A week off has served Fort Smith Northside well, said Coach Mike Falleur.
The Grizzlies had a Jekyll and Hyde-like outing in Week Zero against crosstown rival Fort Smith Southside, but they've since tried to shore up any deficiencies the ninth-year coach noticed during that 31-16 victory.
"Things have been going good for us," Falleur said. "In that first week against Southside, we played bad the first half, played good the second half. Kind of like the [Arkansas] Razorbacks did this past weekend. But we had a great week of practice last week and getting ready for Greenwood this week."
Northside extended its winning streak to six games over Southside after running backs Ty Massey and Sundquist Church wore down the Mavericks. The tandem combined for 259 of the team's 296 yards on the ground.
The Grizzlies (1-0) had numerous guys starting for the first time, which did them no favors when Southside took the fight to them in the opening half. Northside fared better after halftime to up its series lead to 34-25-2.
Falleur believes he'll see a much-improved Grizzlies team against Greenwood, which led Southside by 28 points in the third quarter before holding on to win 54-48. The Bulldogs (2-0) have won six of the last eight times they've played Northside and have used a potent aerial attack, courtesy of quarterback Hunter Houston, to rack up an average of 711 yards in two games.
"They're Greenwood," Falleur said. "They do what they do, and they're going to do what they do well. They're not going to make a lot of mistakes, and they have a great pride and belief. You've got to beat them.
"We did a lot of stuff with them this summer, like team camps. Since I've been here, we've beaten them a couple of times, and they've beaten us a few more. We know what it's going to be like, and we know we've got to play a good football game. If we're going to win it, we've got to go out and beat them."
BIGELOW
Running wild
Bigelow broke the school's single-season record for victories last year when it won 12 games. The Panthers may be on their way to surpassing that total if they continue to play this way.
Behind quarterback Keithlin Brown and running back Hunter Alexander, Bigelow (2-0) has blasted both Bearden and Carlisle at home by a combined 95-39 score through two weeks.
"We've started out all right," Bigelow Coach Luke Starks said. "Obviously there were a lot of question marks in some spots because we lost a big senior class from last year. You're talking about 13-14 guys that actually started for us. We lost four linemen on offense and three linemen on defense to graduation, so up front, there were some holes.
"Through the first two weeks, I think we've kind of figured out where we are."
Having Brown and Alexander in the backfield have helped solve things for the Panthers. Brown, who accounted for nearly 2,500 yards and 31 touchdowns last season, is averaging 182.5 yards on the ground. Alexander, who ran for nearly 950 yards, is right behind him at 125 yards rushing per game. The two have scored 12 touchdowns total.
Getting those two going this early in the season has been beneficial.
"We were excited because we knew what we had coming back skill wise," Starks said. "[Brown] has cranked up where he left off from last year. Hunter is more of a speedster that's elusive and agile. He's a bruiser, though, that's tough to bring down."
The Panthers will have another test this week against rival Perryville, which forced six Mount Ida turnovers last week. Bigelow rolled to a 40-8 victory when the teams met a year ago, but Starks said the Mustangs are formidable.
"We want to be 3-0 going out of nonconference, but it's rivalry week and it's always special," he said. "With this game, you can never tell how things are going to go. Both teams play up every time for it, and we know we've just got to be smart and compete. They're really big up front, and they've got a quarterback that's a load. It'll be a good one I think."
SHERIDAN
Big-time response
Sheridan Coach Larry McBroom couldn't have asked for a better scenario for his Yellowjackets last week.
After being held to 88 yards in a 41-0 loss to White Hall to open the season, Sheridan bounced back with a 24-7 victory over Hot Springs Lakeside.
The Yellowjackets accumulated 396 yards and owned a nearly seven-minute edge in time of possession. Quarterback Konner Canterbury passed for 174 yards with a score and ran for 121 yards and 2 touchdowns for Sheridan (1-1), which had lost eight of its past nine games dating back to last season until ambushing the Rams.
Still, there were things that McBroom saw that plagued his team, like the 17 penalties that cost 120 yards. Sheridan also was 0 for 3 on two-point conversions and missed an extra-point kick.
"Our special-teams play has not been good at all up to this point," he said. "Our pass protection needs to be better, too. We really need to improve in every single area, no question, but we especially have to do a better job executing in those two areas.
"We did have some bright spots in the game, though. Konner really played well, and I was proud of the overall effort from the team."
McBroom said the team worked hard to improve its strength, quickness and flexibility in the offseason. He admitted that none of those things stood out in the opener.
"From the very start, we didn't play well in that one, and it snowballed on us before we even know what happened," he said. "But the second game, we played much, much better. We've lost three starting players to injury, with one being a two-way starter, and that's never a good thing. You hate that at any time, especially to start the year.
"But hopefully, we'll keep getting better. We've used this bye week to do just that as well as try to heal up a little bit."
HORATIO
What streak?
It had been almost three years since Horatio last tasted victory, but it got the bad taste out of its mouth last week.
"It was a big one for us because we really needed it," Horatio Coach Lantz Castleman said of his team's 25-21 victory over Dierks. "After the offseason we had, with all the improvements we made in the weight room, having that win kind of confirmed all the hard work in the minds of those guys. It was huge."
The Lions had lost 22 games in a row and hadn't won since beating Bismarck 18-13 on Oct. 12, 2018. That was also the last time Horatio (1-0) picked up a victory on the road, but the Lions put an end to both droughts when Grayson Porter scored with two seconds left in the game.
The winning play came after Horatio had a go-ahead touchdown called back with 5:20 left. The Lions did retain possession and milked the majority of the clock prior to Porter's score.
"We just told the guys that we're in our four-minute drill, and we're gonna try to run off every last second," said Castleman, whose team had lost to Dierks 42-0 last year. "And that's what we did, all from the 18-yard line. We ran the last 5:18 off the clock on 18 yards. It was unbelievable."
Horatio will look to make it two in a row Friday when it heads to Murfreesboro.
"The fans didn't have a lot to cheer for last year," he said. "But they've come out in big numbers. They'd been hearing about us throughout summer camps and word had kind of gotten out that we were a little bit different from last year.
"We came out and scrimmaged Mineral Springs and did well against them. It just all kind of culminated last Friday night. Hopefully we'll continue to ride that momentum."
EXTRA POINTS
Covid-19 has caused a pair of games in northeast Arkansas to be canceled. According to the Jonesboro Westside school district Facebook page, the Warriors' game against Hoxie on Friday has been called off because of contact tracing and quarantine guidelines within the Westside program. Also, Friday's matchup between Gosnell and Osceola has been scrapped. Osceola's Seminole Nation Facebook page cited covid issues with the team's players and coaches as the reason for the cancellation. Both Gosnell and Hoxie have agreed to play one another on Sept. 17, per the Hoxie Mustangs Twitter page. Both teams were scheduled to have open dates on that day.
