SPRINGDALE — Preseason football games are normally a time to work out the kinks, find some depth in the roster and sell a few extra tickets to help benefit one school program or another.
At least most preseason games, anyway.
Friday night in Union Tuttle Stadium in Tulsa, Okla., though, one preseason contest appeared to be anything but an exhibition.
Sure, Springdale Har-Ber’s 21-20 win in two quarters of football against Oklahoma power Tulsa Union didn’t count on the 2010 record books, but the way in which the Wildcats and Redskins battled one another back and forth indicated there was more at stake than a simple fine-tuning before the real games begin.
If this one didn’t matter to either team, why did Union go for two points in the final minutes when it really wouldn’t have made a difference in an ‘exhibition’ who wins or who loses?
If Har-Ber wasn’t concerned with the outcome, why did the Wildcats sideline erupt as if a playoff game had just been won when senior strong safety Drew Lawson intercepted Union quarterback Kale Pearson’s two-point pass attempt to preserve the victory?
Maybe Har-Ber was just using the scrimmage to practice its celebration skills, but not likely. What is more likely is that the Wildcats treated this tune-up like something much more. And if you think about it, there’s nothing wrong with that.
While other teams might have been trudging through a benefit scrimmage of some sort, playing more backups and sophomores than those who will actually see the field on Friday nights, Har-Ber was busy getting down to business in its preseason affair. Busy beating one of the best teams it will come across all season long.
At the end of the night, 21-20 against Tulsa Union didn’t really matter all that much. Sure it sounded good to the Wildcats and looked good on the scoreboard, but it was still a warmup.
As Lawson pointed out shortly after his second interception of the night, the real games don’t start until this week. But Har-Ber showed in two quarters of some serious football Friday that it had already begun to take things seriously.
Exhibition or not, that can’t hurt the Wildcats from here on out.
VERNON TARVER IS THE SPRINGDALE HAR-BER BEAT WRITER FOR NORTHWEST ARKANSAS NEWSPAPERS.