Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Farmington, Prairie Grove Face Off Friday
PRAIRIE GROVE — The moment came unexpectedly during the District 4A-1 basketball tournament hosted by Prairie Grove in February.
Most of those clustered around the hospitality room didn’t realize or weren’t aware of two guys in attendance to support their respective schools in the tournament who represented a combined more than 400 Arkansas high school football victories — Farmington head coach Mike Adams and Prairie Grove head coach Danny Abshier.
milestone Horizon
Both coaches came into the 2019 season with an opportunity to reach career milestones. Adams began a Sept. 6, 2019, rivalry contest against Prairie Grove needing at least three wins to solidify 200 Arkansas high school football victories. Some record-keepers listed him already with 200 going back to an Oct. 19, 2018, decisive 5A West 48-7 road win at Huntsville, but others such as Leland Barclay, author of the Arkansas Football Almanac which currently shows Adams at 204-1501, didn’t agree with those numbers. Adams was also on the verge of recording his 100th victory at Farmington.
Meanwhile Abshier lurked five wins (some thought six) away from reaching 200 when the 2019 season kicked off at Cardinal Stadium. Adams and the Cardinals prevailed, 27-7, to christen their new home turf with a win. Now a year later, Abshier shoots for win No. 200 Friday at Tiger Stadium. In head-tohead matchups Abshier holds a 9-8 edge over Adams in the rivalry series since 2003.
research Project
According to a Feb. 13 post on fearlessfriday.com, which had not been updated as of mid-August, Adams has 206 total wins while Abshier is listed at 196. Neither of those win totals match research compiled by the Enterprise-Leader.
Comparing information provided by both Adams and Abshier; extensive records gathered by Prairie Grove football historian Lynn Gregson, who has been voted into the Tiger Hall-of-Pride; research contributed by Trisha King, of the Charleston Public Library; Glenn Parrish, Editor of the Booneville Democrat Gazette; plus the Shiloh Christian football website; then cross-referencing against other sources including Barclay and Fearless Friday; the Enterprise-Leader concludes Adams’ career overall record stands at 204-143-2 which includes stints as Charleston head coach from 1983-1991 and Fayetteville head coach from 1996-2002; and Abshier’s career total stands at 199-114-2.
This research project began three years ago and is finally complete.
Adams 204-143-2
Some attribute three more wins to Adams than research could account for, while some charge his record with seven losses the Enterprise-Leader can’t find any record of ever occurring.
Yet, those three wins may very well exist.
After all, none of the sports writers tallying up the year-by-year records covered every game Adams coached. He is the only one who lived it.
The disparity occurs from Adams’ tenure as Charleston head coach where he began his career after starting out as a volunteer assistant coach at Fayetteville under Joe Fred Young. Some records list Adams going 63- 33 at Charleston, but according to research he was 60-34.
charleston Bye Weeks
Apparently Charleston experienced several bye weeks, some unusually late or in mid-season between Oct. 7, 1983, with a week six bye in Adams’ first season as head coach — and Nov. 1, 1991, with a week nine bye in Adams’ last season coaching the Tigers.
It’s unlikely Adams suffered a defeat in each of these unaccounted for byes, but where no game is shown, some may assume a loss with no record of victory on those dates. That may account for the additional seven losses listed in some records such as Barclay’s, but what if some of these bye weeks actually weren’t bye weeks because Adams found a game to fill a hole in his schedule and won that game? The possibility he did so on three occasions would account for the 207 career win total.
If three wins came against a larger school’s junior varsity team, Barclay’s almanac does not count them, but the Arkansas Activities Association does.
detective Work
Barclay is widely-regarded for his expertise on Arkansas high school football because of the sheer volume of research he has done on the subject. Still, there are gaps here and there from scores not reported to major media outlets. There were at least two games Adams coached not reported in local newspapers. King found no score for Adams’ debut, a Sept. 2, 1983, nonconference loss to Booneville (2A-4).
Parrish, who authored the book Purple & Old Gold commemorating the 75th season of Booneville football published after the 1994 season, provided the score, a 26-0 win for Booneville.
Another game during Adams’ first season as head coach at Fayetteville proved even more difficult to track down a score, but the first challenge was figuring out who was their opponent. Information provided by Adams indicated a loss among the 8-5 season record Adams showed because the other four Fayetteville losses were all accounted for.
Neither Barclay nor the Arkansas Democrat Gazette nor the Northwest Arkansas Times nor Springdale Morning News reported a score that could be found from that game and no opponent was listed for Fayetteville on Sept. 20, 1996, which pointed to both a loss and an out-of-state opponent.
The logical deduction steered research towards Oak Park in North Kansas City, Mo., a team Adams defeated in Fayetteville, 30-12, during the 1997 season. Eventually a score emerged from the Go Northmen website team history showing a 28-14 loss for Adams on Sept. 20, 1996, when the Purple Dawgs took a bus trip to North Kansas City, Mo.
ties not Losses
Adams coached in two games that ended in ties both as Farmington head coach where he is 102-78-2 following last week’s 24-6 win over Class 7A Rogers Heritage. The first tie occurred at Allen Holland Field on Sept. 11, 2009, against Ozark (4A-4) with the score deadlocked at 7-7. The second tie came on Sept. 20, 2013, at Paris (3A-4) again with a 7-7 final score.
One of those ties might have been inadvertently counted as a loss in some records.
Either way one chooses to add up his win totals, Adams exceeds 200 career wins and could tack on another should the Cardinals prevail Friday, which would give Adams his first 3-game win streak in the series.
Abshier 199-114-2
Abshier’s record now stands at 199-114-2 with every game he’s served as head coach all at Prairie Grove accounted for. An on-thefield defeat Sept. 2, 1994, later transformed into a forfeit victory after the 1994 football season seems irrelevant except for the fact Abshier is closing in on the 200 career win milestone.
The Barclay Almanac online shows Abshier’s career record as 199-115-2 — which accounts for the forfeit win over Shiloh, but doesn’t remove a loss — possibly inadvertently listed from the same game.
Other issues involved some publications last year listing Abshier’s record as 6-5 for the 2002 season, which is incorrect. While his victories that year number six, there were only three losses with two nonconference games ending in ties. The ties occurred over a three game span on Sept. 6, 2002, at Harrison (14-14) and on Sept. 20, 2002, at Dover (14-14).
comprehensive History
In an effort to prevent a shortchanging for Abshier, who took over as Prairie Grove head football coach beginning with the 1993 season, Gregson meticulously labored to confirm historical records for not only Abshier’s tenure, but also compiled game scores and season records for the entire history of the high school football played at Prairie Grove.
“Nobody at Prairie Grove had a comprehensive history so I started doing it,” Gregson said, who pointed out the forfeit three years ago.
For those, who still need convinced, the forfeit matter is easily resolved by going to the Shiloh Christian football website online showing historical season records at https://www.shilohchristianfootball. com/through%2Dthe%2Dyears4. html.
That website shows the Saints 1994 record as 0-10, with an unofficial record of 8-3, including a loss in a Class 1A first round playoff game. The record indicates Shiloh Christian forfeited its entire 1994 season due to using an ineligible player; and although he lost on the field, 28-6, Abshier’s 1994 record is credited with a 2-0 forfeit win over Shiloh Christian putting him at 199 career victories.
Discrepancy reconciled.
Historic Game Friday
The fact that Adams already has 200 wins, some coming against Abshier, and now Abshier will be going after his 200th Arkansas high school football win in head-to-head competition against Adams and Farmington adds a dimension to the already intense rivalry. Many fans didn’t know that until recently.
“I wasn’t aware of that either,” said Abshier’s son Patrick during an August interview. “It’s a little different now that Farmington’s not in the conference, but it’s still the ‘Battle of Highway 62’ and it’s always a big rivalry game.”
The Cardinals hold a 31-29 edge in the all-time series.
Farmington could have a leg up on first-game jitters having already started their season with a solid 24- 6 win last week, but Prairie Grove will likely forget all butterflies once the ball kicks off.
For fans, witnessing this clash of two Titans from Arkansas high school football, equals a real treat.