Varsity girls basketball team takes 2nd at Green Forest
The varsity Lady Blackhawk look to have a better year after beginning the season with a second place trophy at the Green Forest Invitational last week.
The ’Hawks bested the host school in their first game, then got by Lincoln in the semi-finals. In the championship round against Greenland, the Lady ’Hawks had a 2-point lead at the half, but faded late to lose to the Lady Pirates.
The trophy was the first hardware won by the girls high school in quite a spell. Hopefully, it’s a sign of things to come this season.
Prairie Grove, Lincoln advance in state playoffs
In the 14 4A state playoff games held last week, there were no upsets with the 4A-1 top two seeds in Prairie Grove and Lincoln advancing to the second round.
Prairie Grove had no trouble at all dispatching the Pulaski Robinson Senators 49-15. The Tigers scored on the first play of the game and ended the first quarter leading by four touchdowns. Logan Bartholomew led the rushing with 143 yards on just four carries.
The Tigers will host the Valley View Blazers this week after they dispatched Gravette 35-7 last week in the Valley. The Blazers have a 10-1 mark, same as Prairie Grove.
Though they were favored and the host, Lincoln still raised some eyebrows with their 27-14 conquest of Nashville. This was the first ever playoff victory for the Wolves while Nashville have made it through to the semifinals for the past several years. Nashville hasn’t lost a first round playoff game in a long, long, time, at least until 2013. In the game at Lincoln, Nashville actually took a 14-7 lead in the second quarter before Lincoln ran off 20 unanswered points to take the battle.
The Wolves will be on the road the rest of the playoffs, barring an upset by a lower ranked team that they may encounter along the way. Lincoln will be traveling to Malvern to play the Leopards this Friday. The Leopards are ranked higher than the Wolves and are coming off a 53-21 pounding of Monticello in the first round. If Lincoln can get past this round, they will likely be playing Booneville in the quarterfinals.
Gravette, Farmington and Gentry all had their seasons wrap up after opening round losses. Besides Gravette’s loss at Valley View, Gentry was crushed by Star City 56-24 down south. Farmington’s last game as a 4A school was equally unsuccessful as they were blanked 30-0 by Ashdown. All told, the 6-4-1 Cardinals lost their last three games by an 8314 count, including losses to Pea Ridge (26-7) and Lincoln (27-7). The Cards move up to 5A in 2014 doesn’t bode well for their future success.
Upsets all among bigger schools
While the upsets were hard to come by amongst the smaller Arkansas high schools, there were several in the 6A-7A sized schools. Defending 7A state champion Fayetteville lost 34-28 to Little Rock Central after turning the ball over a whopping seven times. To lose by only 6 points after seven turnovers meant that the Bulldogs probably outplayed the Tigers.
Benton upset Russellville in 6A action 36-35 and Benton County school Siloam Springs made it into the quarterfinals with a 26-21 upset of Searcy. Siloam Springs has been the doormat of the 6A-7A West District since they were pushed into the big school competition, but since every school makes the 6A playoffs (the only class that does that) the Panthers got their chance to move on and so they will. They will have to play a resurgent Pine Bluff team down south this Friday. If the weather is cold, they could have a shot, but if it is warm and dry, their chances are considerably lessened.
Bentonville will host Ft. Smith Southside this Friday. The Rebels are former members of the 7A West and the previous school of Bentonville coach Barry Lunney. Lunney has had trouble beating his old school in the past, but should win this one. They will probably have to play Har-Ber in the semifinals should they whip Southside.
Former conference coach still winning
Former Shiloh-Springdale-Arkansas-TulsaArkansas State coach and current Auburn coach Gus Mahlzahn just keeps winning.
I got a chance to watch the Auburn-Georgia game which was won by Auburn on a last second, last chance, Hail Mary pass that was batted by Georgia defenders into the arms of an Auburn receiver who then scored on the play.
Mahlzahn made Shiloh winners by outcoaching the competition with what he had, not by out-recruiting the other schools as was the habit of his suc- cessors. He won at Springdale, with Springdale being ranked the No. 2 team in the United States.
He wound up as the offensive coordinator at Arkansas, calling the plays for a victory streak that won 10 games and put the Hogs into the nation’s top tier of ranked teams. An obviously jealous head coach Houston Nutt rewarded Mahlzahn by demoting him with Nutt taking over the play calling. Nutt then called the Hogs into a five-game losing streak, blowing what could have been a special year for Arkansas.
Mahlzahn then went to call plays for Tulsa for two years with the Hurricanes leading the whole nation in offense the two years he was there. From there, he went to Auburn when he called the plays for their national championship. He left there to become head coach at Arkansas State where they developed a terrific offense.
After he left Auburn, the Tigers took a nosedive and wound up in last place last year. Offering him the head job this year, Auburn got their man back and they are 10-1 heading into the fateful last game with the defending national champion Alabama Crimson Tide.
The native of Fort Smith has been a winner all his life, has written books on football, and has changed the nature of football itself. A devout Christian, Mahlzahn has had many detractors over the years, maintaining his success is owed primarily to luck and being in the right place in the right time. Sadly, if he was a man who used profane language and was rough around the edges, he would probably be held in higher esteem by some people.
I held out hope that he would back come to Arkansas someday, and he even remarked in a news conference once that he would love to coach in northwest Arkansas again. I don’t think he meant Bentonville.
When the Petrino era imploded and the Hogs needed a new head coach, the folks who run the Razorback nation snubbed Mahlzahn and eventually hired Bret Bielema, who is himself a good coach and fine man. Myself, I would have preferred great over good, and a native son over the other.
••• Editor’s note: John McGee is an award-winning columnist and sports writer. He is the art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, coaches elementary track and writes a regular sports column for The Times. He can be contacted through The Times at prtnews@ nwaonline.com.