PARIS- After all of the winter off-season, spring football, summer workouts, and now, preseason practices in sweltering August heat, Arkansas high school football teams are set to kickoff the 2023 season on Friday, August 25.
Not all teams will open on “zero week” of the Arkansas Activities Association, but among River Valley schools who will play on August 25, Waldron will travel to Paris to take on the Eagles. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Eagles Stadium.
Waldron scored a decisive victory in the first of the two-game series last year in Waldron, winning by the score of 48-7. Several offensive turnovers by Paris in the second quarter of last year’s game spelled defeat for Paris in the season opener a year ago. The Eagles will be looking to correct those errors and get their new season off to a good start against a Waldron team that is guaranteed to play a competitive game every year. For both schools, the August 25 opener is extremely important to their success this year. Both schools play in tough conferences, and opportunities to win in the non-conference portions of their schedules are critical.
Waldron will enter the 2023 season with a new head coach: Cain White, formerly of Manila in Northeast Arkansas. White guided the Lions to a playoff win in 2021 and has set the goal of returning the Bulldogs to the playoffs for the first time since 2003 when they were in the 3A classification.
Offensively, Waldron will run the flex bone offense and will attempt to control the game and the game clock. A Waldron basketball point guard, Keegan Lynch, is expected to start at quarterback, and the Bulldogs will attempt to get the ball in space to their track athlete who possess 4.6 speed, Kason Davis. Davis is not the only basketball and / or track athlete that is expected to be a threat in the Bulldogs offense. Levi Brown, 4.5 speed, will be a threat to defensive secondaries from the receiver position.
Defensively, the Bulldogs will be relying on young talent from their junior high team a year ago. Logan Young, who will play fullback on offense in the Waldron flex bone, will also be a force on defense where he is expected to be a possible college prospect as a middle linebacker.
Waldron plays in the tough 4A-7 conference that includes Malvern (2022 4A state champions), Arkadelphia, Nashville, and Mena. Although there are only six teams in the conference and five will make the playoffs, the question becomes which team will Waldron defeat this year to qualify for the playoffs? A home game with Mena on October 13 could be the Bulldogs’ best opportunity to win in the conference and go to the playoffs as a five seed.
The Paris Eagles were 1-8 a year ago with their lone win at home against Two Rivers. The Eagles had one game forfeited on their schedule when the Danville Little Johns cancelled the remainder of their season. It was quite a drop for Paris who had won 21 games the previous two seasons, including a state quarterfinal appearance in 2020. But heavy graduation of both talent and numbers forced Paris into a rebuilding season in 2022 that will continue going into the 2023 season.
Paris dropped their season opener at Waldron by the score of 48-7 a year ago. Multiple offensive turnovers in the second quarter turned a small Paris lead into a route that ended up with the Eagles being down 35-7 going into halftime. But perhaps more significantly, the game seemed to set the tone for the rest of the season for Paris. This year, the return home game with the Bulldogs at Eagles Stadium is crucial for Paris to reverse the snowball effect from last year and create early season momentum that will need to carry forward into a tough non-conference match at Mansfield the next week, and the eventual start of conference play at Glen Rose on September 22.
Paris will add youth to critical areas of its defense this season to bolster areas such as the defensive line that were problematic for the Eagles last season. Sophomore Whitman Patton is an example of new size to the defensive line that could be an area of much-needed improvement this season. On offense, the Eagles have good “skill position” players, although they are fairly young and inexperienced. But some of the Eagles’ young skill players received playing time last year. Players such a Mason Ulrich (junior) are expected to be big factors this season.
The big key to victory for both teams will be to avoid turnovers that could allow the game to get out of hand. For Paris, the Eagles will have to avoid giving the Bulldogs and their offense short fields in which to score. As everyone knows, it is hard for all teams, no matter how good they are, to overcome multiple turnovers that give the opposition a short field to score. So, both teams must play clean games, free of turnovers to win. Paris will have the opportunity to perhaps score quickly and to put the Bulldogs’ offense in the position of having to come from behind with a ball control offense. But to do so, Paris must avoid turnovers and convert third downs into first downs to keep drives alive. Waldron will want to wear down the Eagles’ defense with their running game that can also break an explosive run with their running game and wide receivers. The team that can stay on the field offensively will have the best chance to win.
As the high school season moves along, watch for RNN Sports’ coverage every week on its website, social media, and in our print publications. Each week, we will preview the upcoming game in the RNN Logan / Franklin County Edition newspaper. Watch for our post-game coverage online every Sunday at residentnewsnetwork.com and on social media. On Friday nights you can catch all of the scores from around the region on our “Team Press Pass” page on Facebook!
Good luck to all of the River Valley schools, and all of us at RNN Sports look forward to seeing you at the stadium every Friday night!
