By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
With the seven-on-seven summer league behind them as well as several summer football camps, all three St. Francis County High Schools are looking ahead to the start of two-a-days.
A quick glance at the school calendar shows those practice sessions are not that far away.
For the Forrest City Mustangs, that date is Monday, Aug. 9. Thursday, Aug. 12 is the first day of full pads.
The Mustangs finished second in the seven-on-seven league this summer at 5-1 behind West Memphis, but opted not to participate in the regional seven-on-seven tournaments.
Coming off a 5-5 season in 2003, the Mustangs once again have their work cut out for them in the very tough AAAAA-East Conference.
The three-game, non-conference schedule won't be any picnic.
After opening against Wynne each year since 1996 (with the exception of the 2001 opener), the Mustangs will see a different uniform when they take the Sam Smith Field on Friday, Sept. 3.
Poplar Bluff, Mo. replaces Wynne as the Mustangs' opening opponent, at least for this year and next year in a two-year home-and-home contract.
Wynne opted not to renew the contract with the Mustangs.
Poplar Bluff is only the first of three new Forrest City opponents for 2004.
Also gone from the nonconference schedule is Marianna, replaced by old foe West Helena during week two.
And finally, Blytheville drops down to Class AAAA and Sylvan Hills moves back into the AAAAA-East Conference battles.
By plugging Poplar Bluff into the opening slot, the Mustangs get to open at home for the second straight year, instead of being on the road at Wynne.
Poplar Bluff and Forrest City have played each other before -- during the 1981 and 1982 football seasons. The Mustangs won both games.
Poplar Bluff will operate under third-year coach Mike Dormady, who led the team to an 8-1 season a year ago.
The Forrest City coaching staff have already watched one Poplar Bluff game film and know that the team is big and strong.
The Mules are expected to run from a basic one-back set, behind the team's two-year starting quarterback and a two-year starter at tailback.
The Mustangs are the first of three consecutive nonconference Arkansas opponents for Poplar Bluff. The Mules will also play Blytheville and Jonesboro.
West Helena's Cougars were a regular conference date on Forrest City's schedule until 1995, when both teams switched conferences.
Forrest City goes there on Sept. 10.
Marianna had been on the Mustang schedule each season since at least 1975.
Osceola remains as the Mustangs' third and final nonconference game. Former Mustang coach and Forrest City native Clinton Gore brings his Seminoles to Sam Smith Stadium on Sept. 17.
Finally, Sylvan Hills comes to Sam Smith on Oct. 15.
Forrest City will make conference road trips this year to Jonesboro, Cabot, Mountain Home and West Memphis. The West Memphis game this year is a Thursday night matchup.
Conference teams coming to Sam Smith besides Sylvan Hills are Searcy and Jacksonville.
*The Palestine-Wheatley Patriots and Hughes Blue Devils switch conferences this year, moving from the 3AA to the 6AA.
The Patriots are coming off an 11-2 season, the best-ever for the team since returning to football in 1996 while the Blue Devils finished 10-3 a year ago.
Both teams are expected to make another strong run this fall.
Palestine-Wheatley has been picked to finish second in the conference while Hughes gets the preseason's fourth place nod.
*The Mustangs lost a pair of coaches recently but signed a new one Monday.
Ryan Wallace, an assistant to the Mustang football and track teams a year ago, resigned to take a coaching position at Arkansas Tech. Wallace's wife, Jennifer, who had just been hired to coach the junior girls basketball team, resigned to take a position with the Russellville school district.
Monday night, the Forrest City School Board approved the hiring of Chris Kennon, who moves over from the Palestine-Wheatley district.
Kennon will be the junior girls' assistant basketball coach and will help with the junior girls track program as well as with the Junior Mustang football program.
Kennon assisted the P-W football program last season and coached the high school baseball team.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Hughes' native Ricky Barkley continues his coaching success story.
Last year Barkley took his Malvern-based Central Arkansas baseball team to the 16-18 year old Big League Arkansas State Tournament in Augusta and his team won the 2003 State Championship.
He then took the team to the Big League Southwest Regional Tournament, competing against seven other state champions from New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Mississippi and finished third.
On Sunday the Central Arkansas Angels successfully defended their 2003 title by winning the 2004 Big League State Championship.
The North Central Outlaws based in Augusta placed second in the tournament and the Eagles from West Memphis placed third.
The Central Arkansas Big League Angels will return to the multi-state Big League Southwest Regional competition in Biloxi, Mississippi on Wednesday, July 21.
They will play the New Mexico Champions Thursday, July 22 at 5 p.m.
Central Arkansas Team members include Justin Rogers, Jeffrey Francis, Blake Cansler, Brad Judd, Monty Whitley, Billy Jack Gibson, Drew Barkley, Jon Lampkins, Eryc McCaslin, Jared Jones, Josh Spradlin, Jace Roberts, Mack Clements and Ross Ramey.
Jonathan Million may weigh only 130 pounds, but he was anything but thin Monday on the mound.
The Jonesboro right-hander kept hitters off balance, mixing in a sinking breaking ball and changeup to handcuff Wynne on three hits through six innings as Jonesboro Coca-Cola blanked Cross County Bank 5-0 to win the Zone 2 AA American Legion district baseball tournament Monday at Nettleton's Raider Field.
Leadoff hitter Cody Pace scored three times, drove in two and went 2-for-3 with a solo home run in the fifth inning to spark a Coca-Cola lineup that manufactured a run in the first inning and never looked back.
Jonesboro (22-10) earned a bye in next week's AA state tournament in Camden and will take on the North Little Rock-Springdale winner at 1 p.m. in Friday's second round.
Million was the difference-maker, stepping in to throw his best game of the year in Jonesboro's biggest.
He struck out six and allowed just one runner to advance past second, inducing a groundout to Chad Wynn at short with runners on second and third to end the fourth inning.
Derek Rolland pitched a hitless seventh inning to finish the game.
Million's shutout performance capped off a strong tournament on the mound for Jonesboro, which outscored opponents 35-7 in four games to win the district .
as the fourth seed.
Throwing his changeup and curveball for strikes made Million's fastball look like it had more giddy-up and he stranded four runners over the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to preserve the shutout.
"He threw three pitches for a strike today," Allison. "That was really important. He doesn't throw hard but he used his fastball to complement that changeup. When he can throw that changeup and curveball, it makes his fastball a lot better. He threw his best game today when we needed it."
Jonesboro struck through for a run in the first and three in the third, all started by leadoff walks issued by Wynne starter Nate Currier.
Pace drew a walk and came around to score in the first inning as Jonesboro played small ball to give Million a 1-0 lead. Pace stole second, moved to third on Murray Watts' grounder, then scored on an error.
Jonesboro then tacked on three more in the third inning as Justin Gambill drew a leadoff walk and took off for a steal of second when Pace lifted a long RBI double to the left-center gap for a 2-0 lead.
With the bases loaded and no outs, Pace scored when Daniel Mullis grounded into a 6-U-3 double play and with two outs. Hunter Smith, who was 2-for-4 and made several standout plays at third, then drove in Wynn with an RBI double to the left-field wall for a 4-0 cushion.
Pace's solo shot in the fifth provided the final margin as he turned on a 2-1 fastball up in the zone and powered it off the top of the fence in left.
"When we get the top of the order going, it sets the tone for the whole game," Allison said. "But that first game when we beat Newport, the bottom of our lineup was like 6-for-8. It starts at the top but we've got to have those guys at the bottom as well."
Coca-Cola will now have time to rest, earning the all-important bye to Friday against Thursday's winner.
"We don't really know anything about them -- all I know is that we'll be ready to play.
Wynne (25-10) was led at the plate by Tyler Boeckmann, who was 2-for-2.
Cross County Bank fell to Jonesboro Saturday night and had to come right back and beat Trumann to earn a berth in the state legion tournament for the first time since 1996.
"Yesterday was a big day for us. It's been a long time coming," Wynne coach Lionel Myers said. "Jonesboro is built for the long run. They've got pitching, good solid defense and they hit the ball well."