Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
PEA RIDGE BLACKHAWKS
2018 RECORD 7-4, 6-1 4A-1 Conference
COACH Stephen Neal
RETURNING PLAYERS 7 offense, 4 defense
KEY PLAYERS QB Tate Busey (Sr., 6-2, 170), RB Sam Beard (Sr., 5-11, 185), WR Hunter Rains (Sr., 5-8, 150), OL Phillip Brown (Sr., 6-1, 275), OL Hagen Schader (Sr., 6-3, 250), RB/LB Carlos Reyes (Sr., 6-1, 210), LB Gavin Warden (Sr., 5-10, 165), LB Adam Trammell (Sr., 6-1, 190).
THE SKINNY This is the swan song for Pea Ridge in the 4A-1 as the Blackhawks move up to Class 5A next season. … Tate Busey returns at quarterback after he took over in midseason. He passed for 930 yards and 11 touchdowns and ran for 427 yards and eight more scores. … Sam Beard embraced his role at running back and rushed for 1,025 yards and nine TDs. … Hunter Rains was the Blackhawks’ leading receiver with 23 catches for 328 yards and three TDs, while Brayden Ralph had half of his 14 catches go for touchdowns. … Phillip Brown was an all-conference selection at guard and is joined by fellow returning starter Hagen Schader at center. … Gavin Warden was the team’s second-leading tackler with 75 and also had 16 tackles for loss, as well as five quarterback sacks. … Carlos Reyes was right behind with 69 tackles from an outside linebacker slot, while Adam Trammell returns at middle linebacker after recording 65 tackles last fall. … Jake Adams returns at safety, where he picked up 55 tackles last year.
COACH SPEAK “You walk around town and school and professional development meetings and people ask how the team is going to be,” Neal said. “I tell them that’s a loaded question. We think we are going to be pretty good, but at the same time we’re not really worried, on the field, how things are. We’re worried about how we prepare for our kids and how our kids prepare for competition. That’s our main focus. I’ve said it a lot of times and said it until I’m blue in the face; our focus — as much as we possibly can — is our kids off the field. If can get them to make correct decisions off the field, the correct decisions will be made on the field.”