Note to Our Readers: The following story was sourced 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 bringing this story to our readers.
Booneville has crossed paths with a regular season opponent in postseason play several times. However, none of the previous second meetings has had as much as a rematch with Charleston, who the Bearcats will see Saturday night in War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock riding on it.
The winner is a state champion. For the Bearcats it would be the fifth, with the last being in 2018. For Charleston it would be the sixth and first since 2014.
Charleston won the first meeting, 42-14 over an undermanned Bearcat team on October 21. That eventually relegated the Bearcats to the Conference 3A-1 second seed in the playoffs.
In that game the Bearcats ran for 363 yards with seniors Trace Hall (11-114) and Cody Elliott (17-112) both surpassing the century mark. Peyton Tatum, another senior, added another 77 yards and would be the leading tackler.
First half Bearcat drives ended in a turnover on downs at the Charleston 15 and 22 and the Bearcats ran out of downs a third time at the Charleston 41 in the third quarter.
Following the first meeting the Bearcats have played in Lavaca, had a week 10 road game forfeited to them. In the playoffs the Bearcats opened at home against Junction City then hit the road.
A long and winding road.
Trips to Smackover, a two seed from the 3A-5, and to conference champions from the 3A-3 in Osceola, and the 3-2 in Melbourne resulted in wins that got the Bearcats to War Memorial Stadium for the Class 3A state title game.
Neither game against the 3A-5 schools was close but at Osceola the Bearcats stopped a fourth quarter two-point conversion in a one-point game before pulling out a two-score win, and at Melbourne last week it took a stop after a successful onside kick to turn away the Bearkatz for a five-point win.
Along the way both Hall and Elliott have surpassed the 1,000-yard rushing mark, and Dax Goff has topped the 2,000-yard mark as the Bearcat offense has run for 5,664 yards.
Since Oct. 21, Charleston has been away from home in week 10, at Lavaca, and last week at Rison, the 3A-6 champion. Other wins came at home against West Fork, who missed the playoffs, Gurdon, Centerpoint, and Newport.
None of those have been particularly close, except for a portion of the first half of the playoff opener.
That the schools finished first and second is of little surprise as they were picked that way, albeit in reverse, by coaches before the season and both were ranked among the contenders in virtually every preseason poll.
With three by the Bearcats and one each by Charleston and Greenland, the 3A-1 as a whole won five road playoff games and will finish the postseason with 10 wins, with the 10th coming on the neutral turf of War Memorial.
