By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The lines are about to be drawn between the eight teams making up the AAAAA-East Conference.
On Friday, four of those teams will step across the line while four will have to wait another week for another attempt.
Two of those eight teams are resting in the AP Top 10 -- Jonesboro at No 3 and Cabot at No. 8, despite a 35-0 loss last Friday to top-ranked Little Rock Central.
Sylvan Hills, who returns to the AAAAA-East after two seasons at the Class AAAA level, barely missed the Top 10 cut in the most recent voting, finishing at No. 12.
The Bears and Jonesboro have yet to lose while Cabot, Jacksonville and a surprising Mountain Home squad start conference play at 2-1.
The Forrest City Mustangs and West Memphis are at 1-2 while Searcy has yet to claim a victory.
Of Friday's four scheduled conference matchups, the Mustangs may have the toughest road, having to open against No. 3 Jonesboro at Cooksey-Johns Field in Jonesboro.
The Mustangs, coming off a 28-0 loss to Osceola on Friday, must find a way to stop or slow down senior tailback workhorse Cowan Hutson, who is averaging 174 yards per game on the ground, including a school-record 297 yards last week against Poplar Bluff, Mo. He ran for 1,264 yards and 20 touchdowns in 2003.
Hutson's cousin, Johnny, is the defensive leader from his inside linebacker spot, with 34 tackles.
"It's a tough assignment," said Forrest City Coach Donnie Willis Wednesday. "Hutson is, as they say, the real deal. We have shown the capability of play hard on defense but we have also shown signs of not putting together a complete-game effort, especially against Osceola. We need to play hard every down."
The Mustangs managed just 234 total yards against Osceola -- of that total only 57 on the ground, led by Terrance Ware's 44 yards on 15 carries.
The Mustangs let no less than two touchdowns slip through their fingers against Osceola -- dropping a sure TD pass in the endzone and having another called back by a penalty.
Add to that the fact that the Mustangs were playing without four normal starters. The quartet who missed the Osceola game will be back in uniform and back on the field against Jonesboro.
"They have to be," Willis said. "We have a lot of bodies at positions but we don't have much experience."
This Friday night, the Sylvan Hills Bears will line up in a AAAAA-East game for the first time in three seasons and they're jumping right into the hottest part of the fire when they host defending state runners up West Memphis.
Last week West Memphis got the season rolling with a quality, 34-20 victory over West Helena after opening with back-to-back losses.
However, Sylvan Hills coach Ron Sebastian doesn't think West Memphis' slow start will have an impact on Friday's game.
"I think West Memphis is historically a slow-starting team," Sebastian said. "I doubt they're overly concerned with the first two games. They're still big and fast and they're going to create a lot of problems for a lot of teams. They look like the same old West Memphis to me."
The Bears continue to run the option offense and will take whatever the opposing defense gives up.
Meanwhile, Cabot Coach Mike Malham is hoping that a bunch of Lions are easier to tame than the Tigers were last week.
Malham leads his Panthers into Lion country Friday night at Searcy. Since joining the AAAAA-East, Searcy is 0-2 against Cabot. That stat is not likely to change Friday.
While a Cabot win would give Malham career victory No, 200, the head Panther is more concerned with getting 2004 conference victory No. 1.
"It's simple," Malham said. "There are four teams in our league that are going to be 1-0 and four that are going to be 0-1 on Saturday. We just want to be 1-0."
Searcy is 0-3, and not as athletic as Central but in the trenches, Searcy is bigger than Cabot.
"Everybody is going to be bigger than us," Malham said. "We just don't have any size, so we have to do what we always have to do and that's execute and play smart."
Malham believes Searcy's record is deceiving.
"They moved the football up and down the field against Conway and they moved it up and down the field against Batesville," Malham said. "They're capable."
Finally, The Jacksonville Red Devils will host Mountain Home, a team they have defeated the past two seasons.
A year ago, Jacksonville's Terrod Hatcher ran for a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns as the Red Devils slipped away with a 21-14 victory over Mountain Home at Bomber Stadium.
But things could be different this time around.
The Bombers are 2-1 and looking to add to that season total after suffering through successive 1-9 seasons.