Jonesboro will face nemesis

For the third time in four seasons, Jonesboro will meet Benton in the Class 6A quarterfinals.

The Hurricane lost at home to the Panthers in 2016 as a No. 1 seed, 56-52, then fell 38-37 last season at Benton.

This season, Jonesboro heads back to Saline County to face the Panthers, the 6A-West’s No. 1 seed.

Hurricane Coach Randy Coleman hopes that his team will do the same thing the Panthers did in 2016: Knock off a top seed on the road.

“There’s definitely motivation,” Coleman said. “One of the best teams we’ve had in a while was three years ago with Jonathan Adams [now at Arkansas State University]. They knocked us out. Then, last year, we lose by one.

“They’ve been difficult for us. We know the history of the matchup. I know we’re 1-7 against Benton in history, with the lone win in 1954. That’s a team that we’ve got to play our best against to have a chance.”

Jonesboro (8-3) was in position to be a No. 1 seed from the 6A-East Conference entering its regular-season finale at Marion, but the Hurricane blew a 12-point lead and lost 34-25, falling from a possible first seed to the East’s No. 4 seed.

The Hurricane responded with a 35-7 victory over El Dorado as junior quarterback Cross Jumper accounted for four touchdowns (two passing, two rushing).

“The dual-threat aspect is really clicking on all cylinders,” Coleman said of

Jumper. “It makes us better offensively.”

Jonesboro’s three losses — at Conway, to West Memphis and at Marion — have been followed with victories, which Coleman has been pleased with.

“Our kids have been resilient,” Coleman said. “Every time our guys have faced adversity, they’ve came back. What I like about them is that they put negatives behind them and move forward.”

A matchup Coleman is looking forward to is Jonesboro’s defense against Benton’s offense, which is guided by senior quarterback Garrett Brown (2,266 yards, 18 touchdowns). The Jonesboro defense is led by senior defensive lineman Jashaud Stewart, who has orally committed to the University of Arkansas. Stewart leads the Hurricane with 107 tackles and 17 sacks.

Against El Dorado, Stewart recorded 11 tackles and two sacks.

Coleman said Jonesboro’s defensive line will have to limit Benton to have a shot to advance to the Class 6A semifinals.

CAC Lone survivor

There’s one team left from the 2-4A Conference in this year’s Class 4A playoffs, and it’s Central Arkansas Christian.

The Mustangs, who are the league’s No. 3 seed, were the only team out of five from the 2-4A to win a firstround game Friday, defeating Gentry 49-20 behind sophomore Tyler Williams’ 158 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns.

Junior quarterback Palmer Gilbrech had two touchdown passes against Gentry, both to senior Gentry Miller.

CAC (8-3), which travels to 7-4A champion Joe T. Robinson (10-1) for a second-round game Friday, saved the 2-4A from an 0-5 showing in the playoffs. Top seed Riverview, No. 2 seed Southside Batesville, No. 4 seed Lonoke and No. 5 seed Heber Springs all lost, with Riverview and Southside Batesville losing at home to DeWitt and Star City, respectively.

“I was very shocked Friday at the results,” CAC Coach Tommy Shoemaker said. “I thought we would have been better. But I’m proud to be the ones to be left and still glad to be playing.”

CAC won its final three regular-season games to secure the 2-4A’s No. 3 seed and also earn a share of the league championship with Riverview, Southside Batesville and Lonoke with a 5-2 record. The Mustangs defeated Lonoke 28-21 in two overtimes Oct. 25, then earned victories over Bald Knob 346 on Nov. 1 and at Stuttgart 28-6 on Nov. 7.

“I think the big part of it is how we’ve played on defense,” Shoemaker said. “We got a lot of turnovers. We turned three of those into touchdowns.

“Offensively, we haven’t turned the ball over. We’ve taken care of the football. We’ve run the football well. We’re able to have some balance. We got going. Things were clicking.”

ALMA Nice turnaround

Alma lost its first five games and was looking at missing the Class 5A playoffs from the 5A-West Conference.

Coach Doug Loughridge said the Airedales were at a low point after the first five weeks.

“We were staring down the barrel at 1-9,” Loughridge said. “But I put a lot of our success on our kids. They could have shut it down.

They could have felt sorry for themselves. But they didn’t quit.”

The Airedales (5-6) rebounded to win four of their final five regular-season games to qualify for the playoffs as the 5A-West’s No. 3 seed. On Friday, Alma came back from a 33-20 deficit at Forrest City to stun the Mustangs 34-33 in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs.

Senior quarterback Landon Blair’s 1-yard touchdown run gave the Airedales the victory and a home playoff game Friday in the quarterfinals against 5A-Central No. 4 seed White Hall. Blair finished with 108 yards and 2 touchdowns on 20 carries and also threw a touchdown pass for Alma.

White Hall comes into Friday’s game with one of the state’s biggest upsets of the playoffs in a 35-0 first-round victory at 5A-South champion Hot Springs Lakeside. Senior running back Donte Buckner finished with 146 yards and three touchdowns for the Bulldogs, who are in their first season with Coach Bobby Bolding.

“If we can get to the third and fourth quarter, we can have a chance,” Loughridge said. “We can’t have any turnovers.”

Loughridge is in his final season as Alma’s coach before he becomes the school’s athletic director. Loughridge, a two-time state championship coach at Charleston (2008, 2011) before coming to Alma in 2013, wants to keep winning before he gets into administration.

“I want to make this thing go as long as we can,” Loughridge said. “This year didn’t start out how we wanted it to. But I would put this group up against anybody.

“We want to play on Thanksgiving week. To be at home is big. Hopefully this community will get behind these guys.”