CHARLESTON- Synonymous with the state football playoffs is Charleston Tigers football. For over 40 consecutive years, the Charleston Tigers have qualified and played in the state playoffs. And on Friday, that streak will continue.

Alumni Field in Charleston will host a Class 3A state football playoff game this Friday. Kickoff against an opponent that, as of deadline time for this story was not known, is set for 7 p.m. More information on this game can be found on our website at residentnewsnetwork.com

RNN Sports will follow the Tigers in the 2023 state playoffs in defense of their 2022 state championship. Watch for updates in the RNN Logan County Edition weekly newspaper, as well as on our website and on social media. Action photos from the Tigers’ playoffs games will be posted on Facebook at Charleston Tigers Sports, as well as on our Facebook page at “Team Press Pass.”

We have talked about the youth and inexperience of this year’s Tigers team all season. But despite the massive change in personnel from last year’s senior-heavy team, head coach Ricky May and his staff have done an outstanding job in developing the young talent on the team and guiding them to runners-up finish in the 3A-1 conference. Charleston is a number two seed going into this week’s state playoffs.

Charleston will play a four seed from the 3A-6 conference on Friday. At deadline time, which was November 3, that opponent was not known. Depending on Week Ten game results in the 3A-6 conference, there were possibilities of the Tigers’ opponents being either Drew Central or Barton, among other possibilities. And like we shared earlier, by the time you read this story, that opponent will be known, and you can read more about them on our website.

Going into the Week Ten regular season games on November 3, the standings in the 3A-6 conference were:

Camden Harmony Grove 4-0

Fordyce 3-1

Rison 2-2

Barton 2-2

Drew Central 1-3

Hot Springs Lakeside 0-4

If the standings held as they are above, Rison would be the number three seed by virtue of their head-to-head win over Barton on October 27. In Week Ten games of significance in the conference, Barton was playing at home against conference leader Harmony Grove, and Rison was playing at Drew Central. The outcome of those games determined who Charleston will play on Friday. Go to our website to read a story on Friday’s opponent for Charleston in this Friday’s playoff game.

RNN Sports will be at Alumni Field on Friday, and we look forward to covering Charleston in the state playoffs! Good luck to Coach May and his staff, and all of the Charleston Tigers in this year’s state football playoffs!

Note to Our Readers: The following story was sourced directly and in its entirety from Mr. Glenn Parrish, Director of Communications, Booneville School District. Mr. Parrish is a RNN Sports contributor, and we thank him for sharing this story with our readers.

LITTLE ROCK- By 12:45 p.m. on most weekdays the members of the Booneville High School marching band are in their fifth period class.

At 12:45 p.m. on Tuesday band members were hitting the field at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock for a performance that would earn the first state title in school history.

That march, the one performed at halftime of most football games, is centered around a clock, and is actually named Clocks.

“The show is all about clocks, clockwork. The first (song) is just called the windup,” said Brian Rhodes. “Then the second one is by Coldplay called ‘Clocks’  which I got the rights to arrange and everything.

“The third part is two sections called Gears, which is a composition I wrote for concert band and after that we go into Time Unending, basically being back the beginning.”

“For the concept of the show we like to pick a song that our crowd can wrap their head around and enjoy, in this instance Coldplay’s Clocks, then he’ll write the rest of the show around that,” said Angela Rhodes. “That way the cost of licensing rights we can handle ourselves.”

“And a lot of people don’t know this but Mrs. Rhodes writes all the drills,” said Brian Rhodes.

It was in that aspect that the final march ends with what reflects the hands of the clock moving from 12:15 to 12:25, which is when Brian Rhodes tells is students to “pack it up” each day.

That, Brian Rhodes, said becomes a secret weapon in that the direc

tors know their kids and consequently their strengths.

The clock is also specific on the shirts the band and its supporters wear which shows 11:40, which is the start of the period that ends with the pack-it-up command.

At the end of Tuesday’s program, it was apparent to many in attendance who would be named the winner – band director Brian Rhodes said his son TJ, a BHS alum told him “that’s it.”

A bold statement considering the five time reigning Class 3A champion band from Fouke was in the field.

“From the field level I saw lots of little issues but then we saw the video from the pressbox and it looked real good. It was real solid,” said Brian Rhodes.

The scores reflected it. 

“A two point spread when you’re looking at hundredths of points,” said Brian Rhodes.

It was actually 2.1 more than second place Paris.

“I think when we were second in 2020 there was tenths of a point different,” said Angela Rhodes.

“During the announcement it was high visual and then high music and at that point we had to have the highest score,” said Brian Rhodes.

“I know it’s not realistic but inside my mind I was still thinking we have a first division, we have high visual, we have high music, but Fouke still won,” said Angela Rhodes.

There are 50 members in the band this year, only six of whom are seniors, and another seven who are juniors.

Leading the band onto the field was a sophomore, Cale Smith.

“It’s happened before,” Angela Rhodes said of the drum major being only a sophomore. “The tryouts just went his way and he did a really good job.”

The makings of a state title began with percussion and color guard camp led by specialists in July but it actually has even deeper roots.

“What I have said about the band this year, I tell my band directors since COVID every year I feel like I’m just starting over, they weren’t retaining ” said Brian Rhodes. “I felt like this year for the first time I taught them all these concepts and stuff in the spring and they remembered it.

“They showed up this year and they were ready to play. And I threw a lot of music at them this year.”

To qualify for the state march the band had to score a first division at a region competition, held at Fort Smith Northside.

“I told the band, you remember region, it was good, it got you in, but I did tell them good is the enemy of great,” said Brian Rhodes.

“They did it they stepped it up. The week and a half between region and state we got to nitpicking. Every day they brought the level up a little bit,” said Angela Rhodes. “They must have brought their best performance (Tuesday).”

Now they all have gold medallions for winning the state title.

Brian Rhodes was also complimentary of runner-up Paris, calling the top two placement a Logan County sweep.

Today Brian Rhodes said it had started to sink in, but Angela Rhodes said it was still kind of surreal.

LITTLE ROCK- All of the days of marching practice and rehearsals in the hot summer heat came to an end last week on a cold fall morning at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. The Paris Marching Eagles Band competed in the Arkansas ASBOA state marching contest along with other bands who also qualified to compete in the state event. And at the end of the cold morning in the Capitol City, the Paris band program reached a milestone by placing second in the state in Class 3A.

In fact, Logan County can now boast that it has the best two bands in Class 3A. The Booneville Bearcats band won the Class 3A state title on the same day, and when the two schools returned home, the state champions and state runners-up in Class 3A brought their titles back to western Arkansas and Logan County.

For Paris, this year’s band was composed of just three seniors: Jacy Varnell, Tomas Heavin, and Alex Reed. Those seniors led a band that included a lot of young players. And in finishing second in the state this year, the future for the Paris band program is as bright as the sunny day was last week during their state performance.

The Marching Eagles qualified for a berth in the state marching band competition by receiving a unanimous first division rating from three judges at the annual Region 8 marching assessment that was held earlier in the fall at Fort Smith Northside High School.

In Little Rock, the state contest was judged by judges from all over the nation. Paris earned a first division rating by scoring an 80 or higher on the BOA rules and rubric under a panel of six judges. In doing so, the band was awarded as silver medalists for the contest, meaning they were the second highest scoring band in Class 3A. Quite an accomplishment when compared to the outstanding 3A band programs in the River Valley and across Arkansas.

Paris was the first band to perform on the day of the contest. The band performed at 9:30 a.m., making it a very early start for the group of dedicated students and directors.

The band held a final practice in Paris the afternoon before leaving for Little Rock. After a short overnight stay in Little Rock, the band was at the stadium early on the day of the competition and began warm-up outside the stadium at approximately 8:30 a.m. Paris stepped onto the War Memorial turf at approximately 9:10 a.m. to begin setting up equipment and props for their performance.

Paris band director Matt Shewmaker and assistant director Jeremy Drymon, along with several band parents who made the trip to Little Rock, did a great job in supporting the band on their big day and state performance.

RNN Sports was in Little Rock last week to capture photos of the band’s day at the stadium. Photos from the band’s performance can be found on Facebook at Paris Eagles Sports.

Congratulations to the band and their directors on a job well done!