The 2017 high school football season is still two months away, but coaches already are looking ahead to the 2018 season for scheduling purposes.
The Arkansas Activities Association passed a proposal last year adding a "Zero Week" to the nonconference schedule, allowing schools to schedule games a week earlier than before. This proposal gives teams four dates instead of three to schedule three nonconference games.
At a glance
Zero Week Scheduling
• It was the result of Proposal No. 1 during the Arkansas Activities Association’s 2016 meeting with the governing body and passed by a 161-3 margin.
• It allows schools to schedule football games a week earlier, which provides the opportunity to schedule three nonconference games over a four-week period. It was meant to give schools more flexibility to schedule games against out-of-state teams.
• Schools that schedule a Zero Week game can move their benefit games up a week as well. Those that don’t play a Zero Week game will play their benefit games like they do now. Junior high regular-season and benefit game start dates will not change.
——————
2018-19 Northwest Arkansas Football Schedules
Here is a list of nonconference games that have already been scheduled for the 2018-19 football seasons by some of Northwest Arkansas teams:
Class 7A
Bentonville High: Week 1 vs. Conway; Week 3 vs. Kansas City (Mo.) Rockhurst.
Bentonville West: Week 0 vs. Owasso, Okla.; Week 1 vs. Fort Smith Southside.
Fayetteville: Week 1 vs. Bryant; Week 2 vs. TBA at Battle of the Border, Shreveport, La.
Rogers Heritage: Week 0 vs. Fort Smith Northside; Week 1 vs. Little Rock Central; Week 3 vs. Fort Smith Southside.
Rogers High: Week 2 vs. Little Rock Central; Week 3 vs. Little Rock Parkview.
Springdale Har-Ber: Week 0 vs. Pulaski Academy; Week 3 vs. Pine Bluff.
Springdale High: Week 0 vs. Little Rock Parkview; Week 2 vs. Alma.
Van Buren: Week 1 vs. Alma; Week 2 vs. Fort Smith Northside; Week 3 vs. Siloam Springs.
Fort Smith Northside: Week 0 vs. Rogers Heritage; Week 1 vs. Greenwood; Week 2 vs. Van Buren.
Fort Smith Southside: Week 1 vs. Bentonville West; Week 2 vs. Greenwood; Week 3 vs. Rogers Heritage.
Class 6A
Greenwood: Week 1 vs. Fort Smith Northside; Week 2 vs. Fort Smith Southside.
Siloam Springs: Week 2 vs. Harrison; Week 3 vs. Van Buren.
Class 5A
Alma: Week 1 vs. Van Buren; Week 2 vs. Springdale High.
Clarksville: Week 1 vs. Lamar; Week 2 vs. Ozark; Week 3 vs. Dardanelle.
Farmington: Week 1 vs. Prairie Grove; Week 2 vs. Gravette; Week 3 vs. Farmington.
Harrison: Week 0 vs. Pea Ridge; Week 1 vs. Mountain Home; Week 2 vs. Siloam Springs.
Huntsville: Week 1 vs. Gentry; Week 2 vs. Berryville; Week 3 vs. Elkins.
Class 4A
Berryville: Unavailable.
Gentry: Week 1 vs. Huntsville.
Gravette: Week 1 vs. Diamond, Mo.; Week 2 vs. Farmington; Week 3 vs. Jay, Okla. (tentative).
Green Forest: Unavailable.
Lincoln: Week 1 vs. Westville, Okla.; Week 2 vs. Keys, Okla.; Week 3 vs. Charleston.
Pea Ridge: Week 0 vs. Harrison; Week 1 vs. Maumelle; Week 3 vs. Farmington.
Prairie Grove: Week 1 vs. Farmington; Week 2 vs. Vian, Okla.; Week 3 vs. West Fork.
Shiloh Christian: No games scheduled.
Elkins: Week 1 vs. Greenland; Week 2 vs. West Fork; Week 3 vs. Huntsville.
Ozark: Week 1 vs. Booneville; Week 2 vs. Clarksville; Week 3 vs. Charleston.
Subiaco: Week 2 vs. Lamar.
Waldron: Week 1 vs. Mansfield; Week 2 vs. Paris; Week 3 vs. Danville.
Class 3A
Booneville: Week 1 vs. Ozark; Week 2 vs. Pottsville.
Cedarville: Week 0 vs. Johnson County Westside; Week 1 vs. Mountainburg; Week 2 vs. Bigelow.
Charleston: Week 3 vs. Ozark.
Greenland: Week 1 vs. Elkins; Week 2 vs. Mountainburg; Week 3 vs. Gentry.
Lamar: Week 2 vs. Subiaco.
Mansfield: Week 0 vs. Hackett; Week 1 vs. Waldron; Week 2 vs. Lavaca.
Paris: Week 0 vs. Perryville; Week 2 vs. Waldron.
West Fork: Week 2 vs. Elkins; Week 3 vs. Prairie Grove.
Class 2A
Decatur: Week 1 vs. Colcord, Okla.
Hackett: Week 0 vs. Mansfield; Week 1 vs. Pocola, Okla.
Johnson County Westside: Unavailable.
Lavaca: Unavailable.
Magazine: Week 1 vs. Mount Ida.
Mountainburg: Week 2 vs. Greenland.
NOTE: Schools are placed in the classification they will be in during the 2018-20 cycle.
Schools can still only schedule 10 games in a season, meaning teams won't have a game one of those first four weeks.
The added week is meant to give coaches more flexibility in scheduling nonconference games, but some schools are not finding it any easier. Coaches at several Northwest Arkansas schools are still struggling to fill at least one nonconference date.
"It's still tough because there are so many different philosophies," Alma coach Doug Loughridge said. "Then you have to match up with those coaches who think the same way. You'll have some that want the open date right before conference, then there are those who don't want a break between games."
Loughridge said Alma will not have a Zero Week game in 2018 or 2019. Instead, the Airedales will continue what they started last year -- their Week 1 game will be held on a Tuesday night against Van Buren, which also gives Alma some extra practice days before its Week 2 game against Springdale High.
Bentonville West coach Bryan Pratt, however, jumped at the opportunity for an earlier game and agreed to play a Zero Week game against Owasso, Okla. -- now coached by former Fayetteville coach Bill Blankenship. The Wolverines have also agreed to a game against Fort Smith Southside the following week, and Pratt has reached out to other schools for a game the next week so his team can have an open date prior to 7A-West Conference play.
"We feel like it's an advantage to get to start early," Pratt said. "With practices starting Aug. 1, we have about four weeks before our first game. I like the idea of shortening that practice time, playing a 0-1-2 schedule and use Week 3 to rejuvenate and get ready for conference play."
Another benefit to those teams that wish to play Zero Week games is they are allowed to move their benefit games up a week. Benefit games are controlled scrimmages held before the start of the season to which tickets are sold.
That's something Springdale Har-Ber coach Chris Wood liked about the new proposal. The Wildcats will have a Zero Week game at home against Pulaski Academy in 2018, and they have also agreed to a Week 3 game at Pine Bluff.
As far as Har-Ber's other nonconference game, Wood said he's keeping his team's options open in case the Wildcats want to schedule an out-of-state opponent and hit the road. Oklahoma schools started playing Zero Week games two years ago, and Missouri schools will also begin games on Zero Week in 2018.
"With everything we do over the summer, we don't need a month of practices before the season starts," Wood said. "So we're going to take advantage of this new rule and start the season quicker. This gives us more flexibility in our schedules and more options to look around for games."
Pea Ridge coach Stephen Neal knew about Zero Week while he was an assistant at Tulsa (Okla.) Union, and it instantly became beneficial because it helped fill the Blackhawks' nonconference schedule. He was able to schedule a game against Harrison to go with two other games against Class 5A schools -- Maumelle and Farmington.
"It helped out so much," Neal said. "We were really struggling to find a nonconference game, and we were wanting to find some quality Class 5A teams since we know we're probably going up there in the next (2020-22) cycle.
"This is going to help some schools with the travel and the problems they have had scheduling."
Shiloh Christian coach Jeff Conaway said his team doesn't have any nonconference games finalized right now since Oklahoma won't announce its school classification status until July. That will have an effect on two of the Saints' nonconference games, and those games could affect Shiloh's third nonconference game, according to Conaway.
Sports on 06/16/2017