ROGERS — Revenge certainly was on the minds of Rogers High ninth-grade football coach Johnny Brewer and his Mounties this week as they prepared for cross-town rival Rogers Heritage.
It hasn’t been easy for them to forget the 35-0 defeat the War Eagles handed them in both teams’ season opener. But despite those feelings, Brewer said he has been preoccupied with another thought in advance of tonight’s contest in Mountie Stadium.
“What’s so neat about this game is that we have two Rogers teams playing at a really high level right now,” Brewer said. “It’s great for the community, and it’ll be great for everyone to see these kids go out and compete against one another. I grew up in Rogers, and to see us have two of the top four teams in the (Northwest Arkansas Conference), that says good things about our city.”
The fact that Heritage resides in the top half of the conference standings with two games remaining is no surprise. The War Eagles have won all eight of their games this season and remain in control of their own destiny as it pertains to the conference championship.
Meanwhile, the Mounties’ presence as a top-four team would have been considered immensely improbable after their first three games this season. After dropping those first three contests, however, Rogers (5-3) ripped off a five-game winning streak.
Brewer commended the Mounties for refusing to quit on the season.
“We faced a lot of adversity, and the kids just stuck with it,” Brewer said. “Our defense has played great in every game other than the Heritage game, and our offense has made steady progress as we focused more on our running game.”
The War Eagles faced some adversity of their own last week during a 17-7 victory against Fayetteville Ramay, an experience cherished by Heritage coach Jason Upton.
Heritage and Ramay were tied at 7-7 until late in the first half, and the War Eagles endured a physical challenge that should prepare them for a rugged Mounties team.
“I think we needed some adversity coming in to this week,” Upton said. “I didn’t want us to be too confident, so I think (the Ramay game) worked a bit in our favor. Sometimes you learn a lot from losing, but it was great for us to be able to learn a lot from a close win also. We were able to learn some of those same lessons and still won the game.”
Upton said he thought Heritage would need to ignore the memories of the domination they exhibited during the season-opening blowout. So much has changed about the Mounties since then, Upton stressed.
“It’s going to be a big, big game,” Upton said. “It wouldn’t matter what the records are. But as it is, we both have good records. They’re going to give us their best game, and they’ve got a chance to win. I want our players to understand that. Just because you beat a team 35-0 doesn’t mean you don’t have to get up for the game.
“Rogers has gotten so much better, and we’ll have to play our ‘A’ game to win.”
Brewer said his players hadn’t displayed any feelings of animosity toward Heritage this week. They simply want to prove themselves worthy of their cross-town foes’ respect.
“I don’t know if they’re mad or sour at Heritage,” Brewer said. “I mean, a lot of them are friends. But they definitely want to show them that they can really play with them.”