Dumas and Stuttgart each have its own challenges when the two teams play at 7 tonight in Stuttgart.
Stuttgart was forced to play this past Monday night after its game against Valley View was postponed due to lightning on Friday. The Ricebirds pulled out a decisive 34-19 victory, but face Dumas on just three days’ rest.
“It’s going to be different and I don’t know if we will have our legs back,” Stuttgart coach Billy Elmore said. “I have never done this. We did more prep on Tuesday and hopefully our kids are mature enough to handle that.”
Stuttgart (2-0), which is ranked No. 2 in Class 4A by Hootens.com, has a defense that concerns Dumas coach Mark Courtney.
“Stuttgart is a legitimate top five team in 4A and defensively, they are as good as I have seen in a long time in 4A,” he said. “Their defense is ridiculous.”
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Dumas (0-2) has to find a way to stop the Ricebirds’ offense after giving up 76 points in its first two games.
“We have nine new faces, so we are just super young and making young mistakes,” Courtney said. “We improved from week one to week two, had a good week of practice and hope we make some gains.”
The game is also Stuttgart’s home opener.
“We are excited to play at home and we have a good opponent,” Elmore said. “It will be a good ballgame and hopefully we play well.”
Monticello at Fordyce
Fordyce quarterback Cole Johnson is not just on Monticello’s mind tonight, but Fordyce coach Tim Rodgers knows his team goes as his senior signal-caller goes.
“When he is clicking, our offense is clicking,” he said. “He is a big part of our offense.. We had a lot of first half mess-ups last week and when he made plays, it was our two touchdowns.”
Johnson has completed 60 percent of his passes for 337 yards and five touchdowns to lead the Redbugs (2-0) to a No. 7 ranking by Hootens.com.
“He was a good player for them last year and he is better than he was last year,” Monticello coach Greg Tiner said. “We are going to have to contain him the best we can, but you can’t stop everything and just have to disrupt him and his timing.”
Monticello (1-1) was shut out by McGehee in the first game of the year and its preseason scrimmage before hanging 41 points in a win over Magnolia last week.
“The main thing is we played hard offensively,” Tiner said. “They were more sharp than they were against McGehee, and that’s what we are more used to the past few years.”
Monticello hopes to continue its offensive success against Fordyce, which is outmatched up front.
“We are kind of worried about their size. They are bigger than us up front. … The last two times we played them, they were so athletic and strong and that’s what we are worried about.”
Rison at Woodlawn
It has been since 1976 since Rison started the year 0-2, but that’s where they sit after losses to Fordyce and Junction City to start the year.
Rison coach Clay Totty said the main thing, though, is just improving every week and not worrying about the winless start.
“Just continue to improve every game, that’s the main thing,” he said. “That’s what you really try and do under any circumstances and make the most out of what you’ve got.”
Rison is still ranked No. 4 in Class 2A by Hootens.com and faces a Woodlawn (0-2) team that has been outscored 68-8.
“It’s Rison and they are good, they are talented and they are more talented than we are,” Woodlawn coach Ray Sessions said. “It will take a heck of a game out of us to make it competitive.”
Woodlawn is ahead of last year’s pace, though. The Bears were defeated 70-14 in the first week of the season last year.
“I think our defense has been playing better than last year,” Sessions said. “I felt if we could’ve got anything going offensively, we would’ve been fine in both of our games.”
Totty is not marking the game down as a clear-cut win, though.
“I wouldn’t say confident, and we have many things that we have to work on,” he said. “If you take care of your stuff and improve, than the scoreboard takes care of itself.”
Booneville at Star City
Star City coach Blair Brown is playing a lot of sophomores this year, so he wanted his kids to see a team like tradition-rich Booneville.
“They have been good for decades and we got this together to get the kids a taste of good football,” he said. “This prepares our kids to understand that it’s going to be a full four quarter game and they will play us harder than anyone in a long time.”
Both teams rely on the ground game. Star City (2-0) rushed for more than 300 total yards in its win over Camden Harmony Grove last week, and Booneville did the same in its win over Gravette.
“They play with incredible intensity and run the same basic offense and scheme and they have a lot of confidence in that,” Brown said. “Right now, what we have been given is our run game and we do what we think can be the most successful at. Hopefully we are even matched.”
DeWitt at McGehee
Another week and another 8-4A Conference opponent for Class 3A McGehee. The Owls knocked off Monticello in the first week and Dumas last week.
This week, McGehee (2-0) faces DeWitt (0-1), which the Owls beat 35-0 last year.
McGehee coach Marcus Haddock said last year means nothing in this game, though.
“They are much improved than last year and much more physical, and we are looking forward to a good game,” he said. “The kids are not taking them lightly and we had one of the best practices we had this year.”
The Owls are ranked No. 2 in 3A by Hootens.com, but Haddock knows the Owls still have a lot to work on.
“Very blessed to be where we are, but it’s just two games,” he said. “We have to straighten some stuff out to have a chance to be successful in our conference.”
Warren at Camden Fairview
Warren (0-2) could be staring an 0-3 start straight in the face, which could be a good sign of things to come.
The last time Warren started 0-3, the Lumberjacks finished the regular season 7-3 and won the 8-4A Conference.
A week after facing the top 5A team, according to Hootens.com, in Pulaski Academy, Warren faces the No. 2 team — Camden Fairview.
“It’s going to be tough. We have three to four kids sitting out with injuries and they are a really good football team,” Warren coach Bo Hembree said. “It’s our last non-conference game and it’s a big ball game in terms of getting better.”
Tonight’s game caps a non-conference schedule that had three top 10 5A teams. Shiloh Christian beat Warren in the first week and is ranked No. 9.
“We knew it was going to be tough and we have seen about everything,” Hembree said. “We are more worried about us than our opponent and get as good as we can before next week.”
Warren is still ranked No. 4 in Class 4A.
Drew Central at Lake Village Lakeside
Drew Central is looking to snap a 15-game losing streak and Lake Village Lakeside has not won since its opening game last season.
Last week, Drew Central fell to Palestine-Wheatley 44-20 and Pirates coach James White said he expects a better performance this week.
“We played as horrible as we could possibly play last week and just laid an egg basically,” he said. “There needs to be a whole lot of improvement this week and I know our practices have been more intense. We are still confident and have to take it to the game and be competitive.”