The Mountainburg Little League Dragons squared off against their neighbors from the north as they faced the West Fork Tigers on Saturday, October 5th. Mountainburg held a playoff position with both of their teams and was looking to keep their playoff hopes alive in an evenly matched game against West Fork.
Riding off of their previous big win over the Magazine Rattlers, the Dragons 3rd and 4th Grade were hungry for more of a heaping plate of winning. The Mountainburg defense stood strong and bowed up to the West Fork offense without backing down once. With precise tackling and a team effort, the Dragons were able to force West Fork to put the ball on the ground a few times creating turnovers for Mountainburg. Their defense shut down the tigers on multiple third downs forcing West Fork to give the ball right back to the elusive Dragons offense. Offensively, Mountainburg had West Fork chasing their tail as the Dragons opened the field up with big plays leading to a 14-0 victory. The big win put Mountainburg at 2-2 on the season and pushed them up to the fifth out of six available playoff spots.
Mountainburg 3rd and 4th Grade Coach, Eddie Jones, explained “On offense, we made some changes and we showed some improvements. We still had a few costly turnovers that kept us out of the end zone but were able to score twice and get the win. We just keep improving each week which is what we want to see. Easton Overbey had a 20-yard TD run to make it 6-0 and RJ Young had a 50-yard TD run with Overbey making the two-point conversion to give us a big 14-0 win.”
The Dragons 5th and 6th Grade started off their game with a handicap of 10 players. West Fork agreed to play 10 on 10 against Mountainburg so that both programs could still get plays in and continue their goal of growth. Both teams battled tooth and nail against each other, but West Fork had the numbers advantage and was able to substitute players while giving others a rest. Mountainburg played the 10 they had without rest and was still able to make it into one heck of a game. The Dragons showed plenty of heart and determination but eventually fell 20-6 to the Tigers.
“It was like a proud dad moment for us coaches,” expressed 5th and 6th Grade Coach, Matt Byron. “We had a couple stand out kid performances, but when you’re playing 10 on their whole team and it takes them until the last three minutes to beat you, you can’t be anything but pleased with the TEAM performance.”
Mountainburg still holds positions in the WCFL Playoffs with only two games left in the regular season. The first of those two games will be against the Pirates on Saturday, October 12th. Mountainburg knows they can hold their own against anyone and will sharpen their teeth and talons to prepare for their big trip to Greenland in hope of more victories.
