WEEK 9
AAAAA-East Conference
Forrest City at
Mountain Home
Friday, October 29
7:30 p.m.
Bomber Stadium
Forrest City 2-6 (1-4)
Mountain Home 3-5 (1-4)
The Mountain Home Bombers will host the Forrest City Mustangs tonight in the final home game of the season for the Bombers.
The Mustangs' hopes for postseason have already ended and are playing out the year. A Forrest City win tonight would end a three-game losing streak.
For the Mountain Home Bombers, it's do or die tonight.
Second-year head coach Shane Patrick's Bombers have their backs against the wall in their pursuit of a postseason berth into the Class AAAAA State Playoffs and must defeat Forrest City to maintain those hopes.
Mountain Home is 3-5 overall and 1-4 in the AAAAA-East Conference. The Bombers trail Jacksonville (5-3, 3-2) by two games in the standings and Jonesboro (5-3, 2-3) by one game. After tonight, the Bombers have Searcy (1-7, 1-4) remaining,
For the Mustangs, postseason is already out of the question, but a win tonight could go a long way in soothing some of the slings and arrows felt in the last two conference games, which Forrest City lost by a total of eight points.
After missing all but two plays in last week's loss at West Memphis, senior quarterback Evan VanDolah will be back in the lineup.
Forrest City fell to Jacksonville 16-14 a week ago. The Red Devils stopped a Mustang two-point conversion attempt to secure the victory.
WEEK 9
6AA Conference
No. 10 Hughes at
Clarendon
Friday, October 29
7:30 p.m.
Lion Stadium
Hughes 6-2 (5-1)
Clarendon 2-6 (1-5)
The Hughes Blue Devils moved into the No. 10 slot of the Class AA state rankings last week after holding off Des Arc.
Tonight, the Blue Devils, still a solid contender for the 6AA Conference title, must stayed focused in their road game at Clarendon.
A win tonight, coupled with a win next week over league-leading Palestine-Wheatley, could help the Blue Devils to a share of the league title and a possible No. 1 seed into the Class AA playoffs.
The Blue Devils enter tonight's game locked in a tie for second place in the conference with Harding Academy, a team they lost to earlier in the season.
Harding goes against Barton tonight in a game that could help Hughes' cause in a big way. A Hughes win over Clarendon tonight and a Barton win over Harding would leave the Blue Devils in second place alone at 6-1 while Harding and Barton would be tied for third at 5-2.
Hughes has already defeated Barton and owns the tiebreaker in head-to-head play against the Bears.
Everything that happens tonight, points to next week for Hughes and Palestine-Wheatley, undefeated in the 6AA Conference and enjoying an open date tonight.
A year ago, the Patriots defeated Hughes 41-34. Both teams
went on to postseason play and both teams got as far as the Class
AA quarterfinals before being eliminated.
Tommy Shoemaker's Harding Academy Wildcats shouldn't be playing the role of spoiler when they travel to Barton tonight.
Thanks to ESPN, however, that is exactly what they are.
The Julius Caesar of cable channels will be in Barton shooting a story on a Bears program head coach Frank McClellan has led to a 348-48-4 record while at the school.
A Wildcat victory would eliminate a happy ending to the script.
"That's the plan," Shoemaker said about his attempt to ruin Barton's big night. "We won't feel bad about that."
That would be nothing new, because there hasn't been much to feel bad about at Harding this season. They are 7-1 overall, 5-1 in 6AA and locked in a tie for second place with Hughes. Barton is hanging onto the final playoff spot with a 4-2 conference record.
Add the playoff implications, national television exposure, a budding rivalry and the Wildcats have themselves a playoff atmosphere.
It has been a while since Harding played in a game of this magnitude.
Since losing 47-44 in overtime against Palestine-Wheatley in Week 3, the Wildcats have pretty much rolled through their schedule. It won't be as easy tonight
The Bears have only allowed 96 points this season -- the fewest in 6AA -- while the Wildcats have been lighting up the scoreboard every week to the tune of 39 points a game.
Barton's ability to contain the Wildcats spread attack will be crucial.
As will the teams' ability to not allow the games distractions affect their play.
"It's the type of atmosphere which makes the game a lot
of fun," said Shoemaker. "ESPN would be easy to be a
distraction. There is no doubt in my mind we will come out and
play hard."
The Palestine-Wheatley Patriots, ranked third in Class AA, will get the chance to sit back and watch the rest of the 6AA league tonight.
The Patriots, 7-1 overall and 7-0 in the conference, have an open date tonight.
Of particular interest to the Patriots is the Harding Academy-Barton matchup and the Hughes-Clarenson game.
P-W will end regular season play next week against Hughes.
The Patriots lead the state in overall offense and points scored.
A win over Hughes next week would give P-W the outright 6AA
championship and the No. 1 seed into the Class AA state playoffs
which begin 12 and home field advantage for the first two rounds.