By Gerren Smith

The 2021 football season presented a year of electrifying highlights and playmaking on the gridiron from several high school student-athlete stars amongst the area” Fab 5” schools— Malvern Leopards, Glen Rose Beavers,

Bismarck Lions, Magnet Cove Panthers and the “Rolling Tribe-poyen Indians.

It was a historic year for Hot Spring County as all five school’s football programs not only clinched postseason berths for the state playoffs, but all advanced to the second round in their respective classification. Due to their productive seasons, a broad number of talented players received special recognition and earned postseason accolades of AllState and All-conference honors for the 2021 season.

A star-studded cast of playmakers of the gridiron made a successful noise of accomplishments while representing the area against some of the best top-notch football programs across the Natural State.

While racking up the stat charts and categories, all of these talented football performers

showcased spectacular plays both offensively and defensively to make an impact for winning seasons in their program this season. As a result, this season the area has an enormous depth of stars that earned special recognition as sophomores, juniors and seniors to make 2021 a year to remember in the county.

Head coaches JD Plumlee of Malvern, Mark Kehner of Glen Rose, Daniel Keithley of Bismarck, Caleb Carmikle of Magnet Cove and Vick Barrett of Poyen led their programs to exceptional success with the help of a classy assistant coaching staff anticipates a bright future in the area for football. The madness on the gridiron has all football fans excited for next season and the upcoming years as there will be some changes in the conferences for the 2022-2024.