Farmington Welcomes State Tourney

FARMINGTON — This week Farmington High School becomes the flagship campus for Arkansas High School Activities Association sanctioned events hosting the 4A State basketball tournament Wednesday through Saturday at Cardinal Arena.

Hosting Class 4A State basketball represents the latest in a series of unprecedented achievements for the Farmington school district which recently completed Phase 3 of multiple construction projects totally revolutionizing the high school experience. Five years ago in January of 2015, Farmington finished Phase 1 and opened its 1,800 seat basketball and volleyball gym through which 24 basketball teams earnestly pursue their dreams of contending for the 2020 Class 4A State championship.

Twelve boys and as many girls teams visit the campus this week as Farmington High School becomes a showpiece of the American Dream established more than two centuries ago and upheld by the American citizen soldier, sailor, airman and marine.

The sprawling high school constructed as Phase 2 attached to Cardinal Arena and the Performing Arts Center stands as a monument to local control and visionary leadership with Phase 3, a state-of-the-art $16 million Farmington Sports Complex encompassing Cardinal Stadium for football and soccer plus a fieldhouse as well as track and field facilities, finished last August.

“The general thought on this school was not that we had to necessarily raise X amount of dollars, X amount of millions of dollars to build this facility, but it is to be able to cash flow the property and to make it work that way,” said Farmington superintendent of schools Bryan Law.

Law explained how the district was able to successfully leverage $1 million worth of debt for each $60,000 spent on construction.

“You know for us, with the current economic times, $60,000 will leverage a million dollars worth of debt and so that is really what we’ve worked off of and as our school has grown and as we have increased our tax base that has helped us. We have a respectable millage already in place. So, those things came together. Low interests rates, it’s certainly been a plus. So, we’ve been very fortunate to be in this position at this time to put all those little pieces together to make the big piece that generated the revenue to do this.”

Several dignitaries have visited the campus and Law, whose resignation takes effect June 30, oversaw each project to completion. Law makes no bones about relishing opportunity for the district to roll out the welcome mat.

“We were thrilled to have Congressman Steve Womack here, we’ve had the governor in the new gym and so I think it’s great to have those people here,” Law said.

This week basketball fans from around the state journey to Farmington and a chance to display Cardinal prosperity isn’t lost to Law.

“It’s enjoyable to show them what the great people in this district have done and that we have wonderful teachers, wonderful staff, wonderful community and it’s all come together and I’m glad they’re here. I love showing it off and I hope we get to do it more,” Law said.

Farmington High School principal Jon Purifoy is doing double duty while also serving as interim athletic director with the retirement of Brad Blew Jan. 31.

Purifoy prepared and submitted a bid to host the Class 4A State basketball tournaments at Cardinal Arena March 4-7.

“The whole thing is for our kids. I believe that hosting this will not only excite our community, but will excite our kids. The people that’s put this in place many years ago to the people that are veterans here in town can come and watch and see what we designed here as a group for this arena as well as for the school,” Purifoy said.

Farmington presents a welcoming atmosphere to tournament participants, rolling out the red carpet for everybody from coaches, players and parents to officials and fans. Purifoy knows interest will spill out beyond the basketball arena.

“We get to showcase a place that we’ve never had before and they’ll get to see a nice, new stadium that they may not have ever seen; and they get to come and see parts of the country up here that they’ve never seen before,” Purifoy said.

The tournament gets underway Wednesday at Cardinal Arena. Gates open one hour in advance. Admission for students and adults is $6 per person.

The Farmington girls basketball team, seeded No. 1 from the 4A North Region, has a first-round bye and will play the winner of Wednesday’s Crossett versus Pocahontas game on Thursday at 4 p.m.

Six games will be played Wednesday and Thursday starting at 1 p.m. with the late game scheduled for an 8:30 p.m. tip-off. On Friday, the first of four games begins at 4 p.m. Saturday features two sessions with state semifinals being played at noon and 1:30 p.m. and again at 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Teams advancing to the Class 4A State finals will play at Bank of the Ozarks Arena in Hot Springs on Friday, March 13 with the girls state championship at 6 p. m. followed by the boys state championship at 7:45 p.m.