Traveling out of state is becoming the norm early in a season for Pine Bluff High School’s football team.
The Zebras will make their second straight trip to a neighboring state this weekend as they face Dallas Kimball at the Sprague Athletic Complex, 3701 Boulder Drive in Dallas, on Saturday at 11 a.m. The location is a change from the originally announced Kincaide Stadium.
Pine Bluff Coach Micheal Williams said traveling out of state allows the Zebras (0-1) to see tougher opponents than many of the Arkansas teams they typically play.
“That’s kinda one of the reasons why we do it,” Williams said. “Because we want to be able to face competition that’s a little bit better than what we’re used to seeing, so when we get back here, it’s a little easier.”
This will be Pine Bluff’s fourth game played outside of Arkansas in the past three seasons. The Zebras traveled to Grenada (Miss.) to open the 2023 campaign before doing so again last week. Pine Bluff played in Dallas last season in what was a neutral-site affair against Oklahoma City Millwood.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The past two years featured one long trip to start the season. This year, the Zebras are doing it two weeks in a row. Last week, an underclassman-heavy Pine Bluff team fell 42-6 at Grenada, the reigning Mississippi Class 6A state champions.
Williams said the Zebras played 13 sophomores, and he was impressed by how his young players never got down despite the score but remained ready to play hard until the end.
“Most times, you look at sophomores, sophomores want to play, juniors want the ball, and seniors want to win,” Williams said. “Most times, you get those sophomores that just want to play, but most times, they’re not ready. These guys want to play, and they’re pretty much ready.”
Pine Bluff hosted Kimball (0-1) last season at Simmons Bank Field at Golden Lion Stadium, losing 35-6 to a Knights team which went on to win Texas’ District 7-4A Division I championship. After going undefeated in district play, Kimball lost 35-33 in the opening round of the University Interscholastic League playoffs to an Aubrey team which later lost to eventual state champion Celina.
This year, the Knights are coming off a 27-0 defeat to Mansfield Timberview. That team beat Kimball 20-6 in last year’s opener.
Williams said the Zebras made too many mistakes against Grenada and need to cut down on those this week against Kimball.
“I can’t say that team that we played (last week) wasn’t better than us,” Williams said. “Of course, they’re a championship team. But I can say 35 of the points were busted coverages or a bad fumble by our running back or a dropped ball by a receiver. A lot of that was on us. I’m not taking anything away from Grenada, but our team has to get better at the mistakes.”
Despite last week’s result, Williams said he was encouraged by some of the things he saw from his sophomores.
Starting quarterback Jamar Morrow completed 14 of 29 passes with a touchdown and one interception. Williams said each of his four sophomore receivers caught a pass, and his two underclassman offensive linemen graded out better than the three seniors who started.
This will be Pine Bluff’s final out-of-state game this season.