Blackhawks open league play in the River Valley

The Hawks will play Alma on the gridiron for the first time this fall, Pea Ridge’s first conference game as a member of the 5A West. Alma has been a longtime member of the 5A classification with a couple of the state championships in the late 1990s.

Alma has had a super successful program, having made the playoffs each of the last 12 years. They have made the playoffs 18 of the past 20 seasons which came on the heels of backto-back state titles. Three of the past seven years saw Alma claim conference titles. If the Blackhawks can come out on top of the Airedales this Friday, they will have taken a major step towards their goal of making the 5A playoffs.

Pea Ridge has really been hampered with injuries this initial year in the 5A, and there will be no game this year that won’t be a challenge.

Like Pea Ridge, Alma has a new system in place with new head coach Rusty Bush in charge. This is

Bush’s first year as a head coach, serving as an assistant at Fort Smith Northside and at Benton the past 14 seasons. Alma has long been known as a running team, grinding out victories with a potent run game.

Most starters graduated from Alma this past spring. The starting quarterback listed as 6’4” Hunter McAlister but 6’1” Connor Stacy was the one making the throws in their win over Rogers Heritage last week. The star of the game was 5’7” 170-pound Logan Chronister who ran for 121 yards last week, scoring a touchdown then running a 2-point conversion at the end of the game to send it into overtime at 14-14. The Airedale’s kicker Dane Martin, who has gotten attention from college scouts, kicked a 20-yard field goal in overtime to win the game. He is also a receiver and a tight end and was an All-Conference linebacker in 2019.

Alma’s defense has the most experience and while their size and weight don’t appear especially daunting, the Airedales are known for their physical strength. The Alma/Pea Ridge matchup will be a good one with teams having something to prove.

Volleyball the 4A Northwest, not the 4A-1

When I saw the conference members of the girls volleyball district, I noted that they were all the teams from the 4A-1, the non-football sports team’s longtime home league. Reading up on AAA information this weekend, I realized that the league is referred to as the 4A Northwest.

The 4A-1 is the only 4A district with all their teams having volleyball among their girls sports. Thirtyfive 4A teams registered for volleyball this year, 13 short of the 48 schools that are assigned the 4A classification.

There are normally six conferences within the 4A, but with less than full team participation, the AAA has the 4A divided into four districts. They are the Northwest, Northeast, Central and the West. Five of the regular districts were combined into just three leagues, with the 4A-1 intact, but being named the 4A Northwest. Only six of the far south Arkansas schools offer volleyball.

Perennial power house Valley View will host the 4A state tournament this year. Valley View began volleyball long before the state of Arkansas recognized the sport in 1976 and have won state titles in their last five consecutive seasons. The Blazers have 14 state championship trophies in their display cases as well as a number of second place trophies. The Arkansas State University coaches fostered the growth of the sport in northeast Arkansas way back then with 50 state championship teams coming out of that part of the state, especially in the area around Jonesboro.

5A West rankings Football

1. Harrison 2-1

2. Vilonia 2-1

3. Farmington 2-1

4. Greenbrier 2-1

5. Morrilton 1-2

6. Clarksville 1-1

7. Alma 1-2

8. Pea Ridge 0-3 There was a light 5A West schedule with just three teams in action this past week. Vilonia slipped past Russellville, jumping ahead 21-7 before holding off the Cyclones for a 28-23 victory. Alma got their first win of the season, taking down 7A Rogers Heritage 17-14, with Clarksville also earning their initial win of the year with a dominating 37-14 win over Pottsville.

This week opens conference play with 5A West squads beginning their campaigns for the four playoff spots. Among 48 4A schools, the six leagues are awarded five playoff spots each. With only 31 teams in the 5A, their are four districts with each league awarded four spots. Normally, teams have to win four of their seven conference games to enter the playoffs. Ties could alter that scenario of course.

Besides the game Pea Ridge has at Alma, Vilonia goes to Clarksville, Greenbrier hosts Morrilton, and Harrison invades Farmington. Vilonia is a consensus pick over Clarksville while a Harrison win over Farmington would be a safe bet. The Greenbrier/Morrilton and Pea Ridge/Alma matchups are anybody’s guess.

MaxPreps/CBS State 5A Football poll

1. Pulaski 3-0 NC

2. Maumelle 2-1 +1

3. Little Rock Christian -1

4. Wynne 3-0 NC

5. Watson Chapel 2-0 +5

6. Magnolia 2-1 NC

7. Harrison 2-1 +1

8. Vilonia 2-1 -1

9. Camden 1-2 -5

10. Hot Springs Lakeside 2-1 +1

11. White Hall 2-1 -2

12. Greene County Tech 2-1 NC

13. Valley View 2-1 +1

14. Texarkana 2-0 +4

15. Farmington 2-1 NC

16. Batesville 1-2 -3

17. Hot Springs 1-2 -1

18. Clarksville 1-1 +3

19. Morrilton 1-2 +1

20. Greenbrier 1-2 -1

21. Forrest City 1-1 -4

22. Nettleton 1-2 NC

23. Brookland 1-2 NC

24. Jacksonville 1-1 NC

25. Alma 1-2 NC

26. Pea Ridge 0-3 NC

27. Little Rock Hall 1-2 NC

28. Hope 0-3 +2

29. Paragould 0-3 -1

30. Beebe 0-3 -1

31. DeQueen 0-3 NC

5A West football Strength of schedule

1. Vilonia 9.3

2. Harrison 7.2

3. Pea Ridge 6.4

4. Alma 0.0

5. Greenbrier -2.5

6. Morrilton -3.0

7. Clarksville -4.2

8. Farmington -5.2

4A Northwest Volleyball Standings

1. Shiloh 8-0

2. Harrison 7-1

3. Pea Ridge 5-2

4. Farmington 5-3

5. Berryville 2-3

6. Prairie Grove 3-6

7. Gravette 0-5

8. Gentry 0-5

9. Huntsville 0-5 Last week’s conference game scores included: Pea Ridge 3, Farmington 1; Harrison 3, Prairie Grove 0; Harrison 3, Gravette 0; Pea Ridge 3, Prairie Grove 0; Harrison 3, Farmington 1; Shiloh 3, Pea Ridge 1; Prairie Grove 3, Gentry 0; and Shiloh 3, Huntsville 0. The Shiloh/Berryville, Gravette/Gentry, and Farmington/Berryville games were not reported

Pea Ridge won two of three contests last week, moving up into third place in the 4A-1, bypassing Farmington whom they beat 3-1 to start the week. There were four conference battles last night with Pea Ridge visiting Berryville, Harrison invading Huntsville, Farmington hosting Gravette and Gentry going to play conference leader Shiloh on the road.

CBS 4A State poll Volleyball

1. Morillton 2-0 NR 2. Valley View 8-0 NC 3. Mena 5-0 NR 4. Fountain Lake 6-1 +4 5. Shiloh 10-0 -5 6. Brookland 5-1 -2 7. Batesville Southside 5-1 +4 8. Bauxite 2-1 -1 9. Harrison 8-2 NC 10. Jonesboro Westside 1-1 NR 11. Pea Ridge 6-4 -1 12. Arkadelphia 2-2 NR 13. Lonoke 4-2 -8 14. Highland 5-3 +5 15. Farmington 5-5 -9 16. Pottsville 1-1 NR 17. Berryville 3-4 NC 18. Camden 3-4 -4 19. Pulaski 0-2 NR 20. Wynne 1-4 -5 21. Pocahontas 1-4 -8 22. Prairie Grove 4-6 -10 23. Trumann 0-3 NR 24. Ozark 0-2 -6 25. Forrest City 0-2 NR 26. Magnolia 0-3 NR 27. Blytheville 0-3 NR 28. Little Rock Robinson 1-3 -12 29. Heber Springs 0-3 NR 30. Gravette 0-5 -10 31. Huntsville 0-7 -10 32. Gentry 0-7 -10 33. Clarksville 0-2 -10 Eleven more schools were added to this week’s polling on the MaxPreps/ CBS State 4A volleyball poll.

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Editor’s note: John McGee, an award-winning columnist, sports writer and art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, writes a regular sports column for The Times. The opinions expressed are those of the writer. He can be contacted through The Times at prtnews@nwadg.com.