CHARLESTON- The non-conference season is over for Arkansas high school football teams, and now conference play begins this Friday. Non-conference games are fun, but now is the time when everyone gets down to the business of competing for conference championships and state playoff berths. For Charleston, the Tigers have been here before. Kickoff in Charleston is set for 7 p.m.
After a tough non-conference schedule that was intended to prepare Charleston for conference and postseason play, that time is now. And it begins this Friday night at home in front of the Tigers fanbase when Charleston hosts Greenland in the opening 3A-1 conference game for both schools.
From here on, the math is simple. You want to win your first conference game to put yourself in the top half of the conference standings after week one. From that point on, the more conference games you win, the better chance you have of not only qualifying for the playoffs but competing for a top seed in the state playoffs.
In the tough 3A-1 conference, member schools Booneville, Mansfield, Hackett, Lavaca, Cedarville, Greenland, West Fork, and Charleston will be competing for five playoff spots in the state playoffs. Booneville is the consensus pick to win the conference, and if that is true, that leaves the remaining seven teams in the conference vying for four playoff spots. That makes head-to-head games, such as Friday’s matchup of Charleston and Greenland, extremely important to both teams and their postseason fate at the end of the season.
Charleston is playing a young team this year. They are very talented, but they have played an extremely tough non-conference schedule. At press time for this story, Charleston was loading up the bus to make the long trip to southwest Arkansas to take on Nashville and the storied Scrapper football program. Another tough game for the Tigers that they hope will payoff later in the season as they compete for the state playoffs.
The Greenland Pirates will arrive Friday at Alumni Field with their first new head football coach in many years. Former coach Lee Larkan, after a very successful tenure as the Pirates’ head football coach, has moved on, and new coach Cody Napier will be coaching his first conference game in Charleston.
The Pirates, at press time for this story, started their season at 1-2 with a loss vs Lincoln by the score of 47-12, at Green Forest by the score of 56-52, and a win on September 8 against Berryville by the final score of 14-7. Greenland had a bye week on September 15 and will play for the first time this Friday after their bye week.
Charleston, playing a very tough non-conference schedule, has losses against Elkins and Ozark to start the season. At press time, Charleston was getting ready to play at Nashville, and will return home this Friday to host the Pirates in their first conference game.
According to Hooten’s Arkansas Football publication, the Pirates’ weakness may be a lack of team speed. They have improved in their depth in some key positions. Junior quarterback David Hendrix, who served as a backup quarterback last season, will lead the Pirates’ offense at quarterback on Friday. Matthew Goad, and All-Conference offensive lineman a year ago and who has signed to play college football at McPherson College in Kansas, will lead the Pirates up front.
On defense, Sam Wilhite, who also plays tailback on offense, will lead the defense at noseguard. The Pirates have lost depth at their linebackers, and quarterback David Hendrix is expected to fill-in at that position on defense.
The Greenland games at Charleston have historically been exciting games. In the 2019 season, the Pirates ran out of time deep in Tigers territory, trying to win the game as time expired. The Greenland win help propel an injury-riddled Tigers team to the state playoffs that season. This year’s game should be just as exciting.
Watch for the post-game story on this exciting match-up on Saturday on the RNN Sports website at residentnewsnetwork.com.
