PW Patriots hosting Harrisburg Thursday for season finale; Mustangs at Brookland

Harrisburg defeated Corning 47-14 last week and can claim the fourth seed from the 3A-3, just as they did a year ago, with a win Thursday over Palestine-Wheatley.

The Hornets finished 5-4 overall last season defeatng the Patriots 26-14 in the final regular season matchup. The two teams did not play each other during the 2019 season.

A loss to to Harrisburg will leave the Patriots winless for the season.

Senior quarterback Samuel Moore is Harrisburg’s offensive player of the year, and senior linebacker Jace Heeb is defensive player of the year.

Palestine-Wheatley lost to Piggott last week, 52-0 and has forfeited games this season to Hoxie, Osceola, and lost to Corning 42-14.

The Patriots, playing with a very small roster of less tyhan 20 players this season, will enter Thursday's finale game with several freshmen players moving up from the junior high team which finished the season at 5-3 after defeating Piggott last week.

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Host Harrisburg (4-5, 3-3 3-3A) used a balanced offensive attack to pull away from the Corning Bobcats (2-7, 1-5) 47-14 in last week's game.

The Hornets scored two firstquarter touchdowns through the air and followed it up with three touchdowns on the ground in the second quarter.

Corning scored both of their touchdowns off fumble recoveries.

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Last week, the Hoxie Mustangs (9-0, 6-0 3-3A) used a hot first quarter to hold off a comeback attempt by the Osceola Seminoles (6-2, 5-1) clinching a 21-14 victory.

Hoxie quarterback Cade Forrester completed an 86-yard touchdown pass and ran for a touchdown in the first quarter to give the home team a 14-point lead.

The Seminoles answered with rushing touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters to tie the game, but Forrester ran for the game-winning touchdown from 10 yards out.

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Kurt Overton scored two touchdowns on offense and picked off three passes on defense as Manila (7-2, 5-1 3A-3) topped Walnut Ridge (4-5, 3-3) 39=14 to setup this week's finale game.

Overton scored on an 18-yard run and an 11-yard reception.

Dustin Clark led the Lions’ ground game with 13 carries for 102 yards and 2 touchdowns and for the season has accounted for 1,259 all purpose yards and 10 touchdowns.

He also had a pair of catches for 26 yards and a touchdown. Tanner Miller completed 9 of 13 passes for 106 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Senior linebacker Peyton McQueen leads with 96 tackles, 12 TFL and two sacks.

Manila and Osceola will meet on Thursday to decide the second place 3A-3 team as well as a possible shared conference championship if Walnut Ridge were to shock Hoxie in Friday's conference finale.

Both Walnut Ridge and Hoxie teams are already playoff bound, with Walnut Ridge looking at wearing either the fourth or fifth seed into postseason.

Junior quarterbacks/running backs Kai Watson and Walker Ward have led Walnut Ridge this fall. Watson has completed 35 of 82 passes for 510 yards and three touchdowns. He has 641 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns.

Ward has 690 rushing yards with four touchdowns as well as 18 receptions for another 247 yards.

Hoxie senior quarterback Cade Forrester ran for 84 yards and two scores last week in a 21-14 win over Osceola, while throwing for 167 yards and a touchdown. Senior Seth Brooks ran for 41 yards, caught two passes for 52 yards, and intercepted two passes.

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Both Piggott and Corning will miss the postseason, even though Piggott will be trying to end season with back-to-back wins after shutting out Palestine-Wheatley 52-0 last week.

This Piggott/Corning rivalry is known as “The Rice Bowl.” Piggott has won the past nine Rice Bowls. Corning’s last win in the series was in 2011.

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5A-East Football

After having last season's finale game against Brookland cancelled due to Covid, the Forrest City Mustangs will finally get the chance to take on the Bearkats Friday at Brookland.

The Mustangs, with a win, could finish the season at 3-7, while a loss would leave the Mustangs with a 2-8 overall mark.

Brookland made the leap from Class 4A up to Class 5A last season, replacing Blytheville on Forrest City's season schedule as the final game.

The Mustangs, coming off a 470 loss to Wynne last week, the third shutout loss of the year for the team, have struggled this season uder first year head coach Teli White who took over in February, hoping to reverse last year's 1-6 Mustang team.

Forrest City has used as many as four different quarterbacks this season looking for consistency on offense.

The Mustangs will miss postseason again this year for a second straight season and for the fourth time in the past five seasons, while Brookland (4-5 overall and 2-4) can qualify for the playoffs for the first time in school history with a win Friday over the Mustangs and some help from Paragould.

Bearkat senior Kaden Matthews ran 12 times for 130 yards and two touchdowns in last week's 28-8 victory at Paragould (0-8 overall and 0-6).

Senior David York caught a 31yard touchdown pass and returned an interception 72 yards for another score, his sixth pick of the season.

Forrest City gave up more than 300 yards rushing in last week's 47-0 loss to Wynne.

The Forrest City Junior Mustangs, 6-3 overall, will host Brookland Thursday in the final regular season junior high matchup at Sam Smith Stadium.

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Batesville has beaten Valley View five of the past seven seasons, including 37-16 win a year ago.

The Pioneers, a team that struggled to find itself early on, could miss the playoffs for only the second time since 2010.

Batesville needs a win or outside help to get to postseason.

Batesville led Greene County Tech 21-17 in the third quarter last week before losing 33-21.

Quatreback Rhett McDonald has two touchdown passes to lead Greene County Tech.

Valley View finishes third in the 5A-East and travels to South Arkansas for a the first round playoiff game

Sophomore Slade Caldwell leads the Blazers and ran eight times for 97 yards in last week's 14-7 loss at Nettleton.

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Throw out the records in this county rivalry game.

Paragould makes the very short bus ride to play Greene County Tech with the winner the winner taking home the Bell trophy, which was introduced in 1999.

Greene County Tech has won 15 of the past 27 games in the series, including an exciting 20-13 double overtime thriller last fall.

The Eagles tuned up for the showdown with last week's 12point win at Batesville. Junior quarterback Camden Farmer ran for 177 yards and passed for 97 yards, while senior Gage Snyder carried 10 times for 91 yards.

Winless Paragould averages seven points per game.