball Thursday night with a 36-32 victory over West Memphis Wonder.
Dominique Anderson scored 10 points to lead MacArthur, which trailed 9-7 after the first quarter, but rallied to lead 19-15 at halftime and 28-22 after three quarters.
*The Lady Whirlwinds outscored West Memphis East 11-1 in the final period to take a 37-23 victory in junior girls' basketball Thursday night at Annie Camp.
Annie Camp (7-3, 1-1 AAAAA-East) led 17-12 at halftime and 26-22 going into the third period. Valerie Ford scored 24 points and grabbed 8 rebounds.
Junior Boys
Josh Chalk scored 19 points and Brandon Cunningham added 14 Thursday night as MacArthur defeated West Memphis Wonder 40-38 in AAAAA-East conference junior boys' basketball.
MacArthur (9-1, 2-0 AAAAA-East) bolted to a 17-5 lead in the first quarter, but the Cyclones trailed 29-27 going into the fourth quarter. Cunningham scored 6 points in the fourth quarter as MacArthur rallied to win.
*Annie Camp led 21-12 at halftime and outscored West Memphis East 17-0 in the third period for a 47-32 win in junior boys' basketball at Annie Camp.
Jonah Calamese scored 10 points to lead the Whirlwinds (6-2, 1-1 AAAAA-East), while Josh Calamese scored 8 and Taylor Pruitt and Lynell Currie combined for 11, scoring 6 and 5 respectively.