When's the last time that anyone referred to a Lakeside-Malvern football game in terms of an instant classic with a word like "nailbiter" in the headline?
A 35-34 Lakeside defeat Friday night told more about the Rams than that 49-42 scrum with Lake Hamilton two weeks prior. Fans leaving Austin Field, even those of the losing team, could be reassured that this is a Lakeside team trending upward and that the Rams, along with Hot Springs, might rise above the cruiserweight division in 5A-South.
That Malvern prevailed is not a shock on the order of man biting dog. Coach J.D. Plumlee brought the Leopards their first state football championship last year since the giant known as Madre Hill walked the earth at Claude Mann Stadium for coach David Alpe. A scorefest with Harding Academy in the Class 4A final bore out the wisdom of Malvern, its football program in freefall, seeking Plumlee, one of whose Fountain Lake teams beat the then-hapless Leopards.
Jared McBride did everything within his power to make Lakeside relevant in football until the 13-year coach retired after the 2022 season. One heard for years about Lakeside winning at the junior-high level and such like with a high degree of confidence. The same players too often reached the varsity level and appeared to forget all they had learned.
McBride arrived in 2010 in the wake of a season that Lakeside yielded 80-something points to Fountain Lake, which then and now does not live through the air. The defense sagged again in the ex-Razorback quarterback's final season on Malvern Road. Defensive aide Garren Rockwell answered the latest distress call -- Plumlee, though a Hot Springs native and Lakeside alum, wasn't likely to fall for a "Mama called" rendition, not with a chance to repeat in 4A, though J.D.'s mom, Nedra, is influential as one of the city's top Realtors.
Malvern should be happy with Plumlee, whose coaching should interest a Great American Conference school (perhaps one on a higher level) before long.
Lakeside appears content with Rockwell, who has unearthed a quarterback, Jacob Hermosillo, whose opening game against Lake Hamilton led to statewide recognition last week from the Little Rock Touchdown Club when Peyton Manning addressed an overflow crowd.
Sensing that his defense was gassed, Rockwell went all-in against Malvern on a two-point play after the Rams scored with 60 seconds left. In a game they trailed 28-14 at halftime, Lakeside was granted an opportunity for a victory to rate with any it scored in years against a Garland County opponent.
Hermosillo left his payoff pitch a little short for Ben Vincent. But give the new coach props for trusting his squad against a superior team, which Malvern is likely to be most nights when Jalen Dupree lines up under center. Lakeside tied it at 28 when Plumlee turned to his quarterback and said, "Dude, it's on your shoulders."
Rockwell, like Sam Pittman in an Arkansas game against Ole Miss that both teams scored in the 50s then put the ball in KJ Jefferson's hands for a do-or-die, two-point play, should not be faulted, it says here. If Lakeside fans have misgivings about the decision, it's possibly because, like Conway Twitty in a suggestive No. 1 country song of long ago, they've never been this far before.
Lakeside can expect other games that go to the wire, and the lessons learned in defeat against Malvern could sway the outcome in its direction next time. Little Rock Parkview, defending Class 5A champion, snapped the long in-state winning streak of five-time reigning Class 7A champion Bryant.
Lakeside's games against Parkview and Camden Fairview should prove meaningful. And, just maybe, the Hot Springs-Lakeside game will be for higher stakes than the unofficial city championship. One or more of those games might be a nailbiter.