FOUNTAIN LAKE -- Fountain Lake will face another 4A-7 conference favorite Friday, but the Cobras will be the home team this time at Allen Tillery Field.
Nashville (4-0, 1-0) will head to Fountain Lake (3-1, 0-1) for a 7 p.m. kickoff on Friday.
Here are five things to watch in the matchup:
Team response
Fountain Lake suffered its first defeat of the season on Friday at Joe T. Robinson (4-1, 1-0) in Little Rock. The game was cut short after the first half due to inclement weather.
"They seniors have been great," said Fountain Lake head coach J.D. Plumlee. "They have responded well. We took all of the positives from last week. We were playing with them there for a quarter and a half."
Robinson is ranked No. 2 in the most recent Arkansas Sports Media High School Football Poll behind only Warren (3-0, 1-0 4A-8), the defending Class 4A runner-up with two players committed to the Arkansas Razorbacks. Nashville is ranked No. 3.
"We are very excited," Plumlee said. "We talk about this conference and how tough it is week in and week out. We talk about it all of the time. We are taking it as a challenge and an opportunity. Our seniors have been outstanding leading our practices."
Home field advantage
The Scrappers scraped by in a competitive game in Week 4 on their home field against defending 4A state champion Arkadelphia (0-4, 0-1). The Badgers led, 17-14, at halftime, but fell, 28-23.
Nashville scored 14 points off of two high snaps that sailed over the head of the Arkadelphia punter. Arkadelphia was able to score a touchdown of its own in similar fashion.
The Scrappers were held to 281 yards of total offense, but the Badgers were held to 183 yards and only two offensive touchdowns
"Both defenses are pretty good," Plumlee said. "You take away those bad snaps for Arkadelphia, it is a different game."
Fountain Lake started the season with an 18-0 victory at Hot Springs (0-4, 0-1 5A-South) before earning consecutive home victories against Lakeside (1-3, 0-1 5A-South), 40-27, and Dover (1-3, 1-0 4A-4), 35-0.
"Any time you get to play at home, it is a huge advantage," Plumlee said. "We are excited about that. They have to travel. We have preached all week starting fast. What we have done in practice this week is we have tried to start practice fast. We have tried to jump out there and make something happen very, very fast right at the start of practice, take that momentum and keep it going.
"We know Nashville is going to be able to come in and, after the first 4-5 minutes, all of the dust will settle and that is football. We are going to have to play four quarters and we know it is going to take us making some big-time plays probably in all three phases of the game. They are very sound in special teams and we are getting better each week."
Attack vs. attack
"They are beatable, but they are fast," Plumlee said. "It is probably the fastest team defense we have seen. It might be one of the fastest Nashville defenses he has had since he has been there."
Junior quarterback Ian Lacy is 23-for-34, 67.6 percent, passing for 379 yards and four touchdowns versus three interceptions, but 176 yards and two of the touchdowns came in the home game against Lakeside. Plumlee said the Cobras may look to attack Nashville's defense more this week through the air.
"We have worked hard this week with Lacy and our receivers on getting open and understanding where the grass is," Plumlee said. "They are a 3-4 attacking defense. When we are in a 20 personnel, it is going to look like a 5-2. They are going to devote seven to the box on almost every snap.
"We are going to have to be very efficient throwing and catching the ball. And when we line up to run it, we are going to have to be creative on hat-on-hat."
Senior Andrew Roberson rotates with Lacy at quarterback and also lines up at running back. He leads the Cobras with 66 carries, 361 yards and three touchdowns.
Senior Kyle Fortner averages 7.8 yards per carry for 155 yards and a touchdown. Senior Colson Simpson has 135 yards and three touchdowns on 29 carries.
Senior Ahman Johnson leads the receivers with 15 receptions for 269 yards and three touchdowns. The rest of the options on offense have combined for 11 receptions for 140 yards and one touchdown.
Offensive balance
Coach Mike Volarich's team has thrown for 591 yards, five touchdowns and five interceptions through four games with two senior quarterbacks. The running game consists of two juniors and a sophomore with a combined 959 rushing yards between them.
Fountain Lake is multiple on defense with a 4-2 main set. Simpson leads the defense with 33 tackles. Senior Joe Murphy is second with 31.
Johnson is third with 17 tackles. He also intercepted three passes against Lakeside and returned a fumble for a touchdown against Dover.
"Obviously, like you do each week, you tweak things here and there to try and stop what they do best," Plumlee said. "Coach V does an outstanding job calling the plays for them. He wants to throw it, but he is smart enough to know he can run the ball too.
"In the last two games, they have been really balanced. We do have our work cut out for us knowing we have to defend both."
4A-7 landscape
Defending state champion Arkadelphia is in danger of beginning the season 0-5 after hosting Robinson on Friday. The teams will trade opponents again next week when Nashville hosts Robinson and Fountain Lake celebrates homecoming against Arkadelphia.
"You have to be realistic about it," Plumlee said. "Robinson is going to beat a lot of teams in our conference. Nashville is going to beat a lot of teams in our conference. If we lose this week, we still have a lot of football left.
"Our goal is to get into the playoffs however that folds out. That is our goal. We want to win every football game, but we have to be realistic and know that if it does not happen, you have to take the positives, correct your mistakes and move on to the next week. We can only control what we can control, and that is our attitude and effort every Friday night."
The rest of the back half of Fountain Lake's schedule includes road games at Bauxite (4-0, 1-0), Malvern (0-4, 0-1) and Ashdown (2-2, 0-1). The Cobras' final home game of the regular season will be against Haskell Harmony Grove (3-1, 1-0) on Oct. 26. The Cardinals moved up from Class 3A this season, but they began conference play with a 36-20 victory at Ashdown on Friday and host Malvern this week.
Week 5
Other area games this week feature Lake Hamilton (3-1, 0-1 6A-West) at Little Rock Hall (1-3, 0-1), Magnolia (3-1, 0-1 5A-South) at Lakeside, Hot Springs at Hope (0-4, 0-1), Baptist Prep (1-2-1, 0-1 3A-4) at Jessieville (3-1, 1-0), Prescott (4-0, 1-0 3A-5) at Bismarck (1-3, 0-1), Fouke (1-3, 0-1) at Centerpoint (2-2, 0-1), Mount Ida (4-0, 1-0 2A-7) at Murfreesboro (2-2, 1-0), Magnet Cove (1-3, 0-1 2A-5) at Poyen (4-1, 0-1) and Conway Christian (2-2, 1-0) at Mountain Pine (2-2, 1-0).
Sports on 09/27/2018