SENIOR HIGH FOOTBALL PREVIEW
At first glance, from the outside looking in, the 3A-1 conference would have seemed to have been a two-man race between perennial power Charleston, and new kids on the block Mansfield. Especially with the departure of Booneville to 4A. But after 6 weeks of football under our belts, it’s evident that Lavaca and Cedarville have a lot to say about that. And don’t count out 4-1 Greenland and what Brock May is doing to the north of the tunnel.
Coming in with a 4-2 record, and 1-1 in conference, Cedarville has already matched their 2024 and 2025 combined win totals. The Pirates got off to a 3-0 start before a narrow 28-21 loss to 4A Berryville. Cedarville split their first two conference games with a win over Paris and a loss to defending conference and state champion Mansfield.
The Cedarville Pirates haven’t defeated the Charleston Tigers in football since November 1st, 1985 in a 31-0 Pirates victory at Cedarville. Charleston has a 29-1 all-time advantage. But throw out the history on Friday, because the 2026 Pirates have an upset on their minds.
Cedarville fourth-year head coach Spencer Adams attributes his success this season to his team’s experience.
“Having a senior heavy team has been very beneficial to us so far this season,” said Adams. “We returned almost all of our starters from the last two years so the experience has really helped us.”
Cedarville comes in with a dynamic backfield duo of Daniel Ramirez and Mason Karnes. Karnes leads the team with 552 yards and four touchdowns, and Ramirez is right there with him with 534 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Quarterback Hunter Van Brunt is also a threat in the air with six touchdown passes this season.
Charleston head coach Ricky May knows this Cedarville team is different from other years, and showed his respect for the experienced Pirates.
“They are very different, Coach Adams has done a great job with them,” May said. “They return a lot of starters on both sides of the ball. Ramirez is a tough runner and his speed his deceptive. The offensive line is a good unit too.”
Coach Adams also acknowledged that he believes Charleston is much better now than they showed with their 0-3 start.
“Charleston started 0-3 but played three really good teams,” Adams said. “They are very well coached, very multiple on offense and really sound on defense so we are going to have to play our best game of the year on Friday.”
Charleston is coming off their best rushing performance so far this season in their win at Paris last week. Finn Schmalz had 171 yards rushing on 23 carries with two touchdowns, and quarterback Lukas Burleson added 64 yards rushing and a touchdown.
“We know we have a tall task ahead of us Friday,” said Adams. “We will need to take care of the football and control the clock. Defensively, we’ll have to tackle better than we did last week.”
One advantage Charleston has is experience winning close games, and the ability to come from behind after a second half deficit. The Tigers trailed by 11 at Clinton at halftime, and were trailing Paris by two in the fourth quarter, but came out victorious in both.
“Well, it means we started too slow in the first half,” said Coach May when asked about the back-to-back come-from-behind wins. “However, it shows a lot of grit and determination. These guys have been able to do that but we can’t keep putting ourselves in these holes.”
Another advantage Charleston may have in close games is the kicking game. When a drive stalls, instead of going for it on a risky fourth down, Charleston has been able to rely on the leg of Junior Matteo Gaona. Gaona kicked two field goals of more than 30 yards at Paris, and also kicked a field goal at Clinton in what ultimately ended up being a three-point game.
This week is also Homecoming week for Charleston. I asked Coach May if he was worried about any potential distractions.
“We worry about distractions every week, but Homecoming definitely presents several,” May admitted. “Hopefully when the opening kickoff takes place, all of that will be left behind.”
Also, Charleston hasn’t played at home since September 11th against Ozark. The Tigers have had two straight road games with a bye week sandwiched in between.
“Definitely will be glad to be home this week,” said May. “We are looking forward to playing in front of our home crowd.”
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Alumni Field in Charleston.
Homecoming festivities
Each of the three Charleston schools will have special dress-up days leading up to Homecoming on Friday. These include “Country vs Country Club” on Monday, “Rapper Day” on Tuesday, “We wear pink” on Wednesday, “Hat day” on Thursday, and “Tiger Spirit Day” on Friday.
Here is the Homecoming schedule for Friday:
- 1 pm – Homecoming Assemble
- 2:30 pm – Homecoming Parade
- 6:30 pm – Homecoming Coronation
Homecoming Royalty
- Queen – Ella Dodson
- Maid of Honor – Kylee Binz
- Senior Maid – Lorelai Fisher
- Junior Maids – Ella Dahlem & Hannah Ward
- Sophomore Maid – Veda Schaffer
- Freshman Maid – Kaydense Jones
