Last time in 4A-1

When Farmington’s girls take the floor at home tonight against Gravette, it will be more than just the Lady Cardinals’ final game of the regular season as postseason play begins next week.

It also marks Farmington’s last regularseason game as a 4A-1 Conference member. The Lady Cardinals will make the move up to the 5A-West Conference next season.

“When you’ve been in this league as long as we’ve been, you generate some good rivalries,” Farmington Coach Brad Johnson said. “Honestly, you generate some good friendships on the coaching side of things, as well as the players.

“It’s a little bit bittersweet. We knew it was coming. If you look back 7-8 years ago, we were in that league and played in a blend with Greenwood and Russellville. I’ve seen those teams before and the coaches have seen them. Our kids in the high school have not, but we’ve been playing in that league in junior high. So there some familiarity with our younger kids.”

Johnson said he expects Farmington to keep its rivalry going with Prairie Grove for the “Battle of 62” bragging rights because of how important it remains to both communities. He said he remains hopeful that some of the other 4A-1 Conference teams would like to continue the rivalries they have built.

“The truth of the matter is we might not play some of them again,” Johnson said. “There is potentially some really good games we could get. There are really good games in the league and good coaches. Some of these 4A-1 teams are really high-caliber teams, and they’re close. If we can get some games with them, that would be awesome.”