RNN Sports: Stone Cold Lock Of The Week: Playoffs Round 3

Another week another set of predictions, hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving!

The “turn-your-stuff-in” monster visited more teams this last week, with it’s closest visits being Fort Smith Southside and Charleston. Southside went into overtime against Fayetteville ending their best season in several years. Charleston saw their defense of their 2022 Class 3A State Championship fall short against Bismarck.

RNN Stone Cold Lock Of The Week

Mansfield @ Salem

Pulaski Academy @ Greenwood

Ok folks, here’s the deal. Looking at common opponents of Salem and Mansfield this looks like it could be a close game. The other side of the coin is Pulaski Academy traveling to Greenwood. You know when there is an actual rivalry the teams trade wins and the series is tied or close, THAT is what the Bruins vs the Bulldogs brings. Grab you another ham or turkey sammich and sit in your comfy chair and read along this journey with us. Are you good and situated? Ok, here…. we… go…

Mansfield is taking the long trek to Salem, Arkansas. Ever heard of Salem? Any idea of where it is? I certainly did not until we played travel football in 2018. Get to Mountain Home and go just a bit more east. It is a long drive and thank goodness it is the day after Thanksgiving. Salem has run through the regular season, going 11-0 averaging 42 points a game. Although, when you start to peel back the layers you begin to see they did play in a weak conference this year. It happens, talent comes in cycles for some schools. I did know in the preseason, that if Salem was going to make a run this was going to be the year and they fulfilled that expectation. Mansfield on the other sideline came out hot on the season knocking down teams like the trees that end up at the Mill in the middle of town, until they had a close loss to Charleston and then the Booneville buzzsaw. Here we are, two teams that have put up similar points and have tough defenses. When I saw the bracket and what the possibilities could be I got really interested in this match-up. I was gladly wrong last week in thinking Hoxie was going to be too much for the Tigers. I am going the same way again for superstitions sake. Salem makes the Semi-Finals in Class 3A.

Greenwood and Pulaski…. Two of the most storied programs in this century in the state of Arkansas. Greenwood for its ability to be consistent year after year, it’s their 8th consecutive visit to the Semi-Finals with only 2019 not resulting in a visit to War Memorial. Pulaski Academy gained national fame for the unreal numbers they put up in passing yards and being the team that uses analytics to determine 4th downs and kickoffs. Greenwood has 10 State Championships to Pulaski’s 11. The series record sits at 4-3 with Greenwood having the slim advantage. It may not have the appeal of say a Northside-Southside or Charleston-Lavaca rivalry, but this is two teams that have been chasing each other for a lot of years. In the last meeting on Week 9, the Bulldogs won 58-33 forcing 5 turnovers and making the Bruins punt a few times. Last week, Greenwood handled the talented upstart Mountain Home Bombers, while Pulaski Academy needed a last second Hail Mary for a touchdown to win the game against Marion. Do not let the previous win or their record fool you, this is still Pulaski Academy and they also know how to make the trip to the State Championship. Whoever has the ball last will for sure be the winner. With Booneville and Mansfield out of town, if you want to get your fill of a great football game after watching Missouri and Arkansas in their “Rivalry” game. Come on out to Smith-Robinson.

The Rest

Booneville @ Camden Harmony Grove

When looking at Playoff match-ups, you tend to look at who the common opponents are. For Booneville and Camden Harmony Grove it does not take long to see they both played Harding Academy and Drew Central. In both cases it leans heavily that Booneville had a better game against both teams, but! Games are not played on paper. The tradition at Booneville will carry them far with a possible Semi-Final showdown against Glen Rose looming. Booneville rolls on but it will be close.

Ozark @ Warren

In class 4A Ozark is a perennial contender, but so are the Lumberjacks of Warren. Warren has a Freshman QB that will be making noise for the next few years as well as their receivers. Think of any good Razorback receiver in the past 23 years and more than likely it was a Warren product. Jarius Wright, Treylon Burks, Chris Gragg, and Greg Childs all hail from the proclaimed Recieversville. The Hillbillies have handled tough offenses before, but this one may just be too much.