Mounties focused on Wolverines

Rogers coach Chad Harbison said he allowed his team to celebrate its first win over Fayetteville in 15 years for a short while, but then it was time to get back to business.

The Mounties (5-0, 2-0) now turn their attention to this week’s opponent as they travel to Centerton for a 7A-West Conference game against Bentonville West (3-2, 1-1). It’s a team that Rogers has only beaten once in the short six-year history of the series, and that came in a 33-28 decision over the Wolverines last year.

“This is a huge week for us,” Harbison said. “Everybody is still in it right now, and we need to have the same energy this week as we did last week. And because of what we did last week, this week’s game becomes even bigger.

“That’s the hard thing … to get up for these big games week in and week out. Teams like Fayetteville and Bentonville have been in this position before, where they take the other team’s best shot and stayed up there.”

The 29-28 victory over Fayetteville was Rogers’ stiffest test of the season by a large margin, and the Mounties didn’t help their cause with five turnovers in the game. That included one that happened near midfield with just under 4 minutes remaining.

Rogers, however, made a defensive stand to get the ball back with 59 seconds remaining, and its offense moved the ball from its 33 to the Fayetteville 21, setting up J.T. Miller’s game-winning field goal with four seconds on the clock.

“It’s hard to replace that kind of excitement,” Harbison said. “We had some close games last year, but we were on the other end of some of them. That kind of experience is just going to help our confidence.

“Our kids just had this strong belief that they were going to win the game, and the bottom line is they never quit. You could see some disappointment when we have five turnovers, but you could see that resiliency in our players. The one kid who fumbled late in the game turned out to make the big catch to set up the field goal.”

SHILOH CHRISTIAN Saints seek to stay on top

Who would have guessed the teams standing at 2-0 in 5A-West Conference play would be two of the league’s three newcomers?

But it’s true. Shiloh Christian and Prairie Grove are the only two teams who haven’t suffered a conference loss over the past two weeks and own a share of the top spot in the league standings.

“It’s crazy,” Shiloh coach Jeff Conaway said. “Nobody saw that coming.

“But I think both teams have been preparing for this. Both of us played good teams when we were in Class 4A, and we have played some good teams. I know it’s still early, but it’s been exciting so far.”

The Saints (4-1, 2-0) have made their second time around in the 5A-West much more enjoyable. When Shiloh joined the conference 10 years ago, the Saints opened league play that year with losses to Morrilton and Vilonia.

This time around, Shiloh hasn’t had a problem enforcing the sportsmanship rule as they defeated Dardanelle and Clarksville by a combined 112-13 score.

“We have been able to do a lot of things to play to our strength,” Conaway said. “We have a three-year starter at quarterback who’s been able to get a lot of footballs to a Bodie Neal, and we have running backs who have played a lot of football and are able to run the ball.

“The defense has been successful because we’ve been able to win in takeaways and turnovers. We want to do two things in every game — win the turnover battle, and win the battle of explosive plays.”

Shiloh returns to 5A-West action with a home game Friday against Harrison (3-2, 1-1), which lost to Prairie Grove last week on a flea-flicker in the closing moments after having a fieldgoal attempt blocked.

“They’re a really big, physical team,” Conaway said. “They also have a history of winning a lot of games, and they’ll be ready to play. Harrison has a great defense, a solid offense and a good kicking game. We’ll have our hands full and our work cut out for us.”

GRAVETTE Lions taking message

Gravette’s 31-29 victory at home Friday over Lincoln was a sign that the team is taking coach Kelby Bohannon’s message to heart.

Gravette (2-3, 1-1 4A1) took the lead on Rhett Hilger’s 2-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter, and the Lions were able to run out the clock after Ian Leonard’s fourth-down interception with about 3 minutes remaining.

“The message we’ve been telling our kids since the beginning of the season is about going out and competing on every play,” Bohannon said. “We want them to play every down, and if there is failure, then we need to get up and prepare for the next play.

“I think we are growing as a team. It was pleasing to see them play a full 48 minutes because it was necessary. For a while there, the offenses were rolling and it was going to be a matter of who got the last stop.”

Gravette jumped out to a 13-0 lead before Lincoln rallied to take a 22-19 lead just before halftime. It was the first of four lead changes that took place in the game, with the Lions getting the upper hand and matching the number of conference wins they had last season.

“One of our goals this season is not only to get into the playoffs but get into a position where we can host a playoff game,” Bohannon said. “And going 0-2 in conference play isn’t the best way to get there. We feel really fortunate to get a win against a team like Lincoln. They can throw and catch the ball as good as anybody around and have a stingy defense.”

GREENLAND Defense helping Pirates

The last thing Greenland needed to do was enter this week’s game against Booneville with an 0-2 start in 3A-1 Conference play.

Thanks to the Pirates’ defense, that isn’t going to happen. Greenland held Mansfield scoreless through the entire second half and picked up a score near the end of the third quarter for a 19-13 victory.

“I’m not going to say last week’s game was a must-win, but it was huge when you’re staring down Booneville this week,” Greenland coach Lee Larkan said. “But I knew if we could go down to Mansfield and play a good game, then we had a shot to win.”

Greenland’s defense forced five turnovers (three interceptions, two fumbles) against Mansfield, and forced turnovers on three of the Tigers’ four last possessions. The possession that didn’t end with a turnover was halted when Max Meredith came through with a tackle for a 3-yard loss on a fourth-and-1 situation.

Larkan noted the performance Cade Gobel had in only his second game on defense. He had eight tackles out of his cornerback position, as well as an interception, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

“We’re trying to get the best athletes on the field these days,” Larkan said. “I could see some big improvement in Cade last week, and he had a good game.

“We played much better defensively because we weren’t doing what we were supposed to be doing in the first half. We needed them to play hard instead of just going through the motions.”