Friday, September 25, 2009

2009 - Week 4 Shootouts

Wow! Did we ever send you to 2 good games last Friday? Greenwood walked (or perhaps the offensive players crawled) away with a hard fought 54-51 victory over Shiloh Christian. Lake Hamilton squeaked by Pulaski Academy 32-30 in a matchup of 2 defending state champions.

This week we are going to be a little (make that a lot) Northwest Arkansas "centric." We think that 2 of the 7A West battles will be very interesting. First, we have the battle for Springdale as the Har-Ber Wildcats and the Springdale Bulldogs will tee it up. The second 7A West battle will occur as the defending 7A champions from Bentonville drive about 25 miles south on I-540 to take on the Fayetteville Purple Dogs. If last year's conference battles are any indication, these two games will be absolute slugfests and should be very entertaining.

For those of you interested in the politics of the Arkansas Activities Association, we have one other game of note in NWA. Berryville will travel (we assume) to Shiloh Christian for a rematch of a game that sparked a ton of controversy last fall (and into last spring and summer). I wouldn't go to this game for the contest on the field, but the politics after the game could be interesting if Coach Floyd and the Saints decide to make some sort of "statement" with their offensive performance.

We KNOW that we have missed a ton of games out there, but that's why we ask you to tell us about them in the comments. Have a great weekend! Hopefully, football will be part of it.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Wrapup and First 2009 Shootout of the Week (Week 3)

Well all, we need to do a little apologizing before writing about our picks of the week. We just disappeared after that last post on the Vype tournament. We had planned to provide more information about that event and an end of year summary. Instead, life (a tonsillectomy, 2 trips out of the state, multiple birthday parties for nieces and nephews, and the start of football practices) got in the way of us providing that to you. We hope that won't prevent you from returning here during the 2009 high school football season.

Looking at tonight's slate of games in the state, one game jumps off the page for us (particularly if you are in the western part of Arkansas). Shiloh Christian travels to Greenwood tonight for the renewal of series of games that has been EXTREMELY entertaining over the past couple of years. We have no reason to believe that both teams won't score 30+ tonight. If forced to make a prediction, we would go with the Saints. However, Rick Jones will have the Bulldogs ready, and it wouldn't surprise us if they came away with a hard fight win.

Another game that we notice in the slate is the Lake Hamilton trip to Little Rock to take on the Pulaski Academy Bruins. We feel that this will also be a high scoring game that matches two defending state champions. Both teams suffered heavy graduation losses, but both know what it takes to win. We look for an entertaining game, but won't pick a winner in this one.

That's it for this week. Have a great weekend! Hopefully, football will be part of it. If it is, try to stay dry. By the way, if you have a game that we should talk about, take the opportunity and talk about it yourself in the comments.