PARIS- The scheduling onslaught of the 3A-4 conference continues this Friday when Paris travels to Jessieville for an important conference match-up for the Eagles.
After opening the 2023 conference slate with the top two predicted finishers in the conference, Paris will travel to Jessieville with the intent to return the favor of last year’s loss in Paris by the score of 57-21.
Last year’s game result was a little misleading for the Eagles. Paris, coming off of a lopsided loss at Bismarck, was missing key players going into their game the following week with Jessieville. As a result, the Eagles were even more limited with what they could do on offense for the first half of the game with the Lions. This year, Paris faces a road challenge to go into Jessieville that has a reputation of being a hard place to play for opposing teams.
The Eagles’ game at Jessieville is the first of four games in the remaining five game stretch that Paris has an opportunity to be competitive in with hopes of making the state playoffs. Remaining games with Jessieville, Two Rivers, Centerpoint, and Danville will determine the Eagles’ fate. Magnet Cove, who will represent the Eagles’ final regular season road trip, is ranked in the top ten in Class 3A along with Glen Rose and Bismarck.
Jessieville entered the current season predicted to finish fourth in the conference according to Hooten’s Arkansas Football publication. But as the season has progressed, the predicted third place finisher, Centerpoint, has not lived up to their preseason prognostication. An Eagles win at Jessieville could cause a major shake-up in the final standings, should Paris go on to defeat Centerpoint, Two Rivers, and Danville. Such a scenario would actually propel the Eagles into a fourth-place finish in the conference. RNN Sports predicted in August that Paris would finish fifth in the conference; a fourth-place finish would be an outstanding finish for a young program that is rebuilding and looking forward to the next two seasons. To finish third, the Eagles would have to win these games and upset Magnet Cove. Both Jessieville and Paris may be playing on Friday to perhaps finish as the conference’s fourth seed going into the state playoffs.
As of September 25, Jessieville has a record of 2-2 with wins against Mount Ida (47-6), and Atkins (48-33). Their two losses have been against Mineral Springs (20-8) and Bismarck (46-6). Again, at publication time, Jessieville was preparing to take the field against Glen Rose.
At deadline for this story, the Eagles were preparing to host Bismarck for homecoming. Next week, the Eagles’ road trip will continue with a visit to Two Rivers to play the Gators. Jessieville, who was playing at Glen Rose last week, will be at Centerpoint on October 13.
Kickoff in Jessieville is set for 7 p.m. RNN Sports will be there to bring you all of the action in pictures, as well as in our post-game story on Saturday. Just go to our website at residentnewsnetwork.com on Saturday to read our story!
And, as always, we will see you at the stadium on Friday!
