Stone Cold Lock of the Week: Week 4

Most teams locally were on a Bye-Week, Charleston rolled Heavener and Hackett handled Mountainburg. Love it or hate it, the bye week is beneficial to those teams that found competition for non-conference and gives them an extra week to prepare for when the games count towards play-off berths.

There are few games in the larger classifications that could be for the top four playoff spots. In the 3A it looks like a few of these games will produce the mercy rule by halftime. Do not blame the messenger, just read along and you will see. It is go time for these teams to find out what they have and will there be enough left in the tank by Week 10 or will turn their stuff in Monday hit hard on November 10^th. Situations in the 7A West, 6A West, and the 3A-1 are exactly why we like covering high school football, we just happen to be lucky enough to be on this side of the state where the action is currently.

Stone Cold Lock Of The Week

Shiloh Christian vs Greenwood

Pick a storyline. 34 State Title appearances between 2A to 6A since 1996. 20 State Championships since 1998. Shiloh Christian Junior QB Cole Creighton has 1066 yards passing and a 70% completion percentage, Greenwood Senior QB Kane Archer with 841 yards and a 73% completion percentage. A match-up of two of the current Arkansas High School football dynasties. Of the twelve times the two schools have tangled, Greenwood leads the series 9-3. Hooten’s pre-season had Greenwood #1 and Shiloh #2 in 6A and in Week 4 nothing has changed, the only blemish to Shiloh’s record is a 41-33 loss to Oklahoma 3A powerhouse Lincoln Christian. Both schools feature college bound talent on both sides of the ball. It is a must-see game that may end up being repeated in Little Rock in December. But I am sure someone will probably put a sleeping emoji as a comment. Also, Kane Archer surpassed the school career passing touchdown record set by Brooks Coatney in 1998 of 104 against Northside in Week 1. He is 2,246 yards shy of the career school record (Coatney – 10,075) and 3,381 yards shy of the single-season school record. (Tyler Wilson – 4,222)

The Rest

Booneville vs Cedarville

The Bearcats head to Crawford County to take in the Cedarville Homecoming festivities. While I would question the decision to host a proven team on Homecoming, but it worked out for Springdale Har-Ber and Mansfield two weeks ago. Sure, Mansfield mangled Lamar and Har-Ber put on a show taking Greenwood to the final seconds. But I do not see the Pirates making Booneville walk the plank in this one. This goes completely opposite for Cedarville Friday night. Booneville’s rights the ship and it has four weeks before they meet Mansfield at home on 10/24.

Mansfield vs Hackett

2020 and 2021. That was the last time the Hornets of Hackett High School beat Mansfield. In the Whit Overton era the Tigers have rolled Hackett by an average of 34-9. But this is new year for Hackett, unfortunately the Tigers are still heavy on Burton brothers and dominating offensive and defensive lines. Hackett is coming in 2-1 and with hope to play spoiler, they will get their chance over the next three weeks with Booneville and Charleston up next. Mansfield has their “Shiloh vs Greenwood” game next week against Charleston.

West Fork vs Charleston

In the off-season West Fork lost the duo of Cooper Ridenoure and Shawn Swinson to Greenland. The scoreboard has not been kind to the Tigers, not to be confused with the Franklin County based Tigers of Charleston, or Scott County’s Mansfield Tigers. Three Tiger teams in one conference, oh my. Charleston Senior QB Carter Little, should eclipse the 1000 yard passing mark on the first or second drive. This will be Charleston’s last tune-up before the heavily anticipated Week 5 game against Mansfield.

Greenland vs Lavaca

Who wants to see a fun quarterback carousel? Okay, try to keep up. 2024 Greenland QB Slade Norwood transferred to Fayetteville to compete with the probable heir Cruz Coatney. Enters a 4-Star QB transfer Hank Hendrix to Fayetteville. Slade Norwood transfers to Farmington, and Coatney to Greenwood. So, what about Greenland? Hang on there is one more transfer to get to. Senior Cooper Ridenoure goes from West Fork to Van Buren to compete for the starting spot and a chance to go against former travel ball teammates in Greenwood. Quietly, Ridenoure heads back up I-49 bypassing Exit 53 (West Fork) for where he played youth football in Greenland. With him he brings longtime teammate Shawn Swinson to wear the Green and Black. While the wins have not come for the Pirates, they have shown promise under first-year head coach Brock May. Could Greenland dodge the Lavaca Golden Arrows and break into the win column? Lavaca is 2-1 in the season and put up 30-plus points on Dover and Roland, OK.

Magazine vs Bigelow

Magazine sitting at 3-0 heading into conference is the most intriguing storyline of the first four weeks of the season. The Bigelow Panthers come into week 4 at 0-3. If there was a Magic 8 Ball on my desk and I asked if the Rattlers move to 4-0 this week it would saw “All signs point to yes.”

Waldron vs Ozark

Last year Waldron pulled off an upset against the Ozark Hillbillies. In a series that dates to the 1950’s, Ozark holds a large advantage with thirty-two wins over the Bulldogs. With Waldron winning eighteen of the past fifty meetings. Ozark is averaging thirty-three points on the season with just a thirty-two-point loss to Charleston hanging over them. A challenge against Mena and Dardanelle looms on the horizon.

Paris vs Danville

Paris was averaging thirty points a game the first two of the season, then came a trip to Booneville. The Bearcats struck the Eagles out of the sky and only allowed seven points. A week off and Paris heads to a Danville team trying to find their footing for the 2025 season after losing Nate Foster to an accident in August. Last week, Hector painted a number 18 on the visitor’s side of the field, and the Hector cheerleaders wore #18 shirts to honor the fallen athlete.

Some Other Games That Might Pique Your Interest

Southside vs Mountain Home

It is almost hard to believe that these two teams, as of Friday night, will have only met twice. The only other Fort Smith school the Bombers have played is Fort Smith St. Annie’s in 1970 and 1972. Mountain Home passed through Fort Smith, to play Greenwood, a total of eight times though, so there is some useless information for you. Here is what makes this game interesting, Fort Smith Southside has much improved since last year and looking to make some noise in the 6A West. With Greenwood and Shiloh slated the #1 and #2 spots in the playoffs, Southside, Mountain Home, Lake Hamilton, and Van Buren could take 3^rd-6^th in any order this year. Why is this important? The past four seasons, the 3^rd-6^th seed out of the West has beat the 3^rd-6^th of the 6A East in the first round 14-1.

Fayetteville vs Bentonville West

Bentonville after this week will solidify their status as the #2 team in the state to Bryant, but little brother Bentonville West wants some much-deserved attention. This week in the 7A West there are four of the top five teams in the conference facing off against each other. Bentonville takes on Springdale Har-Ber who may surprise the Tigers just as they did Greenwood. A fifth team, but by no means the fifth best, Rogers faces Fort Smith Northside to start the conference slate. Back to Fayetteville and Bentonville West! The Bulldogs and Wolverines faced a common foe in Greenwood, and both played the defending 6A champion close. Both played Cabot and handed out big losses to the once dominant team. Under Bentonville there are four teams that could do the funniest thing and beat each other and muddy up the 7A playoff picture just as Mansfield, Charleston, and Booneville could do in the 3A.