Pulaski Academy reeled off 7 straight victories at the Sonic Air Raid on Saturday to take home their second Air Raid championship. The Bruins also won the Air Raid in 2007. They did not attend the tournament in 2008.
Pulaski Academy defeated Lonoke (26-18), CAC (34-0), and Searcy (28-12) in pool play to earn their way as a one seed in the championship bracket. They would defeat Heber Springs (30-8) in the first round and Greene County Tech (36-22) in the second round to setup a matchup with Pine Bluff in the winners bracket final. Although the Bruins won by 9 points, 29-20, it took a defensive stop and a touchdown in the last minutes to seal the victory. Greenbrier would defeat Pine Bluff with a touchdown with 30 seconds left in the losers bracket final to earn the right to play the Bruins in the championship. Greenbrier led 10-0 early and 20-10 with 10 minutes left to play. The Bruins would go ahead 23-22 with 3 minutes to play, and relied on great plays by their defense to keep the Panthers out of the endzone. Greenbrier would fall short as Pulaski Academy would knock down a pass on 3rd down from the one-yard line to seal the victory and the championship.
Other than Pulaski Academy, there were lots of nice surprises from the tournament.
PINE BLUFF: The Zebras were undefeated before dropping their last two games to PA and Greenbrier. QB Claude Johnson had their offense looking like a machine at times, and their defense made some fantastic plays.
GREENBRIER: The perennial doormat of the 5A West are making strides to move up that ladder. They were led by a heady quarterback that made few mistakes and receivers that just did not drop many balls and made some very good grabs.
DES ARC: Although they were in what we considered to be a very weak pool, they held their own in their first meeting with 5A Greene County Tech in pool play in a 14-9 loss, then defeated them in the tournament 17-14. They also defeated Lonoke, 18-12. Not bad for a 2A school with a new head coach.
BALD KNOB: They were in the toughest pool and lost by just 7 points to Pine Bluff and 2 points to Little Rock Christian. After going 0-3 in pool play, they would not lose another game as they went on to win the consolation tournament. They defeated Conway Christian, Conway, and Little Rock Christian twice to win the consolation bracket.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
2009 Sonic Air Raid Preview
The Sonic Air Raid hosted by Harding Academy and Searcy High School will again serve as the 7 on 7 season’s first tournament. The tournament expanded from 8 to 16 teams three years ago and is the state’s 3rd largest tournament behind the Shootout of the South (24 teams) and the VYPE Select (32 teams). The 2009 edition of the Sonic Air Raid can boast about a very solid field. The tournament, which takes place June 6, is the first leg of the Arkansas 7 on 7 Triple Crown. The Shootout of the South and Vype Select tournaments complete the state's triple crown competition.
The tournament features 4 pools of 4 teams. Each team will play the other teams in their pool (3 games). The top two teams from each pool will advance to the Land O’Frost Championship bracket (8 teams). The bottom two teams will compete in the Sonic Consolation Bracket (8 teams).
POOLS:
Division “A”: Conway, Greenbrier, Harding Academy, Heber Springs
Division “B”: Central Arkansas Christian, Lonoke, Pulaski Academy, Searcy
Division “C”: Bald Knob, Little Rock Christian, Pine Bluff, Watson Chapel
Division “D”: Conway Christian, Des Arc, Greene County Tech, Rose Bud
The standouts in this year’s field figure to come from Division C. That pool boasts NCAA Division 1 athletes Michael Dyer from Little Rock Christian, Claude Johnson and Jonathan Frazier from Pine Bluff, and a few athletes from Watson Chapel that will receive some looks from college coaches. Bald Knob is the 4th team in that pool and will try to win games using the Tony Franklin System that they implemented two years ago.
Other interesting stories going into the tournament will be how Conway will perform this early under new head coach Clint Ashcraft. Greenbrier will be another team to watch as Coach Randy Tribble will be in his second year. The Panthers also employ the Tony Franklin System.
Absent from this year’s tournament is last year’s champion Lake Hamilton. Lake Hamilton used their win from the Air Raid to propel them to a Shootout of the South victory a week later. They went on to win the 6A state title.
Pulaski Academy did not attend last year’s Air Raid, but they won the VYPE Select 7 on 7 last July. They are the only state champion that will be in attendance.
The tournament features 4 pools of 4 teams. Each team will play the other teams in their pool (3 games). The top two teams from each pool will advance to the Land O’Frost Championship bracket (8 teams). The bottom two teams will compete in the Sonic Consolation Bracket (8 teams).
POOLS:
Division “A”: Conway, Greenbrier, Harding Academy, Heber Springs
Division “B”: Central Arkansas Christian, Lonoke, Pulaski Academy, Searcy
Division “C”: Bald Knob, Little Rock Christian, Pine Bluff, Watson Chapel
Division “D”: Conway Christian, Des Arc, Greene County Tech, Rose Bud
The standouts in this year’s field figure to come from Division C. That pool boasts NCAA Division 1 athletes Michael Dyer from Little Rock Christian, Claude Johnson and Jonathan Frazier from Pine Bluff, and a few athletes from Watson Chapel that will receive some looks from college coaches. Bald Knob is the 4th team in that pool and will try to win games using the Tony Franklin System that they implemented two years ago.
Other interesting stories going into the tournament will be how Conway will perform this early under new head coach Clint Ashcraft. Greenbrier will be another team to watch as Coach Randy Tribble will be in his second year. The Panthers also employ the Tony Franklin System.
Absent from this year’s tournament is last year’s champion Lake Hamilton. Lake Hamilton used their win from the Air Raid to propel them to a Shootout of the South victory a week later. They went on to win the 6A state title.
Pulaski Academy did not attend last year’s Air Raid, but they won the VYPE Select 7 on 7 last July. They are the only state champion that will be in attendance.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Public Versus Private Schools in Arkansas*
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*Wally, you probably need to read this.
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On Thursday, May 7, 2009, Wally Hall published a wildly inaccurate and silly "Like It Is" about private schools and financial aid to student-athletes. We will dissect many sentences and paragraphs in that article. Please follow this link and read column yourself to make sure we are not taking the cranky old columnist out of context.
Wally wants to make this an issue of sportsmanship, which it may very well be. He probably could have used lots of examples of good sportsmanship. However, he chose to use the example of a 1974 game in which Elkins beat Winslow 48-0 but held down the score by punting the ball through the endzone when they got to the one yard line. John Bunch broke a national record in that game by rushing for 608 yards. He ran the ball 38 times. If Elkins was showing such great sportsmanship that game, then why in the world did their starting running back play the entire game and carry the ball 38 times?
Let's imagine for a second that Shiloh decided they no longer wanted to score once the game got out of hand, but instead wanted to use the Super Sportsmanlike 1974 Elkins Elks way of keeping the score down. Instead of bringing in their 4th string QB, they leave their entire first string guys in but are punting the ball through the endzone every time they get close. Is Wally going to write about how "sportsmanlike" they are because they only won 35-0 in racking up 800 yards of offense?
Our next beef is that Wally accuses Pulaski Academy (PA) of running up the score by going for it on 4th and 15 on their own 10. We have many things to say about this:
Next, Wally accuses both Shiloh Christian (SC) and PA of running up the score. PA finished the season 13-1 and the average game was 50-26 while SC finished 13-1 and the average game was 47-14. You will see similar numbers for Junction City (a public school) or Fountain Lake (a public school). As a matter of fact, Fountain Lake won their semi-final game 70-0 over the Lavaca and Junction City beat Norphlet by that same 70-0 score. Where is the call for either of these teams to be bumped one classification OR have them play in their own playoff.
Near the end of the column Wally writes, "There is no such thing as a scholarship at a public school." Unless I am mistaken, EVERY student at the government funded schools in Arkansas attends without paying tuition. They are each provided with a "scholarship" by the same taxpayers that are sometimes paying someone else (i.e., private schools) to educate their children. By the way, the students that go to private schools don't get the benefit of that tax money. It is simply gone.
Obviously, you can see where we stand on this issue. We think that private schools should be allowed to play public schools for championships. However, we also believe that if a school, private or public, is doing anything illegal such as recruiting, then they should be harshly punished and should be banned from postseason play in all sports.
It should also be noted that if this is really an issue of "running up the score," then this should be punished across the board for anyone who is guilty. Connecticut has a rule that if a team wins by 50 or more points, then their coach is suspended the following week. We wouldn't mind seeing that rule, but we would add to it that if it happens twice, the coach be suspended for the remainder of the season. We're pretty sure the Junction Cities, Shilohs, and Fountain Lakes would be able to find a way to keep the scoreboard down if that were the case.
Lastly, we will admit that there is an issue that needs to be resolved. The answer may be to move up Shiloh and PA a class or two or all the way up to 7A. We don't have the answers, but we think it would be a black eye for Arkansas high school athletics not to include some of these very good teams in their championships among all the schools.
We would love to hear your thoughts. Have a good weekend!
*Wally, you probably need to read this.
-------
On Thursday, May 7, 2009, Wally Hall published a wildly inaccurate and silly "Like It Is" about private schools and financial aid to student-athletes. We will dissect many sentences and paragraphs in that article. Please follow this link and read column yourself to make sure we are not taking the cranky old columnist out of context.
Wally wants to make this an issue of sportsmanship, which it may very well be. He probably could have used lots of examples of good sportsmanship. However, he chose to use the example of a 1974 game in which Elkins beat Winslow 48-0 but held down the score by punting the ball through the endzone when they got to the one yard line. John Bunch broke a national record in that game by rushing for 608 yards. He ran the ball 38 times. If Elkins was showing such great sportsmanship that game, then why in the world did their starting running back play the entire game and carry the ball 38 times?
Let's imagine for a second that Shiloh decided they no longer wanted to score once the game got out of hand, but instead wanted to use the Super Sportsmanlike 1974 Elkins Elks way of keeping the score down. Instead of bringing in their 4th string QB, they leave their entire first string guys in but are punting the ball through the endzone every time they get close. Is Wally going to write about how "sportsmanlike" they are because they only won 35-0 in racking up 800 yards of offense?
Our next beef is that Wally accuses Pulaski Academy (PA) of running up the score by going for it on 4th and 15 on their own 10. We have many things to say about this:
- Most coaches do not agree with Coach Kevin Kelley when it comes to punting. They have called him a "riverboat gambler" or "crazy," AND they think that the strategy will come back to haunt him someday.
- Coach Kelley is convinced that punting in almost any situation works AGAINST his team's chances of winning, and he has statistics to back that up.
- It is either one or the other, but it can't be both.
Next, Wally accuses both Shiloh Christian (SC) and PA of running up the score. PA finished the season 13-1 and the average game was 50-26 while SC finished 13-1 and the average game was 47-14. You will see similar numbers for Junction City (a public school) or Fountain Lake (a public school). As a matter of fact, Fountain Lake won their semi-final game 70-0 over the Lavaca and Junction City beat Norphlet by that same 70-0 score. Where is the call for either of these teams to be bumped one classification OR have them play in their own playoff.
Near the end of the column Wally writes, "There is no such thing as a scholarship at a public school." Unless I am mistaken, EVERY student at the government funded schools in Arkansas attends without paying tuition. They are each provided with a "scholarship" by the same taxpayers that are sometimes paying someone else (i.e., private schools) to educate their children. By the way, the students that go to private schools don't get the benefit of that tax money. It is simply gone.
Obviously, you can see where we stand on this issue. We think that private schools should be allowed to play public schools for championships. However, we also believe that if a school, private or public, is doing anything illegal such as recruiting, then they should be harshly punished and should be banned from postseason play in all sports.
It should also be noted that if this is really an issue of "running up the score," then this should be punished across the board for anyone who is guilty. Connecticut has a rule that if a team wins by 50 or more points, then their coach is suspended the following week. We wouldn't mind seeing that rule, but we would add to it that if it happens twice, the coach be suspended for the remainder of the season. We're pretty sure the Junction Cities, Shilohs, and Fountain Lakes would be able to find a way to keep the scoreboard down if that were the case.
Lastly, we will admit that there is an issue that needs to be resolved. The answer may be to move up Shiloh and PA a class or two or all the way up to 7A. We don't have the answers, but we think it would be a black eye for Arkansas high school athletics not to include some of these very good teams in their championships among all the schools.
We would love to hear your thoughts. Have a good weekend!
Friday, April 10, 2009
Revolution Revisited*
*This is a reprint of the 1st article every posted on Arkansas 7-on-7 Football. We bring it back now as we are preparing to start a new season. Based on our site statistics, it is unlikely that most of our visitors today read that inaugural post.
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The editors of this blog have been watching Arkansas High School Football since the late 1980's. When our observations started, the passing game was a necessary evil to most football teams. The key to winning games early in this time frame (1987-1997) was to run the ball effectively and win the time of possession battle. The most successful teams fell into two broad categories: (1) power or (2) speed. Both categories were just distinctions between the type of running plays that the coach liked to call. Most coaches believed the adage, "Only three can happen when you pass the ball, and two of them are bad."
The power teams typically used the I-formation of various flavors and ran right at the defense with big tailbacks and basically offensive guards playing fullback. The Cabot Panthers are an example of a team that came right at you with a Power I. They simply wanted 3.5 yards on every play. Opponents of the good teams in this category would find themselves physically dominated and battered by the 4th quarter.
The speed teams usually ran some type of option game at you and tried to isolate the corner. The option came in all kinds of flavors: wishbone, wing-T, and slot I to name a few. The Fordyce Redbugs and Pine Bluff Zebras are examples of teams that would rather run around you than through you. The goods teams in this category made opponents feel like they were at a track meet with inferior athletes and the speed could dominate you psychologically.
In the mid 1990's, a quiet change occurred around the high schools of Arkansas. Suddenly, a new offensive philosophy that didn't care about that two of the things that could happen when you throw the ball are "bad." The spread passing game appeared with great success brought in most notably by Ronnie Peacock's Greenwood Bulldogs, Barry Lunney's Southside Rebels, and Gus Malzahn's Shiloh Christian Saints. Each of these coaches brought state titles to their schools and each have moved on to other opportunities. However, their imprint on Arkansas high school football can be seen at schools all over the state with varying degrees of success from three-peat state champions (Greenwood and Nashville) to teams struggling to win more than a couple of games (Parkview and Alma for example).
What began as a "gimmick" offense to many around Arkansas high school football circles has been a revolutionary way of playing football at this level. When implemented correctly, it is a fun atmosphere for the players and fans running the system and a nightmare for opposing coaches trying to prepare for it.
One side effect of the explosion of the spread passing game is the appearance of 7-on-7 football games, leagues, and tournaments. These teams spend much of the summer perfecting timing, learning plays, and conditioning in a way that the running teams of old didn't imagine. This blog will be dedicated to keeping the 7-on-7 players, coaches, and fans up-to-date on the happenings in the world of 7-on-7 football in Arkansas.
So, thanks for stopping by to see what these high powered offensive showcases are doing. We hope that you will return again and again. If you have updates on 7-on-7 tournaments and leagues that you don't see here, please email them to us at arkansasfootballbloggers@gmail.com
Ground rules for comments:
*Originally posted May 3, 2008.
----------------------
The editors of this blog have been watching Arkansas High School Football since the late 1980's. When our observations started, the passing game was a necessary evil to most football teams. The key to winning games early in this time frame (1987-1997) was to run the ball effectively and win the time of possession battle. The most successful teams fell into two broad categories: (1) power or (2) speed. Both categories were just distinctions between the type of running plays that the coach liked to call. Most coaches believed the adage, "Only three can happen when you pass the ball, and two of them are bad."
The power teams typically used the I-formation of various flavors and ran right at the defense with big tailbacks and basically offensive guards playing fullback. The Cabot Panthers are an example of a team that came right at you with a Power I. They simply wanted 3.5 yards on every play. Opponents of the good teams in this category would find themselves physically dominated and battered by the 4th quarter.
The speed teams usually ran some type of option game at you and tried to isolate the corner. The option came in all kinds of flavors: wishbone, wing-T, and slot I to name a few. The Fordyce Redbugs and Pine Bluff Zebras are examples of teams that would rather run around you than through you. The goods teams in this category made opponents feel like they were at a track meet with inferior athletes and the speed could dominate you psychologically.
In the mid 1990's, a quiet change occurred around the high schools of Arkansas. Suddenly, a new offensive philosophy that didn't care about that two of the things that could happen when you throw the ball are "bad." The spread passing game appeared with great success brought in most notably by Ronnie Peacock's Greenwood Bulldogs, Barry Lunney's Southside Rebels, and Gus Malzahn's Shiloh Christian Saints. Each of these coaches brought state titles to their schools and each have moved on to other opportunities. However, their imprint on Arkansas high school football can be seen at schools all over the state with varying degrees of success from three-peat state champions (Greenwood and Nashville) to teams struggling to win more than a couple of games (Parkview and Alma for example).
What began as a "gimmick" offense to many around Arkansas high school football circles has been a revolutionary way of playing football at this level. When implemented correctly, it is a fun atmosphere for the players and fans running the system and a nightmare for opposing coaches trying to prepare for it.
One side effect of the explosion of the spread passing game is the appearance of 7-on-7 football games, leagues, and tournaments. These teams spend much of the summer perfecting timing, learning plays, and conditioning in a way that the running teams of old didn't imagine. This blog will be dedicated to keeping the 7-on-7 players, coaches, and fans up-to-date on the happenings in the world of 7-on-7 football in Arkansas.
So, thanks for stopping by to see what these high powered offensive showcases are doing. We hope that you will return again and again. If you have updates on 7-on-7 tournaments and leagues that you don't see here, please email them to us at arkansasfootballbloggers@gmail.com
Ground rules for comments:
- Please do not try to use this blog to disparage players or coaches. We are supportive of the effort that these people put forward to play, officiate, and coach in these 7-on-7 competitions.
- If you have a different view, we would love to hear it, but please be respectful. We would be willing to publish alternative views of the 7-on-7 phenomenon as long as you can make a logical case.
- Let us know how we can make this blog better.
*Originally posted May 3, 2008.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
2009 Arkansas 7-on-7 Tournaments
June 6 – Sonic Air Raid (Searcy)
June 11 – Robinson 7-on-7 Tournament
June 12-13 – Harding University 7-on-7 Camp
June 19-20 – Shootout of the South (Little Rock)
June 21-July 4 – ARKANSAS DEAD PERIOD
July 11 – Fountain Lake 7-on-7 Tournament
July 17-18 – VYPE Select 7-on-7 Tournament (Fayetteville)
July 18 - Perryville 7-on-7 Camp
Teams interested can contact Assistant Coach Marc Tucker at (501)889-2266
Please let us know of any other 7-on-7 tournaments going on this summer. We will amend this article as we hear of other tournaments. We will also try to preview each tournament during the week it is to begin as well as giving a tournament wrap up for each event.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Western Arkansas/Eastern Oklahoma League Idea
Over the last few years, we have heard grumblings that "isolated" schools can't catch up with the schools that live in metro areas or areas like NW Arkansas. The claims are that the areas of the state with clusters of same size schools use the summer 7-on-7 season to fine tune offenses and work on defenses against spread defenses while the isolated schools are stuck with weight training and conditioning. We recently discussed what we would do as coaches in these areas.
To make it a concrete example of our options, we had a brainstorming session a few weeks back over how teams might create 7-on-7 leagues in the area around Booneville, Waldron, Mena, and Mt. Ida. To start, we listed the schools that we know play football in the area. Here was the list:
Here is what we found. Waldron is ideally situated to minimize travel time for a 14 team league (Waldron + the 13 others). Here are the distances:
While we have not floated this idea to the coaches in the area, we think that putting this straw man out there at this time is a good idea. There are relatively new coaches at some of the schools (and there may be other schools not listed) that would want to get a jump on the offensive practice that 7-on-7 leagues allow.
Let us know what you think. What are the strengths and weaknesses? How could this idea be improved?
To make it a concrete example of our options, we had a brainstorming session a few weeks back over how teams might create 7-on-7 leagues in the area around Booneville, Waldron, Mena, and Mt. Ida. To start, we listed the schools that we know play football in the area. Here was the list:
- Waldron
- Mansfield
- Booneville
- Hartford
- Magazine
- Greenwood
- Heavener (OK)
- Mena
- Mt. Ida
- Poteau (OK)
- Paris
- Charleston
- Ozark
Here is what we found. Waldron is ideally situated to minimize travel time for a 14 team league (Waldron + the 13 others). Here are the distances:
- Average Distance: 37.9 miles (+/- 11.0 miles)
- Median Distance: 35 miles
- Maximum Distance: 60 miles
While we have not floated this idea to the coaches in the area, we think that putting this straw man out there at this time is a good idea. There are relatively new coaches at some of the schools (and there may be other schools not listed) that would want to get a jump on the offensive practice that 7-on-7 leagues allow.
Let us know what you think. What are the strengths and weaknesses? How could this idea be improved?
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