PREP FOOTBALL
HOPE, Ark.— Tonight’s game between Arkansas High and Hope marks the inaugural Battle of the Bridge.
To make the rivalry one-of-akind, University of Arkansas at HopeTexarkana commissioned a local artist to create a replica of the old Red River Bridge that will be awarded as a traveling trophy that will go home with the winner each year.
TEAMS: Arkansas High (7-1, 5-0) at Hope (1-7, 1-4)
KICKOFF: 7 p.m., Hammons Stadium in Hope, Ark.
LAST WEEK: The Razorbacks scored 37 points in the first half as they went on to mercy Hot Springs, 37-20, to remain unbeaten in Conference 5A-South. The Bobcats dropped their third in a row in a 63-9 loss to Camden Fairview.
LAST YEAR: The two teams did not play.
GAME FACTS:
Arkansas High, which dropped to No. 4 in the AP rankings despite its victory over the Trojans, comes into tonight’s game with a chance to claim at least a share of the conference championship with a victory. RB Cameron Collier enters the contest with 10 rushing touchdowns—13 total—and 748 yards rushing on 78 attempts. Last week, Collier finished with 101 yards
and two scores on five carries. QB Sean Foreback threw for a couple of scores to DeJordan Mask and Drake Browning, and Mask finished with a game-high 63 yards on three catches. On defense, Tre Cleveland has 101 tackles for AHS, which ranks second in the area. The Razorbacks are scoring 35.3 points per game and allowing just 19.4. Hope has given up 346 points this season—174 the last three games—and averages 15.6 per outing on offense.
ARKANSAS HIGH’S BARRY NORTON:
“Coach (Phillip) Turner is new and (in) his first year as the head coach, and he’s getting his staff on the program and has some very athletic kids to play with. They have some big, physical kids, and they’re getting better each and every week. It’s a process for them, obviously, but they’re starting to put it all together. There’s no doubt he will have them going and they’ll play hard. It’s going to be a good challenge for us to go out and play against them.
“We will have to go out there and handle our business and make sure we play to our capabilities. … We have to go out there and play our best, because we want to be hot going into the playoffs.
“What we do is we always try to start things with our defense. Our defense has played really well all season, and we will need them to do the same against Hope, because we will have to cover their spread offense. We will need to get the ball as often as we can and be productive with it and jump out to an early lead like we did last week. If we do those things, it’ll be a good night for us.”
RADIO: 1400 AM