If Forrest City Coach Dwight Lofton had the luxury of hand-picking the first-round opponent from the four No. 1 seeds into the Class AAAAA State Tournament, he would have picked North Little Rock.
However, Lofton suspects that if North Little Rock Coach Ron Ingram would have been given the same choice of picking a first-round opponent from the four No. 4 seeds, he says it would definitely not have been Forrest City.
Thanks to the bracket design and the way each team finished in their respective conferences this season, that matchup has become a reality.
Today, Lofton the "once-eager-to-learn-student" gets another shot at Ingram, "the consummate teacher" when fourth-seeded Forrest City and No. 1 seeded North Little Rock square off at 5:30 p.m., at North Little Rock High School Arena -- affectionately known as "Smalltel Arena" -- in a first-round, state tournament game.
"Get there early," Lofton says. "Last year, we played before a crowd of about 1,100. Today, it will be SRO (standing room only)."
Lofton spent nine seasons learning the art of coaching at North Little Rock. He listened and watched and honed his skills working alongside Ingram, one of the state's best veteran coaches.
As the hype might suggest, it is a game which has been in the making for the past eight seasons.
When Lofton came to Forrest City, one of the first things he changed about the season schedule was to add much tougher "nonconference" games. That included a three-year, home-and-home series with Ingram and North Little Rock.
Lofton's Mustangs teams went 0-6 against Ingram's Chargin' Wildcats over that three-year stretch, but in the grand basketball scheme, made the Forrest City program better and more recognizable.
The last time the two faced off was in December, 1999.
A year ago, both teams were in the state tournament mix -- at North Little Rock -- and the possibility of a second round was there.
North Little Rock did their part by defeating Russellville in the opening round. The Mustangs fell to El Dorado, ending their year.
"We came very close to getting them last year on their home floor, but we came up just a little short," Lofton said. "This year the matchup was made and it is one that we wanted."
Even before today's tip, one would have to suspect that North Little Rock Coach Ron Ingram has a leg up on Lofton -- maybe even two legs -- home court and crowd advantage and six previous wins over Forrest City -- but that may be incidental.
"Trust me, Ingram has absolutely nothing to gain by facing us in the first round and everything to lose," Lofton said. "Am I the proverbial thorn in his side? Yes, I am, because he knows I know what he will do. he hasn't changed his coaching style in years. But then again, he knows what I will do, because I haven't changed. That makes today's game that much more intriguing and entertaining. All of the pressure is on North Little Rock."
True enough.
At first glance, it appears the tournament bracket was designed with the sole purpose of getting NLR to the finals against West Memphis, which will be played for the first time at Alltel Arena in NLR.
Forrest City is making it's second straight trip to the state tournament -- the school's fourth trip in the past five seasons and the fifth trip in the past eight seasons under Lofton.
A year ago, El Dorado erased the Mustangs 64-60, but not before Forrest City made it a two-point game at 62-60 with 28 seconds to play.
A Forrest City turnover and a shot by then junior forward Lorenzo Spearmon which rolled off the rim with six seconds to play, left the Mustangs on the short side of a 64-60 loss.
While Spearmon doesn't talk about the missed shot, Lofton says the senior forward is looking to redeem himself today.
"I think he is relaxed and I think he will play well," Lofton said. "There isn't the pressure on Spearmon this season to be the scorer because he is surrounded by guys who have that ability as well."
North Little Rock returns to the state tournament for the second straight time as well. A year ago, the Chargin' Wildcats reached the semifinals before losing to Little Rock Parkview.
Before that, NLR's last appearance in the state tournament was in 2000, when they defeated El Dorado in the first round and lost to Fort Smith Southside in the second round.
While most of Lofton's and Ingram's players have been here before, there are some new faces, which could be difference makers.
Mustang sophomores Cameron Henderson and Jarvis Palmer as well as senior John Foreman, who transferred back to Forrest City this season, will play important roles in today's game.
Then, there is junior Chris Williams, who Lofton calls "the x-factor."
North Little Rock answers with senior Myron Jackson and junior Matt Monroe as it's two key members.
We have to slow down Jackson but we can't forget about Monroe," Lofton added. "Monroe will get on the boards and he can shoot the elbow jumper. he is the team's spark plug on offense. But NLR is deeper than that. They are a defensive-oriented team. They will use a lot of traps and half court situations that we don't see used by the teams in our conference."
Little Rock Central Coach Oliver Fitzpatrick, who faced both Forrest City and North little Rock this season, agrees that Monroe is the "difference maker for North Little Rock."
But, Fitzpatrick believes that the Mustangs are a better offensive team than were the Central Tigers this season.
His advice to Lofton was to knock down the shots and push the tempo.
"If we can do that and play solid defense, we have a chance of getting the win," Lofton said. "We have to score inside and from the perimeter as well as convert our transition opportunities. Everyone is ready. Everyone knows what they have to do. It will be a great environment for a high school basketball game and if you can't get ready to play in this situation, then you ain't gonna get ready."
And don't forget the fact that every TV station in Little Rock will probably be doing a "live remote" from the NLR Arena.
"After all, it's a 5:30 tip and I can tell you that local news is on at 5 and again at 6," Lofton said. "They will be reporting 'live' from NLR. All of that makes this the greatest stage in the state today."
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
According to Forrest City baseball coach, Reggie Murphy, Friday's season-opening game was a good one for the Mustangs even though it ended in a 5-4 loss.
"We were right there all game and I think we have the potential to be a better team this year than we have been in the past," said Murphy. "But we are still making some of the same old mistakes. We have to correct that."
The Mustangs scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning but came up just short against Rivercrest in last Friday's season opener at the Sports Complex.
The Mustangs will host Brinkley today at 4:30 p.m., in a varsity-junior varsity doubleheader.
Rivercrest scored first in the top of the second inning when Billy Henry walked, was sacrificed to second by J.R. Coffman and scored on a Forrest City error, one of five committed by the Mustangs.
Rivercrest made it a 2-0 lead with a run in the top of the third when Marcus Arnold doubled and scored on an RBI single by Trey Coffman.
Forrest City pushed two runs across in the bottom of the third to tie the game at 2-2 when senior second baseman, Kevin Padilla led off the inning with a walk. One out later, junior Terrance Ware walked and both runners scored on an RBI-double by sophomore outfielder Preston Echols.
Rivercrest broke the tie with two runs in the top of the fourth when Henry walked for the second time and J.R. Coffman got aboard using a fielder's choice. Both runners scored on a sacrifice fly by Chris Foster to make it 4-2.
Rivercrest added a single run in the top of the seventh inning when Jarod Hart walked, stole second base and scored on another Forrest City throwing error.
Trailing 5-2, the Mustangs got a lead-off walk by Ware and a one out RBI single by Echols to score Ware.
Mustang senior leftfielder Chris Autry went down on strikes before D.J. Banks, the Forrest City designated hitter, brought home Echols with another RBI single.
Cassiday Hankins singled putting Banks, the potential tying run at second with two outs.
Pinch-hitter Ben Horton went down on strikes to end the game leaving the Mustangs one run shy of forcing extra innings.
The Mustangs scored their four runs on six hits and took advantage of six walks issued by a trio of Rivercrest pitchers.
Hankins, a 5-8 senior right-hander, got the start and worked five innings, giving up four runs on four hits and two walks while striking out five.
Ware took over in the top of the sixth and worked the final two innings, giving up the final Rivercrest run on no hits and two walks while striking out one.
Echols led the Mustangs with two hits and scored a run while driving in three Mustang runners. Banks had two hits and an RBI while Ware scored twice and had one hit.
Ware is expected to get the start today against Brinkley.
The Mustangs will open play Friday, March 5, in the Marion/West Memphis Invitational Tournament, a three-game guarantee event, which wil continue through Saturday.
Following the tournament, Forrest City will host West Memphis for a junior varsity game on Monday, March 8.
The Forrest City Lady Mustang fast-pitch softball team is set to open the season on Thursday, March 4, when they host West Memphis at the Sports Complex.
The game is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start
The Lady Mustangs are being coached this year by Amber Main, Steve Gracey and Pam England.
The Lady Mustangs have three seniors, Jennifer Ballard, Rachael Sims and Whitney Tracey on the roster along with juniors Aneisha Barden, Shardavia Davis, Stacey Gracey, Mallory Nelson and Holly Simon and sophomores Chari Agnew, Risondra Deans, Brittney Duckworth, Chassity Lowe, LaShunda Rogers, Randal Ross, Kimberly Stevens, Rudy Stewart and Leigh Anna Taylor.
by Walter Scott
Just call it a case of the winter crazies.
It is almost intolerable for an outdoors person to sit around the house. Even when there are no hunting seasons open and it is too early to fish.
Nonetheless, we have a strong desire to get into the "outdoors" to do something, even if it sometimes turns out all wrong. This is the time of year when crazy ideas are often hatched.
One year, in particular, we had an ice storm. The temperature was well below freezing and it rained off and on most of the night. Our entire world was covered with a thick layer of ice. It was beautiful to look at, but almost impossible to navigate.
The boys were in high school at the time, but since the roads were impassible, they did not have to go to school and I did not have to go to work.
By noon, all three of us were ready to get outside and do something.
My wife, who had been perfectly happy to have the whole family safely gathered around the winter hearth, was ready to kick us all outside to face the elements after only one round of full contact miniature golf in the living room.
So we decided to go sledding. This would not be the gentle snow sledding we did when the boys were younger -- this would be "macho sledding" on pure ice.
Left over from the days of their youth, we had a runner sled, a plastic saucer sled, and a plastic three-foot long toboggan.
The boys decided we also needed a larger, more sturdy toboggan in case one of the other means of transportation broke.
I worked at getting enough ice off the truck to see out of the windows while they put their talents to work building a second toboggan out of a piece of corrugated metal barn siding and oak 2 X 4's.
Before long, the truck was de-iced and they had manufactured a nice sled complete with a number of very sharp edges.
My wife was not impressed with our plans when we came in the house to stock up on food and hot chocolate for the afternoon's activities.
When she saw "Speedy", the metal toboggan, she was ready to let us play full contact football in the living room.
We slowly crept down ice covered roads to the farm. Arriving at the sledding hill, it was better than we had imagined. The hill was a glare of ice without a speck of snow on it.
The hill is flat on top with a steep drop that gradually fades out to a long, almost level run all the way to the creek. When sledding on the snow, we never made it as far as the creek. We thought we might be able to get to the creek on the ice.
Damon, our youngest son, got to go first. It is not that his brother, Walter, or I were chicken, you understand, it was just that Walter was willing to forego the honor of being the first on the hill, and I thought it best if I went last, since I knew first aid and was of legal age to drive injuries to the hospital.
Walter pushed Damon off in the plastic toboggan. He went flying down the hill letting out an occasional yell. He flew across the flat area and plunged over the bank into the frozen creek. We were relieved to see him emerge from the creek and start back up the hill. He fell down every couple steps until he got to the steep part of the hill where he just quit trying to walk and began crawling. Walter could not wait for his brother to make the long journey to the top.
He jumped on the saucer sled and I pushed him off. He was almost half-way down the hill when he became airborne and fell off. Upon completing his crawl to the top, Damon explained the horses had left some unfortunate hazards in various locations. Their droppings had frozen, becoming ice covered, painful bumps when hit properly by a plastic toboggan or a saucer sled.
Braced with that knowledge, I launched myself off on the runner sled.
I steered carefully around the first mound I saw picking up speed quickly. I was almost to another hazard when I spotted it and turned quickly in my attempt to avoid the ramp. The sudden turn sent the sled sideways and I continued to skid at what must have been sixty miles per hour. When I caught a formerly organic obstacle sideways, the small pile of horse manure removed both runners from the sled. I slid almost to the creek on what remained of the sled.
By the time I crawled to the top of the hill, the boys were ready to try out "Speedy". I was not so sure, but in order to save face in front of the boys -- who do not really understand the meaning of pain or death, I climbed on the back.
The three of us went flying over the crest of the hill as though we were on a luge track with no sides.
"Speedy" took the bumps in stride. A big bump would make the sled and the three of us fly through the air for a few feet before it settled back gracefully on the ice.
All too soon the exhilaration of sailing down the hill was replaced with thoughts of stopping.
The level part of the hill before the creek did not seem to be slowing us at all.
Before we reached the creek, we had enough time to think about a high-speed piece of sheet metal slicing us like lunch meat.
With legs and arms intertwined, two people trying to get off one side and one from the other, none of us were successful in abandoning ship.
We left the creek bank and hit high on the opposite side. "Speedy" buckled and snapped. The three of us tumbled down the bank and lay momentarily motionless on the ice as we assessed any possible injuries.
Surprisingly, "Speedy" was the only fatality. The rest of us were uninjured, much to our surprise.
We crawled back up the hill to the truck and decided to call it a day.
There is no sense pushing one's luck with crazy activities just to relieve the boredom of a winter day.