Familiar 4A-1 foes eager for rematch

Brad Johnson found himself in an interesting conversation during the Class 4A North Region tournament in Ozark two weeks ago.

Farmington’s girls coach had spoken with some Harrison fans and players shortly after the two teams played each other during the consolation game. The subject was another possible meeting between the two 4A-1 Conference rivals.

“The comment was made that we were on opposite sides of the bracket,” Johnson said. “We had just had a phenomenal game. If we were going to meet again, it was going to be for the whole thing.

“We felt like if we could get there to the end and you asked me who else was going to be there, I would have rattled off probably two or three names. Harrison would have been one of those teams because I have that much respect for them. My players do, too. ”

Sure enough, it happened. Farmington (23-7) and Harrison (20-3) will square off for the fourth time this season at 10 a.m. today, and the Class 4A state championship will be on the line at Bank OZK Arena in Hot Springs. Another rematch never surprised Johnson nor Harrison Coach Kristian Williams, even with the road they took to get there.

Farmington, which earned the North’s third seed after Carson Dillard’s buzzer-beater gave the Lady Cardinals a 63-61 victory over Harrison, defeated Batesville Southside (59-45), Mena (72-47) and Pulaski Academy (6762 in overtime). Harrison, meanwhile, went as the fourth seed and knocked off Brookland (49-41), Star City (62-57) and Morrilton (5448) — the team that won the North Region.

“Nothing against the rest of the teams in the state, but I feel like our conference is the toughest in the state,” Williams said. “We joke that our conference is the SEC of Class 4A. There is a lot of talent coming out of our conference and our region. Us going into the state tournament as the four seed, I thought we were higher than that.”

A matter of unfinished business fueled Farmington throughout the season. The Lady Cardinals were scheduled to play for the state title last year, but that was before the coronavirus pandemic swept through the country and eventually caused 8 of 12 state championship games to be cancelled.

Farmington, though, had to replace three starters while trying to find a way to play in the title game this season. Johnson then noticed his team was starting to steer in the right direction during the 4A-1 Conference tournament.

“It took us a while to figure things out and adjust some roles,” Johnson said. “We were trending toward being a good team when we reached the district tournament. We were beginning to play better and getting more comfortable, and we added some depth with Reese Shirey, which gave us another piece to the puzzle that we already had.

“Then it was trying to polish all that. Honestly, when we got to play in the district tournament semifinals in Harrison, the light switch came on and we played really good that night.”

It was a little different road for Harrison as Williams became the Lady Goblins’ coach in April and didn’t even get to meet her players in person until after July 4. Harrison then lost Brynn Oleson, an all-conference player, for the entire season and lost Sydney Shrum until January with injuries.

Yet the Lady Goblins manufactured an amazing run under their first-year coach and went 17-0 through the regular season, including a win at home over Farmington. Harrison, however, lost that semifinal game to Farmington in the conference tournament and fell to Pea Ridge and Farmington in the regional tournament by a combined five points.

“I still don’t feel like everything has come together,” Williams said. “I don’t think we’ve played our best game yet, and I would be cool if it came [today]. We have prided ourselves and kept ourselves in a lot of games with our defense, and we’ve shot the ball well enough and shot free throws good enough to keep us in games when we didn’t shoot too well on paper.

“That goes to show you what type of team I have. In any different game, I’ll have different players step up, and we usually go nine-deep. If somebody is off, there is somebody else that steps up and scores in double digits.”

(NWA Democrat-Gazette/Charlie Kaijo) Coach Brad Johnson (middle) had a feeling two weeks ago that Farmington might face Harrison in today’s Class 4A girls championship game. “If we could get there to the end and you asked me who else was going to be there, I would have rattled off probably two or three names. Harrison would have been one because I have that much respect for them. My players do, too,” Johnson said.