Bryant wins title, Greenwood second, in final football poll

By Scott McDonald
Batesville Daily Guard

The final Arkansas Sports Media High School Football Poll of the 2018 season was released Monday afternoon with all the state champions holding down the No. 1 spot in their respective classifications.

The Bryant Hornets, who surprised North Little Rock 27-7 in the Class 7A State Championship two weeks ago, ascended to the top of the Overall Top 10 for the final week.

Bryant had been playing second fiddle to North Little Rock in the poll most of the season and lost to the Charging Wildcats 34-28 back on October 26. Bryant’s other loss was a 36-35 nail-biter to Fayetteville early in the season.

But the Hornets were not a unanimous choice for the top team in the state as they garnered 24 of the 25 first-place votes.

The other first-place vote went to the Greenwood Bulldogs who won the Class 6A State Championship over Benton. Greenwood moved up to No. 2 from No. 4 in the final poll.

After holding down the overall top spot all through the regular season, the North Little Rock Charging Wildcats dropped to No. 3 in the final poll. The Charging Wildcats had the state’s longest winning steak of 25 straight until they fell to Bryant in the Class 7A title game.

The Little Rock Christian Warriors debut at No. 4 in the final poll after they defeated Pulaski Academy 52-38 for the Class 5A State Championship two weeks ago in probably the best game of all the six championships played.

Bentonville West, Benton, Fort Smith Northside, Fayetteville and Pulaski Academy hold down the fifth through ninth spots while the Arkadelphia Badgers come in at No. 10.

The Badgers, who started the season off 0-5, won their last 10 games including their season straight Class 4A State Championship.

In the Class 6A Top 5, the top three sports were all unanimous as Greenwood got all 25 first-place votes, Benton all 25 second-place votes and West Memphis all 25 third-place votes.

Jonesboro and Sylvan Hills hold down the other two spots. Also, the Sylvan Hills Bears were the only team in all the polls that have a losing record at 5-8. The Bears went into the playoffs as a No. 6 seed and advanced all the way to the semifinals.

In the Class 5A Top 5, LR Christian got all 25 first-place votes and Pulaski Academy received all 25 second-place votes.

The Harrison Goblins, the only unbeaten Class 5A team going into the playoffs, finished third after falling to Pulaski Academy in the semifinals. Morrilton finished fourth after a shaky start to the season and Texarkana was fifth.

In the Class 4A Top 5, Arkadelphia took the top spot while Robinson was unanimous pick for second. Shiloh Christian came in third, Dumas debuts at fourth and Warren, the preaseason favorite, finished fifth.

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In the Class 3A Top 5, the Booneville Bearcats finished as the state’s only undefeated team (15-0) after easily winning the championship game 35-0 over Osceola on Saturday.

Also, Booneville was the only team ranked No. 1 in its classification for all 13 polls this season. Prescott, the team Booneville beat in the semifinals, edged Osceola for second with Rison and Smackover round out the five.

In the Class 2A Top 5, the Junction City Dragons finished the season with 11 straight victories to claim another Class 2A state title, beating the Hazen Hornets 36-22 in the championship game. The Hornets finished second followed by Foreman, Mount Ida and Conway Christian.