The Battle of Highway 71 has been a rivalry staple in the area for decades. Unfortunately, Waldron has seen the short side of the stick more often than not. Going into last Friday’s game against Mansfield, the Bulldogs had only won two of those games since 2006. That was then though, and this is now. With the Bulldogs playing with a new head coach and a new attitude, they were ready to give back some of what the Tigers had handed them over the years. And boy did they. With a final blow-out score of 41-0, Waldron sits undefeated in 2-0 in total season play.
For senior night, the Bulldogs completed 230 offensive yards and 93 defensive yards. When it came to interceptions, Braden Williams earned 2, and Caden Fuller, Trevor Hunt, and Bryson Barker each walked away with 1. Matthew Tegtmeyer was the leading tackler with 7. Williams completed 7/8 passes for 111-yards. Isaac “The Real” Villarreal was the leading receiver in the match with 2 receptions for 73-yards and 2 TDs. Bryson Bailey secured 2 passes and 2 TDs. Fuller also scored 2 passes as well as a TD. And Matt Brigance had the last TD by rushing.
Coach, Doug Powell had this to say about hitting the jackpot. “I felt good going into the game. I thought that we would be in good shape as long as we executed our assignments. We felt like we had a good concept of what they wanted to do, and a scheme to use against it. The guys did a great job executing and as a result, we made some big plays. The biggest thing to keep Mansfield from scoring was great tackling. The first guy did a good job staying wrapped up and the second guy helped limit additional yards.”
The Waldron Bulldogs not only beat their Scott County rivals but also matched their win total from last season with the victory over Mansfield. It may take a while for the rest of the state to notice, but Waldron football is on the rise and with other teams in the Bulldogs conference struggling in non-conference play, Waldron could be poised to make some noise in 2020. The Bulldogs will have this week to rest up before hosting the Atkins Devils on September 18th.
The Mansfield Jr High Lady Tigers are only a small portion of the way into their volleyball season and yet already finding their footing very nicely in the 2A. With a roster as jam-packed with talent as the Jr Lady Tigers, there’s only one way to go, and that’s up. Last week Mansfield went one-on-one with non-conference rivals, the Waldron Jr Lady Bulldogs as well as fellow conference competitors the Lavaca Jr Lady Arrows.
#6 Harlie Fuller
After taking the 2-0 “Dub” in their match with Waldron, the Jr Lady Tigers walked away with final set scores of 25-16 and 26-24. Cole Smith completed the game with 6 aces, 4 kills, 5 assists, and 1 dig. Harlie Fuller hauled in 4 aces, 9 assists, and 1 dig. Kaylee Ward captured 2 aces, 4 kills, 2 blocks, and 1 dig. Alyson Edwards landed 7 kills, 1 block, and 4 digs. Kynslee Ward pocketed 1 ace, 2 kills, and 5 digs. And Rachel Johnson raked in 4 aces, 2 kills, and 3 digs.
#12 Rachel Johnson and #23 Alyson Edwards
To close out the week, Mansfield unshackled any restraint they might have had and let loose on Lavaca leaving the Lady Tigers holding a 4-0 record. Cole Smith finished with 4 aces, 1 kill, and 11 assists. Harlie Fuller yielded 1 ace, 11 assists, and 2 digs. Kaylee Ward generated 5 aces, 6 kills, and 1 dig. Alyson Edwards rustled-up 2 aces, 8 kills, 1 block, and 6 digs. Kynslee Ward procured 2 aces, 8 kills, and 5 digs. Rachel Johnson nabbed 1 ace, 3 kills, and 8 digs. And Trinity Triska corralled 3 digs.
#20 Cole Smith
“The Jr girls continue to play with tons of excitement and energy,” expressed coach, Kaylie Pyles. “They always come to the game and give everything they have. We still need to continue to work on talking more on the court, but each week we get better!” This week, the Mansfield Jr Lady Tigers will focus on their away conference match with the Lady Warriors of Life Way Christian on Thursday, September, 11 at 4:30 pm.
Easy come and easy go. That is how the first two games of the season have gone for the Mansfield Sr Tigers. In Week Zero, they put a thumping on the Magazine Rattlers 41-0 for their season opener. But as fate would have it, they would turn around and get drilled by Waldron last Friday in a 41-0 loss to the Bulldogs. With the highs and lows of two games, it’s hard to tell where the Tigers sit. But rest assured they are working hard to improve.
The Sr Tigers ended their match against the Bulldogs with 109 total yards. QB, Zayne Dugan, catapulted 6 passes for 43-yards while Codi Chick obtained 1 10-yard pass. In rushing yards, you had Shawn Brown with 34, Randy Claude with 15, Tyler Woolbright with 8, and Dugan with 4. And in the receiving department, Austin Carlton earned 3 for 23-yards, Chick netted 3 for 21-yards, and Claude acquired 1 for 9-yards.
“We went into this game pretty healthy with no injuries,” stated coach, Tim Cothran. “And Randy Claude and Bri Sanderson played really well against Waldron.” With a scrimmage and two nonconference games down and one to go, the Mansfield Sr Tigers aren’t laying down yet. The Tigers knew the obstacles that laid ahead of them with their non-conference schedule and prepared for a fight anyhow.
After facing two 4A programs like the annual powerhouse Mena Bearcats and an up-n-coming Waldron Bulldogs team, the Tigers have but one 4A non-conference game left….Elkins. “If we have played Elkins, it has been a while. On film, they are a good looking, physical team. Hopefully, the one thing that we have nailed down by this Friday, is that our receivers know their routes.” Mansfield will have their chins up and chest out ready to host the ever daunting Elks this Friday, September, 11.
There is nothing like sitting on the porch on a hot, sunny summer day with a chilled glass of good Arkansas sweet tea, something we take for granted today. Not many years ago, obtaining a refreshing, cold drink was something reserved for special occasions. Until the early 1900’s, the only ice available was natural ice that was shipped from the frozen North at great expense.
In the early 1900’s, American’s found they could manufacture ice using compressed gasses and refrigeration. Nearly every town built one of the new factories created to supply this delicacy. In 1888, Dardanelle became the first town in the state to have an ice plant. By 1920, 4,800 of them existed in the U.S. and towns throughout the River Valley had plants that supplied ice.
The huge plants took local water supply, froze it into 300 pound blocks measuring four foot long, two foot wide, and one foot thick. Employees used tongs to hoist these huge blocks of ice onto wagons which delivered the ice to local businesses and homes.
Ice companies supplied local customers with a four sided triangle with numbers the size of the block of ice needed; 25, 50, 75, or 100 pounds. Customers placed the sign with the amount needed on the upper side and the iceman would cut off the desired amount of ice and leave it in the icebox. These iceboxes were zinc lined, insulated boxes that would preserve the ice for a length of time. They usually had a pan in the bottom to collect the water as the ice melted. Stores had ice boxes in which they placed delicious R.C., Dr. Pepper, and Coca-Cola bottles so they were icy cold when one had a nickel available to purchase one.
Most rural stores had a large icebox located beside the store. The merchants would purchase hundreds of pounds of ice and locals would visit the stores and purchase the amount needed to keep their food cool in the “iceboxes.” Ice was considered a delicacy. In the summertime, children would run behind the deliveryman begging for a sliver of ice, the only cool thing available because there was no air conditioning.
By the 1930’s, refrigerators that produced ice were available for areas served by electricity but the “ice plants” still served rural areas. I can still remember purchasing ice in the 1960’s from Woodard Mosely of Midway. He would open up the huge ice building on a hot day and a chill breeze would roll out the door. Taking his pick, he would hack off a big chunk of the crystal clear ice, small pieces flying in every direction. Wrapping the ice in heavy cloth, we dumped it into our chest and headed to Aunt Sade’s home for a special night. All my Moore relatives were in from up north. They all sang and were skilled musicians. Family sat on the front porch rocking as night fell. Lightning bugs lit the night and the air was filled with the sweet sounds of the guitar, mandolin, and fiddle. The ice we bought that day was salted and dropped around the container containing the sweet mixture when my Uncle Danny and I got through turning the churn. Ice plants are a thing of the past. Some have been torn down, several have become local restaurants, a few preserved as historical sites. Now, I get my ice from the refrigerator and have sweet memories of cool people, cool times, and the cool history of our ice plants.
As the annual observance of the anniversary of the terrorists attacks on New York City, Washington, DC, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania that occurred September 11, 2001, this year’s observance may feel a little different to our readers. While our nation struggles with a current tragedy of a pandemic that has killed thousands of Americans, we take a moment to reflect back on the 2001 attacks and attempt to put it all in perspective with our current tragedy and how it all relates to the sports world.
It may seem trivial to include sports in this story, but, after all, I am a sports writer, and part of my responsibility is to report on everything sports, although it may feel completely insignificant when compared to tragedies that have and are currently affecting our country.
On the day of the attacks, I was employed as a school superintendent in a north Arkansas school district, and I remember immediately being concerned about where our school buses were at the time, including those carrying football teams to various parts of the state for afternoon and evening games. In the aftermath of the attacks, I remember things like insurance companies getting out of the business of insuring schools and other governmental buildings and having to find new insurance carriers for our school campuses. I also remember gasoline prices spiking at a rapid rate throughout the day, and the anger I felt feeling that there was no reason for this and that stations were price gouging people at the most inopportune time and upsetting moments. Its strange what you remember.
But where does sports fit into all of this? Perhaps the reasons are not clear because it is hard to justify sports when people are dying and under attack. In 2001, we were under terrorist attack, and in 2020, we are under the attack of a virus…another terrorist attack? Who knows. I don’t want to fuel any conspiracy theories, but the idea has surfaced from time to time.
College football fans at a Georgia Tech football game during the 1918 pandemic. Fans are seen wearing masks, but not using social distancing. (Photo Credit: SI.com)
In a story that Resident Press published last month, I mentioned that we as a nation “have been down this road before.” History repeats itself, and it holds true for the sport world and times of tragedy in our country. During the 1919 pandemic, President Roosevelt felt that sports were necessary for the mental health of our nation. And that thought has held true many times, and through many tragedies.
Following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, traditional sporting events such as the annual Army – Navy football game were played after much debate. Closer to home, the annual Texas vs. Texas A&M football game, usually played on Thanksgiving Day, and featured that year a Texas team that would eventually win the national championship, was played. In short, life went on, and sports were there to provide momentary periods of relief from the stress of the tragedies we have faced.
1963 Army – Navy Game Played After Assassination of President Kennedy (Photo Credit: NY Daily News)
As a college student at the University of Arkansas in the late 1970s, I remember the Iran hostage crisis where members of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran were taken hostage and held for months. Their captivity was the lead news story every night. Americans rallied at home, designating yellow ribbons as a sign of remembering those who were being held hostage. But sports continued, and that year, the Superdome in New Orleans, site of the Super Bowl that year, was adorned with big yellow ribbons. The Oakland Raiders defeated the Philadelphia Eagles, but few people outside of those cities remember who won the game. But sports continued and the game was a temporary diversion from the crisis for all Americans.
Following the 9/11 attacks, sports continued, and ironically, in a year of renewed American patriotism, the New England Patriots came back to win the Super Bowl that year. Again, few people remember who won the game, but many remember life moving forward with the playing of the Super Bowl that year. So, its not just the sports, its the solace that life is moving on with some sense of normality.
Turn the page to 2020, and the United States along with many other nations of the world find themselves fighting another crisis, another tragedy. And sports are there for the American people. It has always been a controversial decision to continue sports during times of national emergency. In events past, it has been the dignity of those involved, and the question of do sporting events trivialize what has occurred, especially in times of death. In 2020, there is a different twist. We have a virus that has the potential to affect everyone. And the athletes that are playing are making the decision to play and are weighing the risks associated with playing.
Resident Press File Photo
But regardless where you stand on whether sports should or should not be played, it is hard to argue, at least with past events, that sports have not been a welcomed diversion from the constant bad news and press coverage of those terrible events.
It has now been almost twenty years since the attacks of 2001. It’s hard to believe that it has been that long. To those of us who remember that day, we will never forget it and it will always seem like it happened just yesterday. We now have a generation of students in our schools who were born after the attacks of September 11. The post-9/11 world is the only world our children have ever known. And that in itself is a tragedy.
We tend to idolize our sports heroes. We need our “sports fix”, and thus we have college and professional sports that are preparing for seasons like none others in the past. I suggest that our real heroes have been the first responders of not only the 9/11 attacks, but each and every day they are here for us. They protect us and they come to our rescue when we need them the most. And on one editorial note…how in the world can we ever think of taking away their financial resources to do their jobs? Can you imagine New York City in 2001, if a badly de-funded New York Police Department had been left with responding to a tragedy the size of the 9/11 attacks? How can this be? Crisis call for cool-headed leadership and the coming together of all Americans. I pray for our nation that all people in our great country will be able to come together at some point to find a solution that is fair to everyone and protects the needs and interests of all people.
So, around Arkansas this coming Friday night, high school football games will be played on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The home school bands will play the national anthem as they always do. But this year, that anthem on that day, will and should have a profound effect on all of us in attendance. We have much to reflect on with the 9/11 attacks, and the current crisis that affects our nation today. But wherever you fall on the political spectrum, we are all Americans, and we all have much to contemplate. We have many to thank, both on 9/11 and today. There have been so many victims of all of these attacks, and we must never forget them.
How does a team show that they are prepared for moving up into a larger conference? Well, for starters you have to make a big impression. So the Hornets made their first case with a win…..a BIG win……and they did it out of the state to top things off. Making an impression is exactly what the Hackett Hornets did last Friday as they cruised past the Pocola Indians 68-42.
With their offensive perceptiveness, the Sr Hornets were on top of their game the entirety of the match. Avery Hester delivered 13/20 passes for 371-yards and 4 TDs. Weston Winters obtained 26 carries for 130-yards and 4 touchdowns. Peyton Hester landed 10 catches for 277-yards and 3 TDs. Fischer Shipman got his hands on 3 catches for 88-yards. And Logan Slavens pocketed 2 catches for 44-yards and 1 TD.
Flying high on the defensive radar was Peyton Hester with 8 tackles, Weston Winters collecting 7 solo tackles and 1 assist. Fischer Shipman who latched onto 5 solo tackles and 2 Int. And Avery Hester who incurred 3 solo tackles and 1 Int returned for a TD. “The Indians were for sure a lot better than last year,” explained coach, Michael Meador. “Compared to last season, Pocola’s offense was a lot better and gave us some problems. Fortunately, our whole team was healthy and intact not facing any adversity going into this game. We had a lot of great plays during this battle. Our offensive line dominated most of the game. They did a great job protecting our QB as well as opening up holes in the run game.Avery Hester picked off a ball and returned for a TD. Weston Winters has several really big runs. Fischer Shipman went up and caught a deep ball over one of their defenders.”
With the Hornets season starting things off like this, their conference had better start planning ASAP. Hackett may be moving up, but they’re already showing where they belong. The Hornets will double down on Oklahoma programs this Friday as they host the Razorbacks of Panama on September 11. “Last year, the Panama game was a really competitive game and a big win for us. It gave us momentum for the rest of the season. We expect a competitive game just like last year. It will be a great atmosphere. Panama has some size and their QB is a really tough runner. We will have to be able to stop their run game. We need to continue to get better. And we believe we will continue to get better.”
On September 7, the Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce announced the 2020 Physician of the Year, Dr. Lee Johnson.
“I was surprised and honored by the recognition,” shared Johnson. “It was unexpected and much appreciated. I’m grateful to the Fort Smith Chamber for all they do to support the healthcare industry in the River Valley. We’re fortunate to have so many great healthcare workers in our region. There is no place I’d rather work and live. Truly blessed.”
The award is based on the physician’s community commitment and contributions. Johnson currently serves as an ER physician and as EMS Medical Director.
Johnson and his wife Dr. Jennifer Johnson have three children, and are proud to call Greenwood home. Johnson volunteers within the school district, serving as a physician for the Greenwood Bulldogs Athletics Program.
Johnson also serves as State Representative for District 75, which includes portions of Sebastian and Crawford Counties. For the 92nd General Assembly, Representative Johnson serves on the House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee and the House City, County and Local Affairs Committee.
Johnson graduated with his M.D. from the University of Arkansas Medical School. He also attended Hendrix College where he graduated with his Bachelor of Arts. He attended Boy’s State while he attended Greenwood High School. Rep. Johnson was previously elected to the Greenwood City Council from 2008 to 2018. He has also served on the State Board of Health.
The Cedarville Pirates have historically had a rough time with their over the mountain 2A rivals. The Pirates have only successfully taken the coveted Treasure Chest from the Dragons Den of Mountainburg three times in the past ten years. With lightning, thunder, and Dragons fire in their face, the Pirates were facing insurmountable odds last Friday night. But the tides are beginning to shift in Cedarville’s favor as the program inches closer to becoming a titan of the gridiron seas. The Pirates and Dragons game ended late in the third quarter after being called due to lightning. Even with an early closing time, Cedarville was still able to secure the victory chest with a final score of 34-6.
Offensively, Darryl Kattich stayed cool as a cucumber while overpowering and outplaying the Dragons. He finished with 21 carries for 163-yards and 3 TDs and 1 reception for an 18-yard TD. Hayden Partain torpedoed through the Mountainburg defense to secure 12 carries for 58-yards and one TD. Cody Dickens left his mark on the Dragons field of dreams with 4/9 passes for 68-yards and one TD. And Lane Hightower electrified with an out of this world interception. During the course of this game, Cedarville held Mountainburg to 97-yards of total offense.
#35 Hayden Partain
Defensively for the Pirates, Hayden Partain and Hayden Morton muscled their way pass every Dragon to gain 10 tackles each. Max McGill took the plunge to gain 9 tackles. Darryl Kattich and Landon Hopewell each produced 7 forced fumbles. And Lane Hightower got his hands on one interception and 6 tackles.
With the Pirates sitting atop their treasure plundering of the Dragons for the second straight year, their sails are full of momentum. After back to back dominating performances and only one non-conference game left, Cedarville continues to be the team to beat in the 3A-1. Cedarville will welcome the Green Forest Tigers on Friday, September 11, and will be waxing their Pirate ship plank in preparation for yet another victim to add in their sea of success.
#22 Darryl Kattich and #62 Taylor Humble
Photos courtesy of Malinda Mizell and Rhonda Ridgway
This online, introductory program will help you identify venomous and non-venomous snakes native to Arkansas, using features other than pupil and head shape. You’ll also learn about the ecological importance of snakes and environmental threats to reptiles and amphibians. Learning to identify snakes in Arkansas and learning thier importance can shed new light on this often misunderstood group of reptiles.
This event is for suitable for kids and adults of all ages.
Turkey Track’s 43rd annual harvest time bluegrass festival is just a month away, and boasts musical talent from artists such as Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, Joe Hott, and of course, the Turkey Track Band.
The event takes places 10 miles southeast of Waldron, and draws large crowds both young and old.
It was recently announced that Mansfield would be cancelling their bluegrass festival, which was slated for September, due to COVID-19.
Promoter Linda Lovett stated “We are having the festival and we don’t have our (COVID-19) precautions finalized at this time.” Lovett added that there would be a plan in place just before the festival begins.
