If you were to look throughout the history of the Mansfield football program, you’d see that while the Tigers have had a handful of decent years here and there, they have been for the most part a mid-card program. Sure, the Tigers have had some solid runs and big-time thrillers over the years but boasting a Playoff record that consists of just 11 appearances in school history is not one that strikes fear into the hearts of their opponents. As for Championships, Mansfield has a sole 3A-1 conference Championship that came in 2010 and zero State Championships. Even though Mansfield shocked the state in 2023 by making it to the State Semifinals for the first time ever, their success was considered a one-and-done. So after starting their 2024 season with a 1-3 non-conference record, many people across the state wrote the Tigers off as the same ol’ Mansfield Tiger program that’s always been “pretty good”.
Coming off of an excellent 2023 campaign, the Tigers came into the 2024 season with high expectations. The team had lost just five seniors from the previous season and returned almost all of their starters on both sides of the line. Ranked in the Top5 in most of the preseason polls by media outlets all over the state, the Tigers were primed for another run at a trip to Little Rock. Mansfield beefed up their non-conference schedule to not only prepare for a tumultuous 3A-1 conference schedule but to also show the State that they weren’t scared of anyone. First up was a battle between two teams that made some noise in 2023 as the Tigers traveled to Bismarck for a 3A Top5 match-up. With both teams not being cut from the same cloth of the premier 3A programs in the state, the loss would seemingly be deemed as overrated. With a narrow 35-31 loss to the Lions, the Mansfield Tigers were tattooed again as a good, but not great team. Mansfield rallied just a week later and smoked their Scott County rivals, the Waldron Bulldogs, with a convincing 41-8 final score. Next on the schedule was a trip to Lamar in a 3A versus 4A matchup. While Lamar has been a contender in the 4A for years, a win would slightly make up for the Tiger’s fall at Bismarck. Unfortunately, it was a 14-13 loss to the Warriors that sent Mansfield into a hole that would be nearly impossible to dig out of. Sitting with a 1-2 non-conference record going into their bye week, the Mansfield Tiger football program had to make a decision. It would be easy for a team with just six seniors and a twenty-man roster to allow history to take its toll on them mentally and just lay down going into conference play. Or they could stand up, beat their chests, and earn the respect of the 3A-1 conference and the state of Arkansas. If you read the header of this article, you’ll only need one guess as to which one they chose.
The Tigers kicked off their 2024 conference schedule by defeating another rival with a defining 36-6 win over the Hackett Hornets. Beating both Waldron and Hackett in the same season was a good morale builder, but the competition would get stiffer from there. The Tigers would head to Charleston for the second year in a row to face off against a Charleston program that held 29 Conference Championships and six State Championships. Mansfield was edged out of an upset over Charleston in 2023 falling to the black and gold Tigers 14-7, but that was last year. The Tigers walked onto Charleston’s turf with a chip on their shoulder and a score to settle. They walked off the field with a 42-39 victory. The win over Charleston was definitely a statement, but each player knew there was still work to be done. Mansfield rolled through their next two opponents, Lavaca and Cedarville, with a combined score of 98-12 before landing on the section of their schedule that has plagued the Tigers for decades. The Booneville Bearcats are a team that strikes fear into every opponent they face. No one ever has given Mansfield a shot a beating Booneville because the last time they beat the Bearcats was 44 years ago. But just as with the rest of the Tiger’s football history, the 2024 Tigers thumbed their noses at historical facts and issued an upset ticket to Booneville with a 34-22 victory over the defending State Champions. Victory over perineal powerhouses, Charleston and Booneville, put the Mansfield Tigers at the top of the 3A-1 and in the eye of the whole state, all they had to do was finish what they started. So that’s exactly what they did. Mansfield traveled to Greenland and sank the Pirates 66-20 and then closed their 2024 conference schedule with a 42-8 win over West Fork. With an amazing sweep of the 3A-1, the Mansfield Tigers are officially the undisputed 2024 3A-1 Conference Champions for only the second time in school history.
It would not be uncalled for if someone called a program a lost cause after looking at that program’s poor history, only six seniors, a twenty-man roster, a powerful 3A-1 conference schedule, and a 1-2 start to their season. In fact, it would be expected. But against all odds, the Mansfield Tigers continue to rewrite the history books. Now can the Tigers close that book with one final historical moment? Mansfield earned a 1Seed in the State Playoffs with their 3A-1 Championship and will have home-field advantage for their first game against the Paris Eagles. Last season, the Tigers ran through a 3Seed and two 1Seeds before falling to a third 1Seed in the State Semifinals. The 2023 Tigers made that run with five seniors and a first-year coach. The 2024 Tigers were a part of that history-making season, but with all due respect to their predecessors, this team expects to take it all the way to Little Rock.
