Saturday’s Class 3A state championship football game between the Booneville Bearcats and the Charleston Tigers is shaping up as a marquee match-up featuring the “immovable object vs the irresistible force.”
The Charleston defense that has been stingy throughout the state playoffs, pitching shutouts and giving up a total of 12 points in four games (six of which were late against their reserve defense), will face Dax Goff, Cody Elliott, and the vaunted Booneville rushing attack that has rolled-up yardage all season.
It will clearly be the biggest test of the year for the Tigers. In the October meeting of the two teams in the regular season, the Bearcats played the game without several starters, including their dynamic, All-State running back, Dax Goff. Charleston won the October conference game handily and thus earned the top seed going into the state playoffs, as well as the 3A-1 conference championship. But on Saturday for the state championship, Booneville will be at full-speed, and the game at War Memorial Stadium that will feature the clash between the two titans will be nothing like the October meeting.
Both teams have remained relatively healthy throughout the playoffs, so Saturday’s game should be a great championship match-up. The weather forecast for Saturday in Little Rock has been calling for rain all week. At press time, the Weatherbug forecast calls for a 90% chance of rain and possible thunderstorms during the day and a 60% chance of rain that evening. One factor that may impact both teams is the effect the weather could have on the earlier 4A championship game that will be played between Harding Academy and Malvern. Thunderstorms and possible lightning could delay the play of that game, and hopefully, will not cause a delay in the kickoff time for the 3A final that is slated to begin at 6:30 p.m. As a general rule, and depending on who you talk to, rainy conditions usually cause passing game completion averages to drop, as well as total passing yards to drop. A team that can rush the football effectively generally has the upper hand. This will undoubtedly play to Booneville’s strength. Charleston has also had great success rushing the ball in the playoffs, and the difference could be the Tigers’ quarterback, Brandon Scott. Scott can beat a team with both his legs and his arm, and he will put a great deal of pressure on the Booneville defense.
But both Booneville and Charleston have played and won games this year in the rain. In fact, the last two weeks of the regular season saw rain, as well as in week one of the state playoffs. Both teams are very good and very sound fundamentally and know how to protect the football. When I asked Charleston coach Ricky May for his opinion about how the weather may affect the game, Coach May said, “I don’t think it should. We have both played in rain in the first round, and we played in a monsoon at Lavaca” (in week ten of the regular season).
But these are two teams who know each other very well, and both coaches have great respect and knowledge of the each other. From the fans’ perspectives, one only wonders what “wrinkles” or surprises both coaches may have for this game. After all, it is for all of the marbles, and neither coach will leave anything in the playbook after the game is over. It will be an all-out effort to win a state championship by both teams…just as it should be. The Tigers’ coach emphasized this point by saying, “This will be a great high school atmosphere and football game. Booneville will be ready to play and they will bring everything that they have. Their offense is very explosive and their defense is much improved. We will have to be ready for a four-quarter game.”
From this writer’s opinion, there has been more anticipation to this state final than any I can recall in recent memory. Perhaps it is more than just the meeting between two great teams. In fact, it almost seems refreshing to see a state final between two public schools. Not to disparage any private school, but from the purists fans’ perspectives, the meeting between two schools who cannot legally recruit players to their schools is a refreshing proposition.
Charleston will be the home team on the scoreboard tomorrow, and the two teams who’s communities are separated by approximately 16 miles will make the two-hour trip down Interstate 40 to settle the championship at the “Grand Ole’ Lady”, War Memorial Stadium, that has seen more than its fair share of great historic football games since its dedication on September 19, 1948. And on December 10, 2022, Charleston and Booneville High Schools will add to the colorful history of the stadium in what I am predicting to be one of the legendary high school football games ever played at the stadium.
But regardless of what ultimately happens, one thing is for sure. Every player from both schools will be on the War Memorial Stadium turf giving everything they have. Neither team will have anything left once this game comes to an end. And like I have mentioned all this week, this is how it should be.
It has been an honor and privilege for RNN Sports to bring you coverage of the 3A state football playoffs. And we will bring you a complete recap of this historic match-up on Sunday at residentnewsnetwork.com
Good luck to both teams! Bring your rain gear, and RNN Sports will see you Saturday at War Memorial Stadium!
