With two games remaining, three Garland County teams appear to have tickets punched for the Arkansas state football playoffs.
From the seven-team local pool, two other schools face schedule challenges while two, Cutter Morning Star (1-7, 0-5 2A-5) and Hot Springs (1-7, 1-4), soon will transition from football to basketball. The playoffs start Nov. 9.
Forty years after the school's first of two straight state titles under coach Stanley May, for whom its home field is named, Mountain Pine has a chance to share or claim outright the 2A-5 championship.
Mountain Pine, with four straight road wins, gets the luxury of home games against Poyen (5-3, 2-3) and, next week, Quitman (6-2, 3-2). The Red Devils improved to (1-7, 1-4) 5A-South in conference, 5-3 overall, with last week's 44-12 triumph at England (3-5, 3-2), keeping Mountain Pine one game behind league leader Conway Christian (6-2, 5-0). England, Magnet Cove (4-4) and Quitman have 3-2 conference records, while Poyen follows at 2-3 with the conference sending five teams to the playoffs.
Lake Hamilton (5-3, 2-3) goes on the road against the 6A-West's top two teams after improving its postseason outlook with a needed home victory.
Surprisingly flat in a 21-14 homecoming loss to Siloam Springs (4-4, 2-3) the previous week, the Wolves routed Sheridan (2-6, 1-4), 36-0. The Siloam Springs outcome would consign the Wolves to a sixth-place conference finish were the season to end today. As it is, Lake Hamilton will be an underdog Friday night against Benton (6-2, 4-1) and next week against defending 6A champion Greenwood (7-1, 5-0).
Winning its seventh straight after an opening defeat to 7A Fort Smith Northside (5-3, 2-3 7A-Central) and now 5-0 in conference, Greenwood prevailed, 62-33, against visiting Benton last week. It was Benton's first loss since the Aug. 25 Salt Bowl, 28-14, to 7A Bryant (7-1, 5-0), though the Panthers have tiebreakers over 3-2 teams El Dorado (4-4) and Russellville (5-3).
After beating Hope (1-7, 1-4) and De Queen (1-7, 1-4), Lakeside steps up in class this week at Little Rock McClellan (7-1, 5-1) before meeting Hot Springs (1-7, 1-4) at home in Week 10. The Rams, 3-2 in conference and 4-4 overall, would be fourth in 5A-South if the playoffs started today.
Texarkana (7-1), dropping from 6A, leads at 5-0, beating McClellan, 21-15, at home in Week 7. Camden Fairview (5-3, 4-1), winner of three straight after falling, 27-12, to Texarkana and thumping Lakeside, 38-26, in its conference opener, is home for a Week 10 matchup with McClellan, both 4-1 in the league.
And thus on to 4A-7, where the competitive level is predictably high but the conference leader is off the charts.
Form took a beating on two Saline County playing fields last week with Bauxite scoring in the final minute against Robinson, 41-35, and Haskell Harmony Grove (5-3), in a definitive shocker, stunning Nashville (6-2), 26-21. Bauxite, with an elite coaching staff including Daryl Patton and Paul Calley, is 5-0 in conference, 8-0 overall, with a tiebreaker over second-place Robinson, 4-1 and 6-2. Defending 4A champion Arkadelphia (3-5) and 2015 winner Nashville are grouped at 3-2 with Harmony Grove.
Though only 1-4 in this heavyweight conference, Fountain Lake righted its season record at 4-4 and kept playoff hopes alive with last week's mercy-rule rout of Malvern (0-8, 0-5), 35-0. A fifth-place finish would send the Cobras to the postseason, which in the context of 4A-7 would make the recipient a live longshot in the playoffs. The Cobras have a meaningful home game Friday against Harmony Grove before visiting Ashdown (3-5, 1-4), which next goes to Robinson.
Jessieville, meanwhile, has no wiggle room in 3A-4 with Friday's trip to Danville (5-3, 3-2) and a home game with Mayflower (7-1, 4-1) remaining. The Lions, 2-3 in conference and 4-4 overall, throttled winless Two Rivers 60-0 last week but could be stung fatally by a 14-8 September home loss to Baptist Prep (3-4-1, 2-3).
Glen Rose, counting Jessieville among its three shutout victories, is 5-0 in conference and 7-1 overall, losing 28-16 to Bauxite. Mayflower holds second place by one game over Atkins (6-2, 3-2) and Danville with Baptist Prep and Jessieville tied for fifth. Before closing against Glen Rose, Baptist Prep takes a breather at Two Rivers, which has six straight shutout losses and an unsightly point differential of 386-12 against.
Cutter Morning Star goes on the road against Bigelow (3-5, 0-5) and Magnet Cove. Hot Springs, another 1-7 team has made strides since ending September 0-5, beating De Queen, 22-10, on the road and allowing 13 fewer points than Lakeside.
Sports on 10/23/2018