A common sight during the high school football season's final week is a team needing a win to earn a playoff spot and play another game the following week.
Four Northwest Arkansas football teams, however, will play Friday night for an opportunity to take a short break between the regular season and the playoffs. Fayetteville hosts Bentonville and Greenland hosts West Fork in games where the winners earn a first-round bye in the playoffs, while the losers must prepare for games the following week.
7A-West Conference
Springdale Har-Ber — Has clinched the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye
Bentonville/Fayetteville — The winner of Friday’s game earns the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye, while the loser takes to the No. 3 seed and will host a first-round playoff game.
Fort Smith Northside/Fort Smith Southside — The winner of Friday’s game earns the No. 4 seed and will host a first-round playoff game, while the loser falls to the No. 5 seed and will travel for a first-round playoff game.
Rogers High/Springdale High — The winner gets the No. 6 seed and a playoff berth, while the loser is eliminated from playoffs.
7A-Central
Van Buren — Clinches the No. 3 seed with a win over Little Rock Catholic, or will be eliminated with a loss.
6A-Central
Greenwood — Earns top seed with win over Alma, or falls to No. 2 seed with a loss. (If Alma beats Greenwood and Russellville beats Siloam Springs, it’s a three-way tie for first).
Alma — Earns a top seed with win over Greenwood. Takes the No. 3 seed with a loss if Siloam Springs loses to Russellville OR Siloam Springs beats Russellville by less than 13 points.
Siloam Springs — Needs a 13-point win over Russellville OR a win over Russellville and an Alma win over Greenwood to earn a No. 3 seed.
5A-West
Harrison — Can clinch the No. 4 seed with a win over Farmington and a Vilonia loss to Greenbrier.
Farmington — Can clinch the No. 4 seed if the following things happen: the Cardinals have to beat Harrison by 3 or more points, then Greenbrier defeats Vilonia and Maumelle beats Little Rock Christian by 8 or more points. That would cause a four-way tie for fourth place, and Farmington would wind up with the tie-breaker advantage.
4A-1 Conference
Prairie Grove — has clinched the No. 1 seed and will host a first-round playoff game against the No. 5 seed from the 4A-3 Conference.
Shiloh Christian — Can clinch the No. 2 seed with a win over Pea Ridge or if Gravette finishes with more tiebreaker points than Pea Ridge does in the event of a three-way tie. Will fall to the No. 3 seed with a loss to Pea Ridge if the Blackhawks have more tie-breaker points than Gravette.
Pea Ridge — Can clinch the No. 2 seed with a win over Shiloh Christian and finishes with more tiebreaker points than Gravette OR if Gravette loses to Gentry. Will drop to the No. 4 seed with a loss to Shiloh Christian or in any circumstance where it has less points than Gravette
Gravette — Will take the No. 3 seed with a win over Gentry or a Shiloh Christian win over Pea Ridge OR a Pea Ridge win over Shiloh Christian if the Lions finish with more tiebreaker points than the Blackhawks. Will take the No. 4 seed with a loss to Gentry OR if Pea Ridge defeats Shiloh Christian and the Blackhawks gave more tiebreaker points than the Lions.
Lincoln — Has clinched the No. 5 seed and will play a first-round playoff game at 4A-4 Conference champion Dardanelle.
3A-1 Conference
Greenland/West Fork — The winner of Friday’s game gets the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye, while the loser takes the No. 2 seed.
Elkins — Has clinched the No. 3 seed regardless of what happens Friday night vs. Green Forest and will host a first-round playoff game.
Cedarville — Clinches the No. 4 seed with a win Friday over Mountain View. Can be eliminated with a loss if Green Forest defeats Elkins OR Elkins beats Green Forest and Marshall defeats Yellville-Summit by 7 or more points.
Green Forest — Clinches the No. 5 seed with a win over Elkins AND a Mountain View win over Cedarville.
Some coaches agree that byes are not that glorious a prize.
"I wish we didn't have them in the playoffs," Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton said. "To me, a bye is only beneficial when a team is banged up. We're as healthy as we have been all season long, and we've been playing really well the last two weeks.
"But if we had to sit out four weeks in order to get to Little Rock, I would do it."
Bentonville (8-1, 5-1 7A-West Conference) has earned a first-round bye every year since the Class 7A state playoffs expanded to a 12-team format in 2008. Fayetteville (8-1, 5-1), on the other hand, earned its only first-round playoff bye during its state championship run in 2012.
While the two teams aren't playing for a conference championship -- unless Springdale Har-Ber falls to Rogers Heritage -- there is still an incentive to win. The two teams could meet again in the semifinals, and the winner of Friday's game will serve as the host because it has the higher seed.
"More than likely, we'll have to beat Bentonville in order to get to Little Rock," Patton said. "Even if we're not playing for a conference championship, this game still means a lot, and it's a big game. It's going to be two evenly matched teams, and you better not count out the team that loses Friday's game in the playoffs."
The stakes are somewhat higher when unbeaten Greenland (9-0, 6-0) takes on West Fork (6-3, 6-0) in a game where the schools are only 5 miles apart.
The winner not only wins the outright 3A-1 Conference title and the first-round bye, but it gets to enjoy home-field advantage as long as it remains in the playoffs. The loser, on the other hand, will host a first-round game but would likely be headed to Prescott in the second round.
"Our boys grew up knowing the guys on their team and playing against them from the third grade on, in every sport," West Fork coach Brad Lindley said. "We did the same thing last year -- played with the conference championship on the line.
"Our players have been there before, but so have theirs. They have good coaches and good players over there, and I think we do a decent job over here. It should be a good game."
Only four area teams enter the the final week with full knowledge of what lies ahead of them, regardless what happens in their games Friday night.
Springdale Har-Ber (8-1, 6-0) already has clinched a No. 1 seed and a first-round bye in the Class 7A state playoffs, while Prairie Grove (8-1, 6-0 4A-1) has earned a No. 1 seed and a home game. Elkins (4-5, 4-2 3A-1) will finish as a No. 3 seed and will host a first-round game next week, while Lincoln (4-5, 3-3 4A-1) knows it has the conference's No. 5 seed and a first-round game at 4A-4 Conference champion Dardanelle.
For some teams, a win Friday night means the difference between a first-round playoff game at home or one on the road. That applies to both Fort Smith Northside (4-5, 3-3 7A-West) and Fort Smith Southside (5-4, 3-3) -- which meet at Northside's Mayo-Thompson Stadium -- and Pea Ridge (7-2, 4-2), which travels to Shiloh Christian (6-2, 5-1) in a game which could also help determine Gravette's playoff seed and destination.
"We can still be a two, a three or a four seed," Pea Ridge coach Tony Travis said. "The kids are excited that this game still has some big implications, and we know we're still in the playoffs and able to extend our season.
"We're just going to go out there and do our best Friday night. We can't control what happens between Gravette and Gentry, so we need to just take care of ourselves."
While Rogers High (1-8, 1-5) travels to Springdale High (1-8, 1-5) to determine which team gets the 7A-West's sixth seed and whose season will end, some teams still need a win and a little help in order to advance. Siloam Springs (4-5, 1-5 7A/6A-Central) needs to beat Russellville by 13 or more points or a win and an Alma win over Greenwood to advance, while Farmington (4-5, 2-4 5A-West) needs a win of three or more points over Harrison and additional help from Greenbrier and Maumelle in order to advance.
Henry Apple can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAHenry.
Sports on 11/04/2015