’Hawk basketball is in full swing
With the football campaign extending a couple of extra weeks this year, basketball season kind of snuck up on me with the high school boy hardwood ’Hawks already sporting a solid 4-0 record.
This week, the boys are competing in the large school tournament in the Rogers, the annual Arvest Bank Hoopfest. The eight-team competition features 7A schools like Rogers, Rogers Heritage, Ft. Smith Southside, Hot Springs, Waynesville (Mo.), a 6A school Webb City (Mo.), a 5A school Mt. Vernon (Mo.), and then there’s 4A Pea Ridge.
The lower bracket ’Hawks will be taking on Waynesville’s Tigers in the tourney’s first game at 4 p.m. tomorrow (Thurs., Dec. 6). The Tigers are in the Ozark Conference of Southwest Missouri and currently sport a 2-1 record. They have previously beaten St. Clair 57-50 (0-5), and Springfield Glendale 73-62 (2-2). Their lone loss was to 5-0 Columbia Hickman by a 68-52 count.
Glendale has already played a pair of Arkansas teams, having beaten St. Joe 85-17 before losing to Harrison 71-51 in the finals of the Forsyth Tournament. The ’Hawks’ opponent in Waynesville is located nearly in the center of Missouri, not quite halfway between Springfield and St. Louis on I-44. They are the school with Ft. Leonard Wood in their proximity.
The ’Hawks will be playing either Hot Springs or Rogers Heritage in either the winners or losers bracket. Hot Springs lost a 72-50 decision to Russellville in the only game report posted while Heritage owns three wins over Springdale HarBer 69-64, Subiaco 56-48, and most recently Carthage (Mo.) 47-46.
In the upper bracket, the top two teams seem to be the Rogers team and Southside. Rogers is 3-3 with wins over Neosho (62-26). Gentry (85-34), and Subiaco (54-50). They have lost to Pea Ridge by 2 (71-69), to Logan-Rogersville (72-64) and to Ozark (Mo.) 60-42. Southside is 2-3 after starting the season with three losses. They lost to Subiaco (55-45), Bryant (56-38) and to Charleston (38-32). They have won their last two games, beating Shiloh (67-65) and Little Rock Christian (65-37).
Two other Missouri schools are included in the event — the 6A-size Webb City Cardinals and the 5A equivalent Mt. Vernon Mountaineers. The Cards battle Southside in their opener wth the Mountaineers taking on the Mounties, which most know is short for Mountaineers. Growing up in Monett, Mo., we athletes all had developed a disdain for district rival Mt.Vernon while my kids were part of the Bentonville athletic program which had no use for the Arkansas variety of Moun- taineers.
These early season games are hard to seed with no one really having had enough games for anyone to gauge how well they will play in 2012-2013. A year ago a lot of people were completely surprised when Berryville became a hardcourt powerhouse that season. Most folks don’t associate the Bobcats with being particularly good with team sports the past few years, but last year they were the real deal.
Comparing scores back and forth, checking schedules and reviewing past history has led me to a great conclusion — I have no idea how the tournament is going to play out. I think seven of the eight teams has a shot as I can see no clear favorite based on all available information.
I think I do kniow this: If a lot of the fans of the Blackhawks go to the Heritage gym on the old Rogers campus tomorrow at 4 p.m. for the first round, we can make this a home court advantage. There is no one in the field that the ’Hawks could not take down if things go right, while there is no one that will just lay down for the ’Hawks as well.
Ozark’s ’ Billies in championship game
The Ozark Hillbillies have made it to the championship game in the State 4A Playoffs by defeating previously unbeaten Highland 28-25. The ’Billies will play the Stuttgart Ricebirds who administered Prairie Grove’s first defeat of the season in the other semi-final game, played at Stuttgart.
The ’Billies are 12-2 with the Blackhawks owning one of the two defeats hung on Ozark this year, a 14-7 Pea Ridge triumph back in October. In the ’Hawks’ 10-2 season, it can really be said that the level of their play this year was among the states’ elite. They whipped Ozark, who defeated Highland, who crushed Heber Springs, which defeated us to end our season.
Jr. boys grab third in tourney
Playing in a tournament usually dominated by the five 7A-6A schools, the junior Blackhawks took third place in the Benton County/Northwest Invitational with a 42-41 conquest of Gentry.
In the battle, the ’Hawks jumped out to 14-10 and 21-14 leads after the first and second quarters. The junior cagers had to battle hard to keep the Pioneers at bay as Gentry made a run in the final quarter, but not enough to change the outcome. The Pioneers took a point off the lead, outscoring Pea Ridge 12-11 in the third quarter before they outscored the ’Hawks 15-10 in the final period but came up a point short.
Joey Hall led the scoring for the ’Hawks with 13 points. Cole Wright was in double figures with 11, while Bryce Beckman had 6, Westin Church 6, Logan Johnson 4 and Britton Caudill finished with 2. Blackhawks are unique It seems the Blackhawks of Pea Ridge are the only Blackhawks in the state of Arkansas.
Pea Ridge is among 21 schools that have unique mascots among the various state’s public and private high schools. While 12 of the state’s high schools can lay claim to being the only one of its kind in the whole country, there is another school with the Blackhawk mascot on the east coast.
The 12 really unique schools are the Alma Airdales, Mena Bearkatz, North Little Rock Charging Wildcats, Wonderview Daredevils, Morillton Devil Dogs, Gurdon Go-Devils, Harrison Goblins, Danville Little Johns, Fordyce Redbugs, Dardanelle Sand Lizards and Southside Southerners. There is a school called the Screaming Eagles but I haven’t located it yet.
The most popular mascot in Arkansas is the Wildcat with 26 schools. There are 21 Bulldogs and Panthers, with 18 schools opting for either Eagles or Tigers.
Half the schools in the 4A-1 have nicknames among the state’s top 10. Farmington’s Cardinals are the 15th most popular, with Berryville’s Bobcats in the 10th position. Gravette’s Lions are sixth most popular while Prairie Grove’s Tigers rank as the third most popular mascot in the state.