Springdale re-emerging as best football town in state

I was not overly excited when I was told I’d be covering Springdale High sports after I was hired by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in 1998.

I had been spoiled covering Pine Bluff High and Pine Bluff Dollarway when those teams were dominant and also Fort Smith Northside and Fort Smith Southside when they formed the best high school football rivalry in the state.

Springdale High, really? Aren’t those guys kind of small and kind of slow, I thought to myself. The fact is I was slow and uninformed in my thinking. Had I been smarter, I would’ve known about the standout program Jarrell Williams built during 36 years at Springdale High. The Bulldogs won 261 games and four state championships under Williams, a coaching legend who retired in 2000 after placing Springdale on the map as the best football town in Arkansas.

My education about Springdale football began during the preseason in 1998 when Williams waved the Bulldogs together for a drill called “The Blood Pit.” Two tackling dummies were placed on the sides and players went at it one-on-one like gladiators in the late summer heat while wearing full pads. That’s when I began to realize Springdale made up for its lack of size and speed with a slobber-knocker, country boy style of football.

The biggest game of the week will again be at Jarrell Williams Bulldog Stadium Friday night when Har-Ber (4-0, 1-0 7A-West) and Springdale High (4-0, 1-0) meet as unbeaten teams for the first time. Har-Ber is No. 1 in Class 7A and Springdale is undefeated for the first time since the 2005 team dominated the state. Throw in Shiloh Christian and that’s three Springdale-based teams with a combined record of 11-1.

Again, the best football town in Arkansas.

The split within the Springdale school district has been hard on the Bulldogs, who hit bottom with an 0-10 record in 2014. But Springdale High is rising again under Zak Clark, a former Fayetteville High quarterback who played college football at Arkansas and Central Arkansas.

Clark reached back into Springdale history last spring and hired Brett Hobbs as the defensive coordinator for the Bulldogs. Hobbs played for Williams and epitomized the Bulldogs’ style of play as an undersized but aggressive linebacker.

So, it is not surprising much of Springdale’s improvement from previous years has come on defense.

“Scheme-wise, he’s good and solid, and he’s got a great plan,” Clark said of Hobbs, who played college football at Arkansas Tech. “But he is so good with the kids and they really rally around him. You can tell they’re prepared.”

I watched Springdale on Friday when the Bulldogs pulled away for a 44-7 victory at Rogers Heritage. Hobbs stalked the sidelines and worked himself into a frenzy, much like he did when he was banging heads as a fierce linebacker for the Bulldogs.

Hobbs had a message for his defensive unit after Springdale allowed an 80-yard scoring drive in the first quarter.

“We’re better than this,” Hobbs said while rushing out to meet the players as they came off the field. “We’re better than this.”

Springdale responded by forcing six turnovers, including two interceptions by Jujuan Boyd, and the Bulldogs did not allow another score the rest of the game.

Har-Ber will enter Friday’s game on a roll after posting its third consecutive shutout against a Rogers High team that was 3-0. Har-Ber coach Chris Wood knows what a strong Springdale team looks like — he was an assistant on the 14-0 team in 2005 — and he’ll have his team prepared.

Har-Ber will be favored again to win the game, but the team with the “Super S” on its helmet appears relevant again in the best football town in Arkansas.

Welcome back, Springdale High. We’ve missed you.