Mountain Pine and Magnet Cove are in similar situations entering tonight's Class 2A-5 matchup at Stanley May Field as they reach the turning point of the season in their fourth conference matchup of the year.
The Red Devils (3-3, 2-1) are coming off a 42-21 win at Bigelow (3-3, 0-3) last week while the Panthers (3-3, 2-1) rolled over Quitman (5-1, 2-1), 60-41, at Kenneth W. Hammonds Stadium.
Here are five things to watch in this week's game:
Containing Collin
The Red Devils have not been able to break out with a win at home this season, but Magnet Cove head coach Caleb Carmikle said Mountain Pine is not a team to discount.
"The first thing that really jumps out about them is their athleticism," he said. "They have got some good looking kids that can run. That quarterback (Collin Smith), he's a football player. You can tell he's a winner. He competes really hard. He runs so hard. That's really the first thing that jumps out. They've got some size up front. It should be a great matchup for the both of us. It should be a really good football game."
Mountain Pine head coach Sam Counce said Smith had a few issues last week with dropped passes, but he has been the team's leader all season.
"He's got the most yards, and he's doing a pretty good job passing," Counce said. "We had some drops last week. He would have been 9-for-11 if we hadn't dropped passes. I think he was 2-for-11. We dropped five or six last week, and we've worked on that a lot this week."
The junior quarterback had his weakest passing game two weeks ago against the conference-leading Conway Christian Eagles (4-2, 3-0), passing 2-for-6 for 76 yards and a touchdown. He has a completion percentage of 34.8 percent on the season with at least one passing touchdown in each game.
"After the Bigelow game last week, a friend of mine is on the coaching staff, and I asked him, 'What did you see we did? What was your concern with us?'" Counce said. "The first thing he said was, 'Your quarterback -- we had to stop your quarterback.' He's getting some attention from people we're playing."
Smith has 96 carries for 766 yards with nine touchdowns. He has tallied more than 100 yards in all but the season opener against Mineral Springs (4-2, 1-2).
"When he takes off running, we've got to fly to the ball," Carmikle said. "He does a really good job of making the first guy miss. That's something that we've done well all year. We do a good job pursuing the football. We've just got to continue that Friday night.
"We've got to make sure that when you're rushing the quarterback when he drops back to pass -- we've got two good defensive ends, but sometimes a good defensive end will run upfield too far and give a quarterback a lane to step up and take off running. We can't do that with this kid. He'll make us pay for it."
Passing Panthers
The Panthers are known to be a ground-and-pound team, but Carmikle said they are starting to make a transition to a passing game to prepare for the postseason.
"We're starting to find ourselves in the passing game now," he said. "Trent Robinson is busting off big runs. Landon Stone is doing it with his legs and his hands. Jared McJunkins really showed out for us at receiver. A lot of that has to do with finally getting in a groove in the passing game."
Junior quarterback Tyler Hodges has put the ball in the air in just four games, connecting on 7 of 15 passes. Hep passed for 261 yards in the team's wins against Poyen (4-2, 1--2) and Quitman.
"Tyler Hodges has done a good job of dishing the ball out to different people, and that's something that we need to continue to improve on," Carmikle said. "If we want to make any kind of a run in November, you've got to be able to throw the football. That's something that we're going to work on tomorrow night and throughout the rest of the regular season."
"They're between 65-70 percent run and 30-35 percent pass now," Counce said. "They scored their first passing touchdown, but they throw the ball around pretty good. They'll throw it in situations. They'll throw it short quite a bit. They've connected on a long pass on a wheel route, but most of it we've seen has been short passes."
Counce said the Red Devils will still be on the lookout for Magnet Cove's hard-nose running game.
"They're going to try to lean against you and just make you beat them at the line of scrimmage," Counce said. "They're not real flashy. ... We've seen them run three different quarterbacks. They will throw it, but that's not what gets them going. They run the ball, and they're just going to be strong up front, and they're going to run hard and not make any mistakes."
Senior running back Eli Dawson averages 6.7 yards per carry for 834 yards with 125 touches this season.
"He looks like their best or their fastest back," Counce said. "He breaks a few, and he has good speed. That's definitely a concern. We're going to try to keep him contained, but it's going to be tough."
Dogged defenses
Mountain Pine is averaging 51 tackles per game with seven sacks and four interceptions. Sophomore Josiah Walpole is leading the charge with 42 total tackles this season with senior brother Josh following with 35 and Ja'on Smith adding 34.
"They're going to create a little bit of a mismatch for us," Carmikle said. "As much as we like to run the ball, they've got some good looking kids up front, especially on the inside. We're going to have to play really low and fire off the football to move them back and stop any kind of penetration. When you're running the ball, penetration can kill a drive.
"They've got some size up front, and obviously with their athleticism and their speed, we're not going to break any 60-, 70-yard runs or touchdown passes like we did the last couple of weeks. So, we're going to have to stay patient. We're going to have to string together some big, long drives and eat up some clock in order to have some success."
Magnet Cove is slightly behind the Red Devils with an average of 46.5 tackles per game, but senior defensive tackle Braedon Lane is Counce's biggest concern on defense, measuring 6-10, 350.
"We'll have to be aware of where he's at if we're trying to throw at all," Counce said. "It'll be hard to get the ball over him. They're good on the defensive line, but their linebackers come downhill. If you come out of the backfield or you drag across the middle, they're going to give you a shot every time you come by. They're physical on defense, too. They're just a hard-nosed bunch of kids."
Injury situation
For the most part, both teams are at full strength coming into Week 7 with just minor injuries. The only outlier is Mountain Pine safety, Josiah Walpole.
The sophomore was hospitalized this week with a non-football related problem and will be sidelined for at least this week's game.
"His brother Josh hurt his thumb the other night, but he's fine," Counce said. "The Walpole kids, they're pretty resilient. We're in pretty good shape other than Josiah."
Carmikle said his team has not suffered any serious injury since the start of the season.
"We're a little nicked up just like anybody is in mid-October, but for the most part, we've stayed pretty healthy," he said. "We had an ACL injury at the beginning of the year. That was a big hit for us, and it took us some time to recover, and some young kids had to step up and kids had to start playing positions they'd never played before."
Playoff implications
Conway Christian currently sits atop the Class 2A-5 standings without a conference loss, but the middle of the conference is "a big mess right now," Carmikle said. Magnet Cove, Mountain Pine, England and Quitman are all 2-1.
"Obviously, the teams at the top are going to start playing each other, and that will take care of a lot of the jumbled mess in the middle of the conference right now," Carmikle said. "There's a lot of different scenarios that could play out to where there's a three- or even four-way tie for 1-3 or 2-5."
Counce said he is more concerned about the Red Devils reaching a turning point.
"It's a big game," he said. "This could really point us in the right direction with a victory. ... We have not won at home this year, so that's a concern of mine, us not playing well at home. I've tried to put a lot of emphasis on that with our kids to play good at home and how important this Magnet Cove game is for us as a team. I'm looking forward to see if our kids step up to the challenge."
Week 7
Other area matchups this week include Siloam Springs (3-3, 1-2 6A-West) at Lake Hamilton (4-2, 1-2), Lakeside (2-4, 1-2 5A-South) at Hope (1-5, 1-2), Magnolia (3-3, 0-3) at Hot Springs (1-5, 1-2), Fountain Lake (3-3, 0-3 4A-7) at Bauxite (6-0, 3-0), Malvern (0-6, 0-3) at Joe T. Robinson (5-1, 3-0), Haskell Harmony Grove (4-2, 2-1) at Arkadelphia (1-5, 1-2), Glen Rose (5-1, 3-0 3A-4) at Jessieville (3-3, 1-2), Centerpoint (4-2, 2-1 3A-5) at Camden Harmony Grove (5-1, 3-0), Horatio (2-4, 1-2) at Bismarck (1-5, 0-3), Cutter Morning Star (1-5, 0-3 2A-5) at England (2-4, 2-1) and Mount Ida (6-0, 3-0 2A-7) at Foreman (6-0, 3-0).
Sports on 10/12/2018