Playoff-bound Red Devils continue homestand
Perhaps no Arkansas high-school football team got a better break this season than Mountain Pine. A grateful Red Devil squad is headed to the state playoffs.
For the two-year classification cycle ending in 2020, the Arkansas Activities Association switched Mountain Pine from the 2A-7 conference to the 2A-5. Besides some geographic relief, the Red Devils escaped a conference that produced last year’s Class 2A finalists, Foreman and Mount Ida, and this season has four teams with overall records of 6-2 or better.
Mountain Pine, a 4-1 road team, took care of business last week in the first of three late-season home games with a 63-28 triumph over Poyen. Winning their fourth consecutive, the Red Devils improved to 5-1 in the conference and 6-3 overall before Quitman comes to Stanley May Field on Thursday.
Mountain Pine thus secured the second seed from 2A-5, winning the head-to-head matchup against third-place England, 4-2 and 5-4, on the road in Week 8. In what’s currently a fourthplace tie, Magnet Cove, 3-3 and 4-5, would outrank Quitman, 3-3 and 6-3, if both win this week.
Magnet Cove, home against last-place Cutter Morning Star, beat Quitman, 60-41, at home in Week 6. England, with tiebreak-
ers over Magnet Cove and Quitman, ends the regular season at Poyen, 2-4 and 5-4 after a two-game skid.
The No. 2 seed keeps Mountain Pine at home for a playoff game against the fourth-place team from 2A-4, Hector hosting Mountainburg in that division decider. Red Devil coaches will be interested in Week 10 games involving Magazine, Lavaca and Hackett.
Otherwise, Garland County playoff qualifiers can prepare for long bus rides to first-round games on Nov. 9.
The county’s hottest team other than Mountain Pine is Fountain Lake, affirming its 3-0 start with a current two-game winning streak. Winning Friday night at Ashdown (3-6, 1-5) gives the Cobras the No. 5 seed from the 4A-7, where a competitive sixth-place team will miss the party.
Fountain Lake beat Haskell Harmony Grove (5-4, 3-3), 35-34, in an Allen Tillery Field classic last week, Andrew Roberson scampering 18 yards in the final minute for the touchdown and Joe Murphy adding the extra point that triggered a celebration on senior night at Beckham Memorial Stadium.
The Cobras either will be in a celebratory mood or go to Little River County on a mission after Harmony Grove plays Joe T. Robinson (7-2, 5-1) Thursday night in Haskell. Looking ahead, coach J.D. Plumlee knows only that if the Cobras beat Ashdown, they’ll be off to northeast Arkansas against the 4A-3 champion.
An NEA jaunt might also be in store for Lakeside, which with the fourth seed from 5A-South plays on the road against the
5A-East champion. Nettleton holds sway at 5-1 in a league that Batesville, Blytheville, Valley View and Wynne are 4-2 — and with 3-3 Forrest City not out of things.
Lakeside, 3-3 in conference and 4-5 overall, just wants to enter on a high note after Friday’s home game with Hot Springs, which at 1-5 and 1-8 wishes to avoid the conference cellar. Curiously, Lakeside has outscored Hot Springs by 203 while allowing the same number of points, 291. This Chick Austin Field affair might not achieve epic status but will reward the winning side with what a former Hot Springs coach coined the “city championship.”
Lake Hamilton goes the scenic route for at least the next two weeks. Lake Hamilton’s impending visit to conference leader Greenwood (8-1, 6-0) and El Dorado’s expected Little Rock romp over last-place Hall may keep the Wolves from advancing beyond their current sixth-place conference ranking. That would result in a first-round road game against the East No. 3 seed, which if the season ended today would be Searcy.
Elsewhere, Jessieville is home against 8-1 Mayflower, the 4-5 Lions looking at a sixth-place finish from 3A-4, while Glen Rose
(8-1, 6-0) goes for the outright conference title Friday night in Little Rock against Baptist Prep (4-4-1, 3-3).