Playoff mode started a few weeks before Stuttgart earned its first-round by in the 4A state high school football bracket.
The high-scoring Ricebirds (10-0) won two of their closest games of the season against state contenders Warren and Hamburg in the final three weeks of a dramatic Conference 4A-8 race, so earning the week off and staying undefeated have come as no surprise to Coach Josh Price.
“The kids have done a good job sticking with the gameplan,” Price said. “In those two games (against Warren and Hamburg), we got stops and we pulled it together. You always want your regular season to prepare you for state.”
Price said the Ricebirds fell behind both times, but they emerged with the win in a 59-55 home shootout against Warren on Oct. 24 and, two weeks later, outran Hamburg to a 52-41 road win Nov. 6 to win the conference outright.
Up next for Stuttgart is another resurging power in Blytheville (7-3), the No. 3 seed from Conference 4A-3, at 7 p.m. Friday at Stuttgart’s Ned Moseley Stadium. In their first season under Pine Bluff High School alumnus Rod Stinson, the Chickasaws have enjoyed a four-win turnaround from last year and are in their fourth straight playoff appearance.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“The big thing for us has been being consistent,” said Stinson, who was Pine Bluff’s coach from 2019-21 and was an assistant at Marion before taking the Blytheville job. “We brought in four coaches, and that has helped us tremendously. We preached the weight room, everything all coaches preach. The kids got better and we put wins together.”
Blytheville is coming off a 42-27 home win over Pottsville last Friday. For Blytheville, senior running back Courtney Rogers rushed 7 times for 216 yards and 3 touchdowns, and junior quarterback Chad Bell completed 6 of 10 passes for 165 yards and 3 touchdowns. Senior Johmir Guyton caught three of Bell’s passes for 151 yards and 3 TDs.
Stuttgart has not scored fewer than 42 points since a season-opening, 24-20 win over Lonoke, the eventual No. 2 seed from Conference 4A-2. The Ricebirds have scored 50 or more points in five of their last six games and have averaged a win margin of 23.4 points per game.
Much credit can go to junior quarterback Cain Price, who’s sixth in the state overall in passing with 2,858 yards (with 35 touchdowns); senior Q.T. Johnson (961 yards receiving); and sophomore Tyquan Hall (890 yards rushing). Junior defensive back Keaton Byers has forced 11 turnovers, with junior defensive end Beau Barnes and sophomore linebacker Knox Hillman also consistent playmakers.
A junior class leads Blytheville’s defensive charge, as free safety Trevon Orr (16 tackles), defensive end Trevon Lewis (11 tackles) and linebacker Xzavion Liddell (10 tackles, 1 forced fumble) were heavily active in last Friday’s win.
Bears win away from Little Rock
The only other unbeaten team in Southeast Arkansas could become the first to punch a ticket to the state finals at Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium.
Woodlawn (9-0) earned another home playoff game with a 50-20 win over Midland last Friday. The 8-man South champion Bears will host Rector (5-3), the North No. 2 seed coming off a 28-20 win over Brinkley.
The winner will take on either Cedar Ridge or Strong on Dec. 4. This is the first semifinal for Woodlawn since 2021, the first year the Arkansas Activities Association sanctioned 8-man football as a varsity sport.
“Rector looks a lot like us,” first-year Bears Coach Doug Means said. “They’re probably one of the better teams we’ve faced all year. If you stood us up together without our uniforms, you’d probably couldn’t tell which team we were.”
Means estimated 85% of Woodlawn’s offensive plays have been rushes, and the Bears have carried it well.
Junior Ethan Saelar engineers their I-formation offense and has 2,098 yards of total offense to his name this year. Saelar has rushed 141 times for 1,497 yards and often feeds the ball to junior running back Griffin Manes, who’s carried 164 times for 1,414 yards. Senior Beau Watson (26 receptions, 407 yards) has caught for more than two-thirds of Saelar’s passing yardage.
Saelar (59 tackles) at safety and Watson (52 tackles) at linebacker are key cogs to the Bears’ defense as well. Senior Matthew Green, who splits time between defensive end and linebacker, has 59 tackles including 4 sacks, 4 forced fumbles and 3 fumble recoveries.
First time for everything
In this noteworthy season for Southeast Arkansas football — 11 playoff qualifiers, two remaining unbeatens and two one-loss teams (Fordyce in 3A and Hamburg in 4A) — Drew Central has achieved a notable first.
The Pirates won their first playoff game in school history last Friday over Paris, 43-6, and will remain home to take on Osceola on Friday in the second round of the 3A playoffs. Drew Central played its first varsity season in the playoff era in 2008.
“One major turnaround for us, our guys are catching their stride,” fourth-year Pirates Coach Larry White said. “Going 2-8 last year was tough.”
With a senior-led ballclub, the Pirates have won three in a row, defeating Palestine-Wheatley and Dumas in weeks 9 and 10 just to secure a playoff spot. They earned the No. 2 seed in Conference 3A-8.
“We played a Barton team (in Week 8) we thought we could beat,” White said, looking back on a 39-26 loss. “It let us know, every week is a gauntlet in our conference.”