After the Prairie Grove loss to Shiloh and the Blackhawks' victory over Gravette, the upper tier of the 4A-1 district seems to be jelling in the direction of the Tigers, Shiloh and Pea Ridge.
This week's showdown with Prairie Grove could end the Tigers' shot at another league title with a 'Hawk victory. Prairie Grove will more than likely win in their final three regular season games but outside of a Gravette upset of Shiloh, the No. 1 seed of the 4A-1 has gone by the boards as far as the Tigers are concerned in any case.
A Pea Ridge victory this Friday could possibly make the regular season finale with Shiloh a winner-take-all affair. The 'Hawks have Huntsville and Berryville in the two games before the Shiloh battle and Pea Ridge will be heavy favorites to win those two battles. The 2014 season has been a bit unusual in that there seems to have developed a kind of gulf between the top four and the bottom four teams.
There is an extra incentive for the 4A-1 champion this year as that particular seed sits atop the 4A State playoff bracket. What that means is that the top seed from our conference will be the home team throughout the playoffs, at least until that team is eliminated.
The No. 2 seed will have a favorable draw, playing some fairly low seeds in the early going. With the way the teams are lined up, the third, fourth and fifth seeds from our district will have a much tougher row to hoe, No. 5 in particular. That seed will likely have to travel to Warren, last year's state runners-up, in the first game.
Winn boys preserve last week's wins
Brothers Drew and Dakota Winn each had a big defensive hand in preserving the 'Hawks' 12-7 and 21-19 victories over Gravette's junior and senior high football teams last week.
Trailing by just 5 points in the junior high game Thursday, the Lion quarterback threw a great pass to a Gravette receiver on the goal line but Drew used perfect timing to knock the ball away. The 'Hawks went on to hold Gentry out of the end zone in what was their best defensive performance of the game and maybe even the year, to assure the outcome.
Last Friday in the high school game, Gravette threw a 2-point conversion pass into the end zone that would have tied the game were it not for Dakota's defensive play that knocked the ball away from the Lion receiver.
Speaking of Winn boys
The oldest Winn brother, Dayton, was named the Southern Athletic Association's Offensive player of the week after his four touchdown effort helped Hendrix College to their fourth straight win to start the season. After beating Millsaps College (Miss.), the Warriors of Hendrix played in St. Louis to take on Washington University. Washington decided to key on Winn, holding him to 80 yards rushing as Hendrix suffered their first loss. The Warrior offense, though limited by Washington's defense, still put up enough points to win but Washington's offense put 59 points on the board.
The game was held at Washington University, which is located on the site of the 1904 III Olympic Games as was the 1904 World's Fair. Frances Field, home of the Washington Bears, was once the Olympic Stadium. The permanent bleachers, where are still in use, were the world's first to be built with steel reinforced concrete.
Frances Field is a fond remembrance for me as it was on Bushyhead Track (in the stadium) where my son first qualified for participation in the National AAU Junior Olympic Games in 1988. He was a 6-year-old competing in the 10 and under classification.
The St. Louis Olympics in 1904 went down as a kind of weird affair as it was held in conjunction with the World's Fair. The Olympics lasted for more than for months and became kind of a side show for fair goers. Two Africans from Tswana were in town for the fair and wound up entering the Olympic Marathon. One of them, Len Tau, might have won a medal if he had not been chased miles off course by angry dogs, though he still finished ninth.
Felix Carbajal, a Cuban, was also visiting and he entered the marathon wearing his regular clothes, although he did tear the lower half of the legs off before he set off. He might have medaled if he had not stopped to eat apples from an orchard and take a short nap. He was fourth.
The World's Fair was noted mostly for the invention of ice cream cones, and the introduction of peanut butter, cotton candy, and Dr. Pepper. The Fair and the Olympics became so intertwined that the Olympic chairman and founder Baron de Corbetin refused to attend. Of course, that was the last time the Olympics was run in that fashion.
Results and predictions
Though I knew that MaxPreps predicted it, I just didn't see the Shiloh win over Prairie Grove coming. In my last week's predictions, I was three of four as I correctly forecast the Gentry, Pea Ridge and Lincoln triumphs. Below are game summaries:
Shiloh 27/Prairie Grove 20 -- The Tigers got up on Shiloh 14-0 early in the game (to the cheers of just about everyone attending the Pea Ridge/Gravette game). Shiloh's running game almost matched Prairie Groves (210 to 188 total yards), but the Tigers were outpassed in yards by a 288-64 count. Prairie Grove led 20-19 until Shiloh scored with 3:24 left to take the victory.
Gentry 28/Huntsville 20 -- The teams were evenly matched in total yards (287-285) with the difference being a 78-yard punt return by Gentry for a touchdown. The Eagles' Cain had another big night rushing with 159 yards but they got precious little from the rest of their team. Gentry's third quarterback to start this season, Kevin Easter, was 11 for 21 for 233 yards for two scores
Lincoln 16/Berryville 14 -- As I predicted, the game went down to the wire with Lincoln getting a 2-point win. As is usually the case, Berryville home games never make it into the flow of information that one can find on the internet for just about every other game in the state, so details are lacking.
4a-1 District standings
Pea Ridge 3-0
Shiloh 3-0
Prairie Grove 2-1
Gentry 2-1
Gravette 1-2
Lincoln 1-2
Huntsville 0-3
Berryville 0-3
This week's predictions:
Shiloh 35/Gentry 7 -- The Springdale school has gotten their passing game rolling with some speedy receivers. It is unlikely that the Pioneers can rein them in, so that will be their downfall. Gentry has been getting steadily better as the season has progressed but they can't improve enough before Friday.
Lincoln 14/Huntsville 12 -- The Eagles have a really good running back, but that's about it. Lincoln still has a little moxie left over from last year, enough to contain Huntsville anyway as far as winning goes. Both teams are deficient on defense, and the game will probably come down to turnovers and successful PATs.
Gravette 42/Berryville 7 -- The Lions' top tailback is averaging over 200 yards a game, even averaging 140 against good teams. He might well top 300 against the Bobcats if he plays beyond the first half. He will get 20 carries or more and Berryville will likely not be able to stop him. Gravette is smarting from back-to-back conference losses and will be burning for some success. They will get it.
Pea Ridge 21, Prairie Grove 14 -- I think if there are no turnovers, and the same refs from last year aren't on the field, the 'Hawks win by a touchdown. The 'Hawks haven't been turnover prone this season and have developed a good passing attack to go with a solid running game. As always, the Tigers have a potent ground attack, but it is one the 'Hawks stopped last year.
Blackhawks rise to no. 12 in CBS/MaxPreps State 4a poll
Pea Ridge jumped five spots to No. 12 in the CBS/MaxPreps State 4A Football Poll, after their narrow win at Gravette last week. The win also boosted them to second place in the district 4A-1 poll, just behind Shiloh.
There are two games with top 10 teams lining up both sides of the field. No. 2 Arkadelphia will play No. 4 Mena with No. 7 Dollarway taking on No. 9 Hamburg.
CBS/MaxPreps State 4a football poll
1. Dardanelle 6-0
2. Arkadelphia 5-1
3. Warren 4-2
4. Mena 6-0
5. Nashville 5-1
6. Pottsville 4-2
7. Dollarway 5-1
8. Fountain Lake 4-1
9. Hamburg 5-1
10. Shiloh 4-2
12. Pea Ridge 6-0
16. Prairie Grove 3-2
27. Gravette 3-3
37. Gentry 2-4
39. Huntsville 2-4
41. Lincoln 2-4
44. Berryville 2-4
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Editor's note: John McGee is an award-winning columnist and sports writer. He is the art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, coaches elementary track and writes a regular sports column for The Times. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].
Sports on 10/15/2014