5A-West challenges await Blackhawks
Hello, Blackhawks. Goodbye, Eagles.
That’s a significant change in the 5A-West Conference, where Pea Ridge will replace Huntsville in football for the 2020-2022 reclassification cycle. The addition of Pea Ridge will make a tough 5A-West Conference even tougher, where the Blackhawks will trade games against Class 4A teams with programs like Harrison, Alma, and Morrilton.
Huntsville, which has struggled for several years in football, will drop down and play in the 4A-1 Conference.
Pea Ridge loaded up with nonconference games against Class 5A schools the past two years in anticipation of its move to the 5A-West. The Blackhawks started 0-3 last season following losses to Harrison, Maumelle, and Farmington, but still recovered to finish 8-5 overall after losing 21-14 to
Ozark in the quarterfinals of the Class 4A state playoffs.
The Blackhawks, who won 13 games in 2016 and 12 games in 2017, will make their 5A-West Conference debut at Alma on Sept. 25.
“We played six games against 5A schools the last two years,” Stephen Neal, Pea Ridge Blackhawk head football coach, said. “Even in our benefit games, we played Siloam Springs and Rogers, and we’ve played in 7-on-7 games at places like Bentonville West. We saw what was coming.”
The Arkansas Activities Association canceled all spring sports in mid-March, which eliminated spring practice for the high school football programs across the state. The news is especially tough for coaches like Rusty Bush, who takes over at Alma after 14 years as an assistant coach at Fort Smith Northside.
Bush replaces Doug Loughridge, who stepped down when the Cardinals moved from the 4A-1 to the 5A-West Conference. Farmington made the season after losing to 28-21 to eventual state champion Pulaski Academy in the playoffs. But
Harrison has to replace an exceptional senior class led by Gabe Huskey, a three-time all-state running back, quarterback Ben Johnson, and linebacker Brooks Both, who’ll be a walk-on this season at Arkansas.
Pea Ridge will be on the road more in its move from the 4A-1 to the 5A-West Conference. Farmington and Alma are relatively close but the league is spread out toward the east with Greenbrier and Vilonia, which are both about 200 miles away from Pea Ridge.
“We’re going to have to learn to travel,” Neal said. “It’s a challenge and we’re going into a league where they play physical football. We graduated a really good class but our numbers are good and we’ve got some big linemen coming up we’re really excited about.”
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Rick Fires can be reached at rfires@nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWARick.