Apologies to Hoxie Mustang fans, but how can you not be rooting for the Fordyce Redbugs?
Fordyce, a small town that suffered the horrific mass shooting deaths of four of its citizens this past summer and the wounding of 11 others, is trying to make sense of life. A local man is in jail and awaiting trial, but there’s been no “reason” given for what happened, as police believe, to cause him to open fire on the parking lot of the Mad Butcher grocery store.
Those things happen elsewhere, right? Not in a small town in southeast Arkansas. Which is why the disconnect has been so great, given that everyone knows everyone, including the suspect and his family.
But if one’s mind can be removed from the horror for just a bit, then the Redbugs are providing that pause in the pain.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Fordyce, undefeated at 10-0 for the season, played Hoxie on Friday night.
They weren’t expected to be so successful, which was fine with the coach, Tim Rodgers, who’s had the top job for 15 years and been on the staff for a whopping 40 seasons.
After the shooting, Rodgers said he gathered everyone together.
“We checked on them and made sure all the kids and families were good,” he said. “But we told them … a lot of people are going to look through football and look through athletics to try to get some kind of … I guess, to try to get their minds off of that, which you never get your minds off of that.”
No, he’s right, you don’t. How could you? But there the Redbugs have been on Friday nights, giving the home folks a bit of diversion this fall.
Said one player, Micah Gamble, a sophomore who sounded far wiser than his young years would suggest: “We’ve got to play for everybody. We’ve got to play for the people that sadly passed away. Then we’ve got to play for the people who were in the store when it happened. We just play hard overall.”
This past Friday night, the game wasn’t close. Redbugs, 52, Hoxie, 14. Next up are the Jessieville Lions. Again, apologies to Lions fans, but closer to home, we don’t think it’ll hurt anyone’s feelings if the Redbugs keep right on winning.