With the conclusion of the second round of the 4A playoffs, eight teams are still in contention for a trip to Little Rock for the 4A Championship Game Dec. 13.
The powerful 4A-7 District flexed its muscles with half of the field of eight being members of their conference.
Nashville Scrappers, 4A-7 conference champion, made the quarterfinals with a 49-32 conquest of Prairie Grove last week. Mena, 4A-7 runner-up, cruised by Star City 34-24 to get their berth, with fourth place 4A-7 finisher Arkadelphia easing by Gosnell by a 7-6 count. The other 4A-7 member is Malvern, the third-place finisher in the year's best league, the team that ended Pea Ridge's season last week.
Powerful Dardanelle handled Hamburg 28-14 with pre-season state champion favorite Warren winning big over Heber Springs 49-7. Shiloh of Springdale extended their season by taking a hard-fought 14-7 win over Pocahontas on the road.
The shocker of the evening was Pine Bluff Dollarway's 21-20 set back to Clinton. Dollarway was the heavy favorite to win that contest and was to play the winner of the Pea Ridge/Malvern contest. Dollarway's loss and Malvern's win gives the Leopards home-field advantage next week when Clinton travels south to meet the 4A-7 power.
Besides the Clinton/Malvern pairing, other quarter-final games include:
Warren at Shiloh: Both teams took second place seeds and with Shiloh in the higher bracket, the Lumberjacks will be traveling to Springdale. A pre-season consensus of many to be the 2014 state champion, Warren may be living up to their expectations. Warren is the top returning team from 2013 when they finished second to Booneville, which moved to 3A this year.
Dardanelle at Nashville: Dardanelle is 12-0 on the season but has to travel to the Scrapper's house due to bracket placement. Nothing has seemed to slow the Sand Lizards down this year but Nashville is know for playing big when it needs to.
Arkadelphia at Mena: Arkadelphia beat Mena 40-27 back in mid-October but Mena ended up with second place ahead of Arkadelphia's fourth place district finish to get to host. The game will be a toss up.
Surprisingly, the 4A-8 is down to their last team, Warren, in the playoffs. Districts 4A-2 and 4A-3 have been completely eliminated. District 4A-4 with Dardanelle and Clinton have two teams in the field of eight.
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Editor's note: John McGee is an award-winning columnist and sports writer. He writes a regular sports column for The Times. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].
Sports on 11/26/2014