Jessieville has more at stake in its next two football games than playoff seeding, which is ample reward for a team enjoying a turnaround season.
Projected to finish sixth in Class 3A-5 by Hooten's Arkansas Football, the Lions begin the stretch run with a chance for the conference title. Jessieville is tied for second at 4-1 with Glen Rose and Centerpoint, which visits Phillips Field Friday night, and plays league leader Prescott on the road next week.
Jessievile is assured of its first playoff appearance since 2012 and 14th overall, but the first without Don Phillips on the sideline. T.J. Burk, quarterback of the Phillips-coached 2006 Jessieville state-championship team and formerly on Jared McBride's staff at Lakeside, returned to his alma mater this year as only the third head coach in the program's history. The Lions are 6-2 overall, both losses coming to once-beaten teams (Mount Ida and Glen Rose) on the road.
The Lions rolled over Horatio 37-6 last week in Sevier County, struggling on offense in the first half for the second week in a row but producing a balanced attack with 162 yards rushing and 183 passing.
Senior Steven Benson, a workhorse in the backfield, had four touchdowns on nine carries for 50 yards and junior Adam Saveall passed to Caleb Moody for another score. Senior Ruben de Haas, Benson's backfield mate, set up the first touchdown with an interception, Benson scoring from 16 yards out for a 10-0 halftime lead after the Lions recorded a safety.
It was 17-0 after Benton scored from two yards out with 1:48 gone in the second half. Saveall's 17-yard toss to Moody made it 24-0, and Benson ran it in from 11 yards late in the third quarter after Horatio scored on a 43-yard pass.
Saveall, who followed Burk from Lakeside after Jessieville hired his father as assistant principal, withstood two interceptions and completed 12 of 20. Senior Drew Galloway carried nine times for a team-high 84 yards, and Tristen Davis recorded a second interception for the Lions.
Jessieville turned its season around after a 35-6 loss to Glen Rose with a come-from-behind win at Phillips Field over Haskell Harmony Grove, 37-6 (the Cardinals, after starting 3-0 under first-year coach Paul Calley, have slid to 4-4, 1-4 in the conference, with Gurdon and Horatio remaining).
The top five teams from 3A-5 make the playoffs and the top three seeds play at home in the first round. The top two seeds from 3A-5 could play a second-round game at home.
Centerpoint has fought gamely in all three losses, 22-19 to once-beaten Mount Ida in the season opener at Arkadelphia. Then came conference defeats at home of 20-9 to 8-0 Prescott and 35-28 to Glen Rose last week. Coach Cary Rogers' team bounced back from the Prescott loss in Week 4 with consecutive shutouts of Horatio and Gurdon, then thumped Harmony Grove 34-18 on the road.
Quarterback Keenan Owens leads a strong Centerpoint senior class. He should be known to the opposing team after starting in basketball last season for a regional winner that beat tournament host Jessieville in a Class 3A first-round game (Kevin Owens, his father, is the Knights' varsity boys basketball coach).
Centerpoint gained its first playoff victory in football last year before losing 42-20 to Harding Academy. The 28-8 win over Elkins followed three consecutive postseason setbacks by a total of 11 points, including 43-42 to Melbourne in 2013.
Centerpoint rebounded from a 42-21 loss to Glen Rose in Week 8 last year with a 35-6 win over Jessieville. With currently winless Bismarck ahead next week, Centerpoint gets a playoff preview against Jessieville, both schools willing to delay the start of basketball season to accommodate a winning football team.
Sports on 10/26/2016