Stone Cold Lock Of The Week: Week 5

We are at the midpoint of the season, and the conference race is about to get interesting in the 3A-1. Looking across the region there are great games on tap for Week 5. In Oklahoma there is Ada, OK traveling to Poteau in a match-up of unbeatens. Pocola, Ok hosts Rejoice Christian out of Owasso, OK. In Arkansas we have Rogers traveling to Fayetteville. Shiloh hosts Mountain Home, which could very well decide the 6A West number two seed in the playoffs. Quitman goes to Melbourne, after Melbourne took a 34-7 loss to Salem. In Class 4A Bauxite takes on defending State Champion Arkadelphia.

Before I forget! Go vote for Dierks High School in the T-Mobile 5G Friday Night Lights Sweepstakes. They are a Top 25 School and at the time publishing, were leading in the voting.

Stone Cold Lock of the Week

Charleston vs Mansfield

Another week and another top match-up in the area with conference championship implications. Two unbeatens. Two teams that have rolled opponents leading up to this point. It is the kind of game that IS small town football, two programs with varying success, and games that date back to 1937. Currently Charleston leads the series 37-14, but Mansfield has not found a lot of success beating Charleston two times in a row. Could that stout offensive and defensive lines with Burton family power roll over the Tigers in back-to-back season for the first time since 2018 and 2019? Charleston’s Senior duo of Quarterback Carter Little and WR Maddix Terry will test the Mansfield secondary. Brothers Andrew and Jeremiah Burton and Cousin Jubal Parks ran over Hackett with more than one hundred yards each.

The Rest

Dardanelle vs Waldron

The Sand Lizards led by Air Force Quarterback Commit Creed Vega, have been taking care of business this season. Sitting at 4-0, Dardanelle is sitting at the top of the 4A with several Top Ten teams looking to halt their run. Waldron has not found their stride yet, scoring just thirty-four points this season while giving up 176.

Lavaca vs West Fork

In last week’s action, the Golden Arrows moved to 3-1 in the season with a 28-20 win over Greenland. Lavaca could very well get into the playoffs as a four seed in the 3A playoffs, but they will have to take care of West Fork, Cedarville, and Hackett in the coming weeks. It will place them exactly where Hooten’s picked them in the preseason. In even earlier predictions, it will have Lavaca playing the number two seed out of the 3A-1 which maybe Bismarck, Smackover, or Prescott.

Greenwood vs Russellville

I heard on a video that the Arkansas Razorbacks are a sleeping giant in college football. Due to there being a large amount of money surrounding the program. If I were to pick a sleeping giant in Arkansas High School football it would be Russellville and Van Buren. Facilities and businesses in proximity to the two districts make it a shock that they are not more successful. Like challenging the Greenwood’s and the Benton’s year in and year out. After a tough game against Shiloh Christian does Greenwood have enough in the tank for another week. The same can be said about Russellville after going toe-to-toe with Van Buren last week.

Southside vs Lake Hamilton

The Mavericks challenged Mountain Home for the whole game before falling 39-21. This week they will travel to Lake Hamilton in another game with playoff implications. The talk has been centered around Greenwood, Shiloh, and Mountain Home, but semi-perennial playoff contender Lake Hamilton has been quietly doing what they do best. Southside has had issues stopping the run in the past weeks, and Lake Hamilton runs that tried a true Wing T offense to give Southside issues.

Hackett vs Booneville

The Hornets have an absolute gauntlet of a schedule with Mansfield, Booneville, and Charleston in a row. If you want to see how your team could stack up, they are playing a playoff type of schedule for three weeks. Booneville has Hackett, Greenland, and West Fork to tune up and get guys healthy for back-to-back games with Mansfield and Charleston.

Magazine vs Mountainburg

Could this have been a Stone Cold Lock Of The Week, quite possibly. The Dragons took defending State Champion, Conway Christian to the wire losing by only seven points. In fact, Mountainburg has been knocking on the door of success all season. Sitting at 2-2, they may give the rest of the 2A-1 fits. Magazine got their first loss of the season to Bigelow 43-24.

Cedarville vs Greenland

The two Pirates find themselves in similar waters. Does the Cedarville Pirates get their second win on the season, or does Greenland break into the win column. Side note: How is this not a cool rivalry game? One with a Pirate Ship trophy, especially after the popularity of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie franchise. Make the trophy a treasure chest, seriously, someone reading this from either town, this needs to happen. I can see it now, game is over and the trophy is wheeled out to midfield for one of the schools to hold it in their facilities.

Cutter Morning Star vs Paris

Both teams are 3-1 in the season. Both offenses put up 30-plus points last week. Last year was the first meeting of the two 3A-4 schools. The Eagles soared 46-42 in that game.

Smackover vs Bismarck

Remember seven of these little descriptions ago when I stated there was a three-team race in the 3A-7? So, this game clears it up a little bit, like Charleston and Mansfield and a few others this has playoff implications.