Mustangs hit the road to face the Pioneers

Forrest City, 0-5 for the year, will make the drive to Batesville Friday night still searching for the first victory of the 2022 season.

Forrest City has just two wins over Batesville over the past 12 seasons, with those wins coming in back-to-back seasons 2018 and 2019.

Valley View, Wynne and Batesville head into Friday's prep football schedule in a three-way tie for first place in the 5A-East Conference. All three are undefeated at 2-0 in the conference and all three are all 41 overall.

Nettleton is making some noise of their own, holding down fourth in the conference at 1-1 and 4-1 overall.

Forrest City has already faced Valley View, losing last week to the Blazers 49-0.

Batesville is riding the strength of their lineman, a group that led the Pioneers to a 35-0 win over Paragould last Friday.

Tonight, Forrest City, still winless for the season, will make the trip to Batesville to face the Pioneers.

Against Paragould, the Pioneers chewed up 260 yards on the ground and scored five passing touchdowns. Junior Gabe Witt led Batesville with 120 yards on four carries.

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Wynne will make the short road trip to Valley View Friday night in a game that will play a definitive role in deciding the overall conference title.

Wynne was the preseason pick to win the East with Valley View a close second place choice.

The Yellowjackets have won seven of their eight meetings over the Blazers.

Wynne ran for 317 yards in last week's 21-point win over Southside Batesville, led by Junior Cobey Davis' 116 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 16 attempts.

Yellowjacket quarterback John Watson finished with 102 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns on 14 carries.

Valley View has won four consecutive games, led by junior quarterback Carson Turley, who did most of the damage to the Mustangs in last week's 49-0 victory at Forrest City.

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Southside junior Seth Case ran 21 times for 134 yards in last week's 42-21 loss at Wynne.

Case has 74 carries for 727 yards this season, and he's caught six passes for 127 yards. Brookland generated 336 yards (212 rushing, 124 passing) in last week's 49-20 loss to Nettleton.

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Nettleton jumped on Brookland 21-0 and cruised to an easy victory last week. The Raiders will host Paragould Friday night.

Showing no effects from a last-play loss the week before at Batesville, the Raiders routed Brookland 49-20 last Friday. Maddox Hampton and Curtez Smith combined to throw five touchdown passes during a 42point first half for Nettleton.

Nettleton (4-1, 1-1 conference) has a chance to build more momentum in the 5A-East on Friday night as Paragould (14, 0-2 conference) visits Raider Field.

Kickoff for the Raiders’ Homecoming game is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Nettleton sophomore quarterback Maddox Hampton and junior Curtez Smith combined for five touchdown passes. Hampton completed 16 of 23 passes for 249 yards and three touchdowns, while Smith hit both of his passes for 59 yards and two scores. Smith also ra for 49 yards and a touchdown, while junior Quordarius Thompson caught seven passes for 153 yards and three touchdowns.

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Last week, the Palestine-Wheatley Patriots dressed 21 players for the conference game against Hoxie. Tomorrow night, the Patriots will host an Osceola team that has outscored its opponents 108-6 in two conference games and is tied with Manila for the 3A-3 conference lead.

Palestine-Wheatley (0-5) lost 55-6 to Hoxie last week. The Patriots have been outscored 225 to 20 in their first five games.

Walnut Ridge will play at Piggott on Friday looking to remain in the top three in the conference. Piggott joins Palestine Wheatley as the other winless 3A-3 team.

The Walnut Ridge Bobcats have rushed for 1,728 yards and 27 touchdowns through five games, led by senior quarterback Walker Ward (588 yards, 8 touchdowns) and junior running back Kai Watson (586 yards, 11 touchdowns).

Hoxie plays at Corning. Last week, every Hoxie player who made the trip to Palestine-Wheatley got in the game during a 55-6 win. Hoxie is 1-0 in the conference. Corning fell to Manila 15-12.

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In Class 2A, Earle will play at Marianna Friday. Earle's 34-18 loss to Marked Tree last week was its largest margin of defeat. The Bulldogs have kept it within one score in the rest of their games.

Both of Earle's wins came against teams from higher classifications. Marianna scored a season-high 16 points against Des Arc last week, but still lost by 36.