LITTLE ROCK — Heritage confident in ability
Rogers Heritage Coach Perry Escalante said his team is better prepared for 7AWest Conference play this year after starting 3-0 for a second consecutive season.
Heritage won its first three games as a varsity program last year, then went 0-7 in conference play while being outscored 371-152.
"You have to understand, we had kids who were 180 pounds going up against kids who were 250 pounds," said Escalante, who fielded a team made up mostly of sophomores last season.
"That's hard to do in this league, but we're not so young and small anymore.
"We should be able to match up a lot better this year."
Heritage's first test will come tonight at Fort Smith Northside (2-1), which is ranked No. 6 overall after losing 32-30 to No. 4 Little Rock Catholic. Northside outscored Heritage 59-38 in the teams' first meeting in Rogers.
"They were up at halftime and we needed a big second half to win the game" Northside Coach Darrell Henry said. "They can score points, and they've got 22 starters back who are bigger and stronger than they were last year. We expect a tough, tough game."
Northside hopes to play more evenly than last week, when the Grizzlies trailed Little Rock Catholic 12-3 at halftime and 32-10 in the third quarter. Northside rallied late before an interception with 1:40 left ended its chance at a comeback victory.
"We put ourselves in a bind early with mistakes in the kicking game, and we dropped some passes and missed a few throws," Henry said. "We became hesitant in what we were doing, and that slowed us down. We've got toplay fast in order to be successful." ROGERS Defense faces test
Rogers (2-1) knows it has to keep Fort Smith Southside (2-1) from controlling the football if the Mounties hope to win tonight's 7A-West Conference opener at Gates Stadium.
Little Rock Central put up little resistance last week in a 35-0 loss to Southside. Lee Hollis had two touchdown runs to culminate scoring drives, and David Adair rushed for 119 yards and one touchdown while playing little more than half the game.
"Southside is a real challenge with their size and their ability to run the football," Rogers Coach Ronnie Peacock said. "We've got to get some stops defensively and move the ball on offense and finish drives.
"We're both sitting at 2-1, and it should be a really good game."
Rogers gave up more than 500 total yards in last week's 62-38 victory over Van Buren, but the Mounties also forced four turnovers.
Senior Ethan Melton led Rogers' special teams with a 98-yard kickoff return and a 53-yard punt return for touchdowns.
"We've given up some yards, but we've made some stops and gotten some turnovers as well," Peacock said. "We just have to be more consistent." VAN BUREN Tackling mistakes
Van Buren (0-2-1) is eager for a fresh start after Rogers defeated the Pointers 62-38 last week.
Van Buren opens 7ACentral play tonight at Little Rock Central (0-3), and the Pointers hope to build off last season's success, when they won two league games and made the state playoffs for the first time in 10 years.
"Conference play is here, and everybody is singing the same tune about starting over," Van Buren Coach Mike Lee said. "We've done some good things on offense and defense, and in the kicking game, but we've got some deficiencies we need to correct."
Van Buren must tackle better and avoid the mistakes that helped Rogers pile up 62 points last week.
Little Rock Central will have a speed advantage over the Pointers, and quarterback Adam Meeks is capable of exploiting their secondary.
"You miss a tackle against Central and they can go a long way with the athletes they have," Lee said. "We've got to cash in our chips and score touchdowns on offense and make some plays on defense."
Sports, Pages 26 on 09/25/2009