Illness was definitely the sixth man in last night’s battle between the Mansfield Jr High Tigers and the Elkins Elks. The Tigers got hammered by sickness leaving six players out including one starter and causing three players to compete while feeling under the weather. Wading through all the muck, the Tigers kept a brave face and played to the best of their ability. Mansfield finished the night taking a 38-23 loss but they proved that every player is ready at the word Go to step up and help carry their team.
Clint Stovall drew in 14 points for his team while Drew Elmore followed with nine. The Tigers won’t get much time to rest and recuperate before hitting the hardwood again. On Tuesday, February 4, Mansfield will host the Greenland Pirates. The last time these two teams went toe-to-toe, the Pirates gained the upper hand. But this time around, the Tigers get home-court advantage and you better believe that these guests won’t be getting fresh hand towels, pretty little soaps, or valet parking. Instead, they will be getting plenty of buckets over their heads.
WHAT A SEASON!!!! The Waldron Sr High Lady Bulldogs have really banded together this year to make great things happen. The “Epic Eight” are coming off of back-to-back wins and with this much-needed confidence booster, things are only going to get better from here. After sending the Mansfield Lady Tigers packing with a score of 61-46 at the beginning of the week, the Lady Bulldogs took home a huge road win on Thursday, January 30 against the Cedarville Lady Pirates 39-21.
The Lady Bulldogs saw a slow start to the game with a score of 17-14 at the half but came back to set the court ablaze by shutting down the Lady Pirates both offensively and defensively. Rheagan Sanford and Chelsea Stidman tied in scoring and rebounds with each bringing in 13 points and seven rebounds. Hailey Stidman earned six points and led with 11 rebounds. Jessica Ozuna and Molly Richmond netted three points apiece along with two rebounds each. Kadance Espinoza snagged five rebounds. And Summer Imperiali obtained one and one in points and rebounds.
With this victory, Waldron moves to 10-13 on their season which is the first time since 2011 that they have hit double-digit wins. The Lady Bulldogs are currently sitting at 4-6 in conference play which puts them smack dab in the middle of their 3A-1 division. Cedarville, Mansfield, and Greenland are seeded underneath the Lady Bulldogs while Charleston, Elkins, Lincoln, and West Fork are at the top.
To kick off the upcoming week, the Lady Bulldogs will attempt to take the Lincoln Lady Wolves to the cleaners on February 4. Lincoln sits 7-3 in conference play and although the last time Waldron faced the Lady Wolves they took a loss, this time around Lincoln comes to the Lady Bulldogs territory and they aren’t too keen on letting strangers run their home court.
After losing Jonathon Bates to his alma matter at Jessieville, the Waldron Bulldogs football program was in search of not only a new coach but a new overall outlook for the Bulldogs program. With top-notch athletic facilities, an overflowing talent pool, and a fan base “rabid” about their Bulldogs, Waldron is a coach’s gold mine. Well, they found the man for the job in former Magazine Head Coach Doug Powell. A gold mine isn’t what Powell is coming to town for though. He’s coming to make boys into young men and to put Waldron Football back on the map.
When Doug Powell graduated from college, he had one thing on his mind. Coaching. As a player himself, he had an absolute pure passion for the game of football. But unlike many “wannabe” armchair quarterback coaches, Powell was a natural and was quite good at the job. His goal was to coach at one of three high schools. Mansfield, Magazine, and Waldron. Well, Magazine can be checked off that list as Powell helped the program back to prominence. Now with Powell being the official Head Football Coach of the Waldron Bulldogs, Mansfield can be marked off his list too because in Powell’s own words “they’ll have to drag me out of Waldron.”
But why would Waldron be a haven for Coach Powell? The Bulldogs have struggled over the past few years in the heavyweight loaded 4A-4 Conference. Waldron has only won 14 games since 2012. Teams like Ozark, Mena, Dardanelle, and others have the odds stacked against the Bulldogs. That may ring true to many folks, but not to Powell. “I have always been drawn to Waldron,” Powell said. “Sure, historically Waldron has been a tough place to be successful for coaches due to the laundry list of stellar opponents. But as much talent as those teams have, we have as much if not more talent here. We have a fan base that is not only faithful, but they downright love Bulldog football. Waldron literally has all a coach could want”.
Powell knows all about challenges and how to face those challenges head-on to be successful. While Coaching at Magazine, Powell was able to take the Rattlers from being what was an automatic win for opponents to being a year in year out State Playoff contender. He was able to do that by his work ethic, personality, and by holding himself to the same standards he holds his players to. Powell is well known for his calm demeanor and for being a straight shooter with his players and community. Although winning is key to Powell, he doesn’t look for just championship gold. He aims to build well rounded young men to send out into the world. “We have to have players who are more than just athletes. Their grades, influence on fellow students, respect for others, and image in the community must always be positive. Those aspects bleed into the players and program to make us even stronger.”
When it comes to football though, Powell’s philosophy is pretty cut and dry. “It all boils down to a desire from the players who are self-disciplined, selfless, and hard workers who are willing to buy into the system. Having talent is just a bonus,” said Powell. “You don’t have to have a super talented roster. I want a team full of blue-collar hard-working young adults. Players who clock in at practice/games, work their tails off, then clock out when it’s over. Don’t get me wrong, I love flashy talent. But a hard-working player with minimal talent will beat a talented but lazy player every time. Â
Powell believes a program is more than the Senior High team. “It all starts in Little League,” says Powell. “Our little guys are the seeds that we will grow from over the years. We have to be a complete program from top to bottom. We have to get our players buying into what we do as early as possible and make sure we let them know that they are just as important as their Senior High counterparts. Every level needs to be looked at as equal Bulldogs no matter their age.“
We all know the old saying that Rome wasn’t built in a day. The Bulldogs have the same kind of work to be done. Powell has already spoken to some of the Bulldog players and has promised them that he will give every single ounce of effort, work, and “Powell Power” he has to them and the Waldron faithful. Powell has dreamt of this opportunity and knows what hurdles lie ahead. Just remember, these are hurdles, not mountains. Bulldogs Head Coach Doug Powell has the blueprints spread out and his hammer in hand. So the only question is, who’s ready to pick up their hammers to help him build Waldron Football into the Rome it’s meant to be?
1638. That’s the number of points that the Waldron Sr High Bulldogs have pulled in so far this basketball season. On Thursday, January 30, the Bulldogs strolled into Cedarville with not a care in the world. Waldron has been nearly untouchable all year and from the looks of things at this point, there is really only one conference opponent who has posed a problem to the Bulldogs and that is the (9-0) Charleston Tigers.
Thursday night made the fifth victory in a row for the Bulldogs as they sunk the Pirates 65-38. With this huge road win, Waldron moves to 20-4 on the season and 9-1 in conference play. This is the first time in a long time that the Bulldogs have seen this kind of success. “We still have work to do but I’m super proud of our guys for battling through some adversities against Cedarville and finding their way to win on the road. We are now preparing to play three of our last four conference games at home,” stated Coach Joshua Brown.
The Big Bulldog Kahuna for this battle was Braden Williams who outscored his team with 22 points. Payton Brown secured 19 points. Isaac “The Real” Villarreal brought in 10 points. Jacob Avila and Gada Wagner netted four points each. And Ruben Valdez, Jaden Hutchens, and Caden Fuller snagged two points apiece. On February, 4, the Bulldogs will host the Lincoln Wolves. The Wolves are 2-8 in conference play and 4-16 on the season. In the first conference face-off between these two teams, the Bulldogs brought in an 85-71 victory.
Playing on the road and seemingly over-matched, the Two Rivers junior Gators and Lady Gators visited Paris for a junior high conference match-up. Two Rivers, who recently moved most or all of their freshmen players from their junior high team to the varsity, played the Lady Eagles with a predominantly eighth grade team. The result, as expected, was a lopsided win for Paris in a game in which the Lady Eagles mass-substituted early in the game. The Lady Eagles defeated Two Rivers 37-16.
Paris coach Dustin Williams said after the game, “We were up 33-5 when we pulled the starters. I am proud that everyone was able to get some good minutes and reps. This team is really coming together heading into the last week of the regular season. They are 9-1 in January.” With the win, the Lady Eagles moved to 14-4 on the season.
Brailey Forst and Jayden Wells led the Lady Eagles with 15 points each. Annabelle Perry, Kirsten Shelton, Kara Sanders, and Emily Patterson each had 2 points.
In another mismatch, the Paris Junior Eagles defeated Two Rivers by the score of 48-23. The Eagles were able to play a lot of players off the bench, resting their starters for the stretch run of the conference schedule and the upcoming junior district tournament. Paris coach Mike Foster commented, “It was a game everybody got to play in so it was fun for all of our players.” Paris was led by Jesse Wells with 12 points. Matthew Mainer had 11 points and 6 rebounds for the Eagles. With the win, Paris improved their record to 16-5.
Preceding last night’s game was the news that tonight’s games versus Perryville were postponed due to the flu outbreak in Perryville. Although no team wants an interruption in the schedule during the season, the news came as welcomed news to Paris as their junior teams were scheduled to play back-to-back games against Two Rivers and Perryville on Thursday and Friday nights. That is not unusual in scheduling, but at this point in the season, all teams are a little fatigued and nicked up with nagging injuries that have been accumulating throughout the season. The rescheduled games with Perryville gives both the junior and senior high Eagles and Lady Eagles teams the night off, as well as the weekend off, and is a welcomed rest opportunity going into the last week of the season and the post-season tournaments to follow. Paris fans hope that for their players’ health, as well as its effect on the teams going into tournament play, that the flu bug stays away from Paris.
The junior high district tournament will be played at Perryville High School. We now know that the tournament will open on Saturday, February 8. The tournament will continue on Monday, February 10, and the finals will be held on Thursday, February 13. The times and opponents for the Eagles and Lady Eagles will be determined after the final order of finish in the conference is determined after next week’s conference games. As soon as this information is known, Resident Press will publish it for all of our readers.
The re-scheduled games with Perryville will be made up in Paris on Valentine’s Day, February 14. It will follow the conclusion of the junior high district tournament, and could potentially be the first game for freshman to be added to the rosters of the Eagles and Lady Eagles varsity teams. The Perryville game could be a preview of the teams as they head into senior district tournament the following week.
So, for Paris, it is now a matter of rest, healing, and prevention from the flu and other viruses that seem to be circulating in many of the communities surrounding Paris. The unexpected break in the schedule has come at a good time for the Eagles as next week’s games and those to follow in post-season play will be extremely important.
Next up for the the junior Eagles and Lady Eagles is a Monday, February 3 home game with Booneville. The senior high teams will travel to Booneville on Tuesday. Paris fans need to turn out in big numbers to support the junior and senior high teams in the critical last week of the conference season that will determine seeding in the conference tournaments.
With only a handful of players on their roster, the Magazine Sr High Lady Rattlers are more than holding their own in a 2A-4 conference overflowing with talent. On Tuesday, the Lady Rattlers took to the court to nail down some nets against the Lavaca Lady Arrows. Magazine pressed hard and gave it everything they had but in the end, Lavaca unfortunately pressed harder taking the 62-44 win. Junior forward, Kiara Vasquez led with 14 points followed by sophomore guard Kylie Robinson with 12.
Robinson recently obtained a school record of 43 total points for 5-on-5 gameplay. Ruth Ann Loyd currently holds the 6-on-6 school record of 56 points. As it stands now, the Lady Rattlers sit tied in conference play 4-3 with the Mountainburg Lady Dragons. Both teams are standing under Danville and Lavaca. In a go big or go home match-up, the Lady Rattlers and the Lady Dragons will face-off tonight, January 31 and Magazine is locked and loaded in trying to take the upper hand of their division.
On Friday, January 31, 2020, Scott County Sheriff Randy Shores advised of a death at the detention center. He released the following details:
“We have had an “in custody death” in the Scott County Detention Center which occurred on the afternoon of January 30, 2020. It is our standard procedure to request an independent review whenever an “in custody death” occurs, regardless of the circumstance. The Arkansas State Police is conducting that review. We take our responsibility for the well being of those we have in our custody very seriously and it is important to us, and to the family and loved ones of the deceased, that we determine exactly how and why this occurred. We will not be releasing any information or making any additional statements until Arkansas State Police Investigators have had an opportunity to complete their work. Until then any questions regarding this matter should be director to the Arkansas State Police.”
We will continue to follow this story, and provide more details as they are released.
The Mansfield Sr High Tigers decided to shake things up a bit in their gameplay against the Waldron Bulldogs on Tuesday, January 28. Although the Tigers fell 88-75, they made a drastic improvement since the first conference battle with their Bulldog rivals where they lost by 21 points. Closing the point gap to 13 this time around, Mansfield cleaned up their shots, became dominant with rebounds, and executed new moves for extra flavor.
Ethan Stovall
“It was an awesome game,” Head Coach, Keith Dake happily announced. “We got within seven points multiple times but never could complete the comeback. I’ve received a lot of positive feedback from the game and couldn’t be happier with the way the Tigers played!” Layton Howard laid claim to 19 points trailed by Codi Chick with 17, Ethan Stovall with 15, and Jojo Bailey with 14.
Jaicy Griffin
On Friday, January 31, the (7-10) Tigers will face the (19-3) Elks in Elkins. So far this season, Mansfield sits 3-6 in conference play with the Elks at 7-2. The Tigers are planning to bring the heat with them tonight and if the Elks aren’t careful, Mansfield will blow them right out of the kitchen.
After suffering four heartbreaking loses in their last four games, the Hackett Sr High Lady Hornets are feelin’ foot-loose and fancy-free. On Tuesday, January 28, in their second conference go-round with the Hector Lady Wildcats, the Lady Hornets took an exciting 38-33 win. In their first conference face-off with the Lady Wildcats, the Lady Hornets fell 35-28 so taking home this victory was just what the doctor had ordered to get their spirits soaring again.
Shayla Foster
Faith Thomas passionately led her team with 17 points. Madeline Freeman and Rain Vaughn each netted five. Jamye Durham brought in four. Autum Neal secured three. And Shayla Foster and Kandace Byrd grabbed two points apiece.“We had 14 steals as a team,” exclaimed Head Coach, Broc Adams. “I felt like it was one of our best all-around performances of the year! I’m proud of how much these girls have improved and have stuck with the process even though it’s been tough.”
Kandace Byrd
On Friday, January 31, the Lady Hornets will hit the court again, just time in Lavaca, to try and keep their winning momentum going. When these two teams first faced each other in conference play, the (6-2) Lady Arrows took the victory by a mere five points. This time though, the (1-7) Lady Hornets are prepared to lay down the law and shoot these Lady Arrows back to their quiver.
No quarter was left unturned as the Mansfield Sr High Lady Tigers went to battle with the Waldron Lady Bulldogs on Tuesday, January 28. With both teams evenly matched in speed and strength, the outcome was going to be determined solely on who could make the final push. The Lady Tigers led 15-14 at the end of the first quarter and the determination carried on into halftime with the Lady Bulldogs only leading by four.
Kiara Thomas
The Lady Tigers knew they would have to really band together and step up their game to compensate for being down a starter. Makayla Strutton had gotten a concussion after taking a fall in the Lincoln game days before so she was out for the game. But even facing this adversity, the Lady Tigers shined under pressure. Although they took a 61-46 loss against the Lady Bulldogs, they pushed through and delivered a top-notch showdown.
Danielle Lillie
Junior Danielle Lillie led the Lady Tigers in scoring with 26 points, five deflections, and three assists. Mikayla Harrison was second in points with eight. Sadie Roberts led the team with five steals along with two points. Brooke Wright and Amber Elmore led the team with four rebounds apiece with Wright also walking away with two blocked shots and Elmore securing one point. Haylee Helms and Sarah Fisher netted three points each. And combining for three points was Chloe Creekmore and Maia Crespo. Head Coach, Joshua Bryan had this to say about the game. “We worked our game plan well but multiple second-chance opportunities by Waldron kept them in the game and eventually overcame the Lady Tigers in the second half.”
Brooke Wright
Next up, Mansfield will travel to Elkins on Friday, January 31. Tonight is Elkins homecoming so after the Jr High plays, the Sr boys will be next with the Lady Tigers following last around 7:30 p.m.
