Nettleton ‘brick wall’ stops FC Junior High
According to head coach Chris Siler, the Forrest City Junior Mustangs ran into a brick wall Thursday night.
Hosting Nettleton, the Junior Raiders took complete control of the game and never let go, under a final 30-0 win at Mustang Stadium.
"Nettleton is just really that good," Siler said. "We knew they were the best in the conference. They are big and they have a lot of speed. They beat Batesville last week 40-0."
Thursday's loss leaves the Junior Mustangs at 3-2 overall for the year and 1-1 in the conference while Nettleton has won their last two games by a combined 70-0 tab.
Looming ahead for the Junior Mustangs are four road trips over the final six games, with back-toback road trips to end the year to Batesville and Southside.
The Junior Mustangs will next make the trip to Brookland.
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Meanwhile, the Forrest City Mustangs, still winless after the season's first three games, open conference play tonight, on the road at a 2-1 Southside team in a first ever football matchup between the two schools.
Southside opened their season with a 28-7 loss against Pocahontas but rebounded to defeat Bald Knob and Heber Springs, putting up 72 total points while allowing just six.
The Mustangs are coming off a home loss to Stuttgart a week ago in the annual Hall of Fame Game.
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Over at Palestine-Wheatley, the Patriots will be on the road at Walnut Ridge tonight in a conference game that was cancelled two weeks ago due to low overall numbers, but then was rescheduled.
Last night, the Junior Patriots lost to the Walnut Ridge juniors 28-6.
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Nettleton head coach Steven Hampton thought his Raiders' team needed an open date last week after three hard-fought nonconference games.
Off to a 3-0 start for the second consecutive season, the defending 5A-East champion Raiders open conference play tonight on the road against longtime contender Batesville (2-1). Kickoff at Pioneer Stadium is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Nettleton is the first 5A-East team to encounter the Pioneers since Dave King, their head coach for 26 seasons, stepped down in April. Ryan Morrow, a former Batesville player and assistant coach assumes the head coaching role moving forward.
Batesville rallied from 11 points down to nip Harrison 25-24 in overtime two weeks ago, handing the Goblins their first loss.
Morrow debuted with a onepoint victory as the Pioneers opened the season with a 40-39 victory over Searcy before Batesville suffered a 35-0 loss at Maumelle in its second game.
Nettleton owns victories over Mountain Home (49-39), Pocahontas (26-21) and Blytheville (30-25), winning each of the last two games after trailing in the fourth quarter.
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Valley View won two vastly different games leading into 5AEast conference play
After falling 51-35 to Harding Academy in their opener, the Blazers (2-1) made a few position changes on defense that helped during a 16-2 victory at Poplar Bluff, Mo. They built an 18-point halftime lead two weeks ago at Rivercrest and held on for a 37-34 victory.
The Blazers open conference play tonight against Paragould (12) at Central Dealerships Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
Four turnovers hampered Valley View’s offense against Poplar Bluff, but the Blazers had only one in their victory over Rivercrest.
Temperatures earlier this week forced the Blazers to alter their practice schedule, practicing inside on Tuesday and taking the field Wednesday at 6 a.m.
Former Arkansas State assistant coach David Gunn is in his first season as Paragould’s head coach. The Rams opened the season with a 35-0 loss to rival Greene County Tech, then bounced back to beat Piggott 37-0 before losing 38-0 to Hoxie two weeks ago.
Valley View has a 12-0 all-time record against Paragould, including eight victories since the teams became 5A-East conference foes. The Blazers won last year’s meeting 35-6.
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From what Brookland coach Mark Hindsley can tell, Wynne begins conference play as the favorite in the 5A-East.
The Yellowjackets are also the first opponent on the Bearcats’ conference schedule, as they have been since Brookland moved up to Class 5A football two years ago. The teams meet Friday night at Brookland’s Jordan’s Stadium.
Hindsley, who is in his first season at Brookland, has described the Wynne game as a measuring stick to his players.
Brookland (1-2) played three Class 4A teams in non-conference play. The Bearcats opened with a 6-0 shutout of Westside before falling 28-17 to Gosnell and 47-28 to Pocahontas.
Wynne (2-1) is coming off a 217 loss at Magnolia, which reached the Class 5A state quarterfinals last season. The Yellowjackets took down teams from larger classifications in their first two games, dispatching Class 6A Marion 21-10 and Class 7A Fort Smith Southside 72-44.
While Magnolia managed to limit Wynne to 116 rushing yards as a team last week, the Yellowjackets had 249 against Marion and 457 against Southside.