5 THINGS Hackett at Mountain Pine
Hackett at Mountain Pine
MOUNTAIN PINE — The Mountain Pine Red Devils closed the regular season with a five-game winning streak to lock down the No. 2 seed from the 2A-5 for the Class 2A state playoffs.
Mountain Pine (7-3, 6-1 2A-5) will host Hackett (4-5, 3-3 2A-4) tonight at 7 p.m. at Stanley May Field.
Here are five things to watch for in tonight’s game:
Home field conditions
Mountain Pine head coach Sam Counce said the Red Devils have not played on a solid surface in over a month. The traditional, grass field is an obstacle they have been working to overcome for throughout the last several weeks.
“I’ve been working on it, but it’s a pit,” Counce said. “If we didn’t get anymore rain and got some sunshine right now, we’d be fine. We’d love to have ideal conditions, but the thing about it is that both teams have to play on the same turf.”
Mountain Pine and Hackett will have their work cut out for them, as both teams will have to accomodate in the kicking phase of the game.
“We’ve got to do well on our kicking game,” said Counce. “In the mud the last couple weeks, our kicking game has been iffy at best and we’ve got to show up
for that on kickoff and kickoff return.
“It’s going to be a disadvantage for both of us and it’s going to be sloppy, but we’ve got to make the best of it. For us, we just try to maintain our focus because of the conditions. You can’t blame the conditions for what happens, everybody has to play on the same thing.”
First-round jitters
Mountain Pine overcame adversity throughout the regular season. The Red Devils now have a chance to claim a win in the first round of the playoffs for the first time in nine years.
“That’ll be huge for us,” Counce said. “As coaches, that’s something we’re stressing is how important this game is for us as a program, school and a community.”
Counce said the coaching staff has worked to keep the team focused after the regular season.
“We’ve stayed on them about that,” said Counce. “This is an exciting time for us as coaches, and players, to be in the playoffs.
“It’s easy to lose focus by just being excited and not realizing what you’re here for sometimes. More than anything else, making sure Mountain Pine is ready to play football Friday night is what we’ve tried to make sure we get done this week.”
Hackett offense
Passing for 1,321 yards this year alone, Hackett quarterback Brady Hester will be a key in tonight’s matchup against Mountain Pine. The senior playmaker has 10 rushing touchdowns and six passing touchdowns with eight interceptions.
“He’s going to be a key for us to stop,” Counce said. “He throws the ball well, and they catch it well … they catch it in traffic. I don’t think they’re faster than us, but I think they do a good job with their routes.”
Rushing for 660 yards this year, Hester has proven to be effective on the Hornets’ ground game, as well. Alongside Hester, senior running back Cooper Shipman compiled 448 rushing yards and 362 receiving yards this year, but he had not been confirmed to play on Thursday.
“They’ve got a running back that’s good, but they say he’s questionable,” Counce said. “We’re going to prepare like he’s going to be here.
“They’ve got some big lineman … their big kids. They’re a good fundamental team, we’ve got to be prepared for both aspects of the game. They’re a solid opponent for us first round and we’ve got to play well to come out on top.”
Back-to-back road wins
The Hornets enter the postseason with two consecutive wins on the road. They put away a 22-0 win against Lavaca (4-5, 3-3 2A-4) on Oct. 26 and edged out the Johnson County Westside Rebels (2-8, 2-5), 46-14, a week later.
“They’re on a roll and coming in with a lot of confidence in what they’re doing,” Counce said. “We’ve got to come out and play like we can and be on top of things.”
A victory tonight would pit the Red Devils against the winner between Des Arc (6-3, 5-1 2A-6) and Magnet Cove (5-5, 4-3 2A-5) in the second round. The game would be held at Stanley May Field.
Healthy returns
The return of sophomore backup quarterback Josiah Walpole and junior wide receiver Kason Porter bolsters the Red Devils’ roster. Counce noted junior left tackle Jason Bennett’s return after a knee injury early last week.
“He’s fine and back to 100 percent,” said Counce.
“We’re healthy and in good shape. We’ve had decent practices this week. We’re focused, but we’ll know when we play. I think our kids are ready and they are definitely excited. Best part is, everybody is healthy.”
Week 11
Other first-round playoff matchups tonight include 6-Lake Hamilton (5-5, 3-5 6A-West) at 3-Jonesboro (6-4, 5-2 6A-West), 4-Lakeside (5-5, 4-3 5A-South) at 1-Blytheville (5-5, 5-2 5A-East), 5-Fountain Lake (6-4, 3-4 4A-7) at 1-Rivercrest (9-1, 6-1 4A-3), 3-Gosnell (6-4, 5-2 4A-3) at 3-Arkadelphia (5-5, 5-2 4A-7), 4-Centerpoint (6-4, 4-3 3A-5) at 2-Newport (8-2, 6-1 3A-3), 4-Bearden (3-6, 2-3 2A-8) at 3-Mount Ida (8-2, 5-2 2A-7), and 4-Magnet Cove (5-5, 4-3 2A-5) at 2-Des Arc (6-3, 5-1 2A-6).