On a stormy Friday night in the River Valley and in Northwest Arkansas, high school football teams experienced a variety of obstacles as they tried to play the final week of the regular season. Some schools took a safe approach to the potential severe weather on Friday by playing on Thursday, playing earlier on Friday, or, moving games to Saturday. Either way, the uncertainty of the delays forced players and coaches to be flexible when they are normally in a set routine on game day.
The Charleston Tigers were scheduled to play at Lavaca on Friday at 7 p.m. Earlier in the day on Friday, the kickoff was moved to 8 p.m. But starting around 6 p.m. on Friday, severe weather moved into the area. A tornado touched down briefly just west of Mansfield, and the outer edge of the storm brought a deluge of heavy rain onto the field at Lavaca around 6:30 p.m. At 7 p.m., another line of storms moved from southwest of Booneville toward Paris. All in all, it was a long and frustrating night.
There are many factors that are considered for the cancellation or the postponement and eventually rescheduling of a high school football game. In fact, the Booneville Bearcats were scheduled to play at Cedarville on Friday night at 7 p.m. That game was not moved or adjusted in its start time. Eventually, the Pirates forfeited the game to Booneville, and the Bearcats team and fans went home with the win.
I will not attempt to second guess any school on why or why not they chose to re-schedule or not re-schedule a football game. In fact, as a retired school administrator, I have been in their shoes before, and I will tell you from experience there often seems to be no good solution that most people will agree with or think is a good decision.
So, long story short, the game at Lavaca was re-scheduled a second time to start at 9 p.m. on Friday. And just a few minutes after 9 p.m., the game finally kicked-off.
During the delay and the stormy weather, the Charleston Tigers remained on campus at Charleston High School, waiting to see if and / or when the game would be played. Not until the last moment did the Tigers board buses to make the trip down Highway 22 to play the 9 p.m. game. But when the Tigers finally arrived at the stadium, they did show up…and in a big way.
Charleston entered the game undefeated in conference play with at least a share of the conference title in hand. A win over Lavaca would give them the outright title and the number one seed in the playoffs. The Tigers needed to take care of business Friday night at Lavaca, and that is exactly what they did on the way to a convincing 48-0 victory over the Arrows.
Charleston jumped out to a quick 21-0 and eventual 28-0 first quarter lead, and the game was never in doubt. The Tigers’ defense pitched another shutout on the year, and the top-ranked team in Class 3A, the Charleston Tigers, claimed their third consecutive conference title and their fourth consecutive trip to the state playoffs under current head coach, Ricky May.
After the game, Coach May, proud of his players, said, “I was really proud of our kids on the way they handled the conditions before the game, as far as the ups and downs of when we will start, or even play. There was no let down despite all of this and they came out ready to play and got after them.”
The stellar Charleston senior class would not allow the Tigers to suffer a let down due to the uncertainty before their game with Lavaca. In fact, the way the game was handled before kickoff seemed to motivate the Tigers even more. Regardless what happened, Charleston won in convincing fashion under very trying circumstances, and those experiences they had in Lavaca may benefit them in the playoffs in the coming weeks. The Tigers now know they can overcome any circumstance, and that confidence will be huge in the playoffs.
Going into week ten, and I do not anticipate the top rankings to vary much after last night’s results, the top ten rankings statewide in Class 3A according to Max Preps are as follows:
- Charleston
- Prescott
- Booneville
- Melbourne
- Rison
- Newport
- Camden Harmony Grove
- Glen Rose
- Bismarck
- Centerpoint
In conference 3A-1, the final standings are:
- Charleston
- Booneville
- Greenland
- Mansfield
- Lavaca
- West Fork
- Cedarville
- Hackett
Charleston will move on to next week’s state playoffs that will begin on November 11. The Tigers, by earning a number one seed, will be at home all through the playoffs until the state title game in Little Rock in December. The first test for the Tigers will be the Gurdon Go Devils. Charleston will host Gurdon on Friday at 7 p.m. at Alumni Field. Watch for a special preview of this game next week in RNN Sports!
And RNN Sports will be there to bring you all of the state playoffs action from Charleston! If you have not yet subscribed to the Logan County weekly newspaper that includes Charleston football, now would be a good time to do it! Just go to residentnewsnetwork.com and click on the subscription link.
Congratulations to head coach Ricky May and the Charleston Tigers on winning another conference championship, and congratulations to the Charleston faithful who endured the elements last night to cheer for their Tigers!
We will see you next Friday when Charleston hosts the Go Devils!
