Norphlet will field JV team
Norphlet is back in the football business.
The Class 2A Leopards plan to play a junior varsity schedule of at least seven games this fall after announcing last month that they wouldn’t field a team in 2013 because of insufficient player numbers.
Arkansas Activities Association Executive Director Lance Taylor said the school can’t immediately return to varsity competition because it already informed the AAA of its decision to cancel the 2013 season, thus freeing up opponents to try and find 11th-hour opponents.
Norphlet’s scheduled Week 3 opponent, Parkers Chapel, has secured a road game with Glen Rose.
Norphlet will be allowed to play a JV schedule, however, as long as it follows AAA guidelines, including not playing games on Friday and facing only junior varsity opponents.
Norphlet Athletic Director Dennis Steele said he began running the program earlier this month after Coach Doug Means left to become defensive coordinator at Hope and defensive coordinator John Daugherty took the same position at Mineral Springs.
Steele, 63, coached the Leopards from 2005-2009.
“I enjoy it,” Steele said. “I coached forever in Illinois.”
Steele said the roster was 15 (grades 10-12) last week after several players recently joined the program. Three are playing for the first time, he said.
Norphlet had been as low as “seven or eight or nine” in the offseason, Steele said.
“I hope we can get one or two more,” Steele said.
One player who could join the program, Steele said, is senior Jontavis Willis, a basketball standout who averaged 27.4 points per game last season.
Steele said Norphlet has scheduled JV games - all on Monday or Tuesday - with fellow 8-2A members Hampton, Woodlawn, Parkers Chapel, Hermitage and Strong.
Steele said Norphlet has 16 players in junior high and believes the Leopards will return to varsity competition in 2014. He said it was important to salvage some type of 2013 season for the seniors, band members and cheerleaders.
“We’ll be OK,” he said.
BENTONVILLE Player improving
Bentonville Coach Barry Lunney said sophomore defensive lineman Ryley Williams continues to improve after collapsing at the start of a July 8 practice.
Lunney said Williams, 6-0, 230 pounds, suffered a stroke because of a freak viral infection that affected his heart.
Williams is being treated at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, where he could remain for 4-6 more weeks, Lunney said.
“He’s doing better and making improvement,” Lunney said Friday afternoon. “The bottom line is this was just something very unusual for a 15-yearold.”
Lunney said Williams’ condition began to improve after he underwent surgery July 10 at Children’s to relieve pressure on his brain.
Lunney said Williams collapsed as the team was warming up at the start of practice.
7-ON-7 Passing fancy
Lake Hamilton beat El Dorado 32-27 to win last Saturday’s Louisiana Tech 7-on-7 passing tournament in Ruston, La.
Senior Nathan Sawrie’s touchdown to senior fullback Chris Eastburn on the game’s final play lifted the Wolves to victory in the all-7A/6A-South final.
Lake Hamilton finished 4-2 in pool play and beat Madison (Miss.) Ridgeland Academy 16-14 in the semifinals.
The Wolves also won the Shootout of the South tournament June 14-15 in Little Rock.
Helena-West Helena Central finished 5-1 to win its 7-on-7 tournament Tuesday.
The tournament was moved to West Memphis because of inclement weather.
Magnolia beat El Dorado 30-2 to win Friday’s inaugural Wildcat 7-on-7 tournament in El Dorado.
Six teams are entered in the first Holy Souls Rising Stars Junior High 7-on-7 tournament Saturday at Little Rock Catholic’s Roy Davis Field.
The event is a fundraiser for new uniforms for Holy Souls and to showcase seventh- and eighth-graders in central Arkansas. Teams entered are Holy Souls A, Holy Souls B, Pulaski Academy, Immaculate Conception, Little Rock Panthers and Hot Springs Lakeside.
Pool play begins at 9 a.m., bracket play at 1 p.m. and the title game is at 2 p.m.
Admission is $5. Children younger than 6 are admitted free.
EXTRA POINT
Fayetteville and North Little Rock will meet in Week 2 in the next cycle.
North Little Rock still needs a Week 1 opponent, Coach Brad Bolding said.
Sports, Pages 34 on 07/28/2013