67.7 F
Fayetteville

’Dogs jump to No. 2 overall; LR Christian, PA tied in Class 5A

Following is the Overall top 10 overall high school football teams in Arkansas and the top five in Classes 6A, 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A, as voted by a panel of sports media from around the state for the week ending September 15.

Ranking is given with first-place votes received, records, total points and last week’s rankings:

OVERALL

1. North Little Rock (29) 3-0 332 1
2. Fayetteville (3) 3-0 296 3
3. Bryant 2-1 226 2
4. Conway (1) 3-0 205 4
5. FS Northside 3-0 193 5
6. Greenwood 2-1 120 8
7. Pulaski Academy 2-1 89 6
8. Springdale 3-0 75 9
9. Warren (1) 2-0 61 10
10. Cabot 2-1 44 7

Others receiving votes: West Memphis 43, Benton 41,Bentonville 25, LR Christian 18, FS Southside 16, Joe T. Robinson 14, Bentonville West 11, Springdale Har-Ber 8, Rivercrest 8, Pine Bluff 4, Searcy 2, Texarkana 1.

CLASS 6A

1. Greenwood (27) 2-1 154 1
2. West Memphis (6) 3-0 132 2
3. Benton (1) 2-1 109 3
4. Searcy 3-0 65 5
5. Pine Bluff 0-2-1 27 4

Others receiving votes: El Dorado 10, Lake Hamilton 7, Marion 3, Jonesboro 1, Russellville 1.

CLASS 5A

1. LR Christian (14) 3-0 146 2
1. Pulaski Academy (18) 2-1 146 1
3. LR McClellan 3-0 85 3
4. Harrison 3-0 64 4
5. Texarkana (2) 2-1 50 5

Others receiving votes: Watson Chapel 12, Nettleton 5, Morrilton 1, Greenbrier 1.

Class 4A

1. Warren (33) 2-0 169 1
2. Joe T. Robinson 2-1 125 2
3. Nashville (1) 3-0 108 3
4. Rivercrest 3-0 48 4
5. Southside Batesville 2-1 32 5

Others receiving votes: Dardanelle 10, Arkadelphia 6, Bauxite 6, Pea Ridge 3, Gosnell 2, DeWitt 2, Fountain Lake 1, Shiloh Christian 1.

CLASS 3A

1. Booneville (26) 3-0 161 1
2. Clinton (5) 3-0 124 2
3. Prescott (2) 3-0 87 3
4. Mayflower (3-0) 55 4
5. McGehee (1) 1-2 18 5

Others receiving votes:, Smackover 14, Charleston 9, Rison 9, Melbourne 7, Atkins 6, Osceola 5, Newport 3, Glen Rose 1.

CLASS 2A

1. Mount Ida (21) 3-0 154 1
2. Foreman (10) 2-0 120 2
3. Hazen (1) 2-0 105 3
4. Mineral Springs (1) 3-0 49 5
5. Junction City (1) 1-2 35 4

Others receiving votes: Hampton 15, Conway Christian 11, Bigelow 9, Earle 3, England 2 DesArc 2, Fordyce 2, McCrory 1, Hector 1, Poyen 1.

Hogs open SEC schedule on road at Texas A&M on Wednesday

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas turns its attention to SEC play which begins Wednesday at Texas A&M.

First serve of the conference opener is scheduled for 7 p.m. on the SEC Network. Arkansas (6-4) has won nine of its past 10 SEC openers including five in a row.

All-Time Series vs Texas A&M
Wednesday’s match will be the 11th meeting in the series, all since the Aggies joined the SEC prior to 2012.

Arkansas won both matchups last year including a straight-set win in College Station. Three of Arkansas’ four wins in the series have come in College Station.

Courtney Lyle (play-by-play) and Jenny Hazelwood (analyst) will be on the call for Wednesday’s match.

Last Time Out
Arkansas closed out its non-conference schedule with a four-set road loss at Georgia Tech (Sept. 15).

Sophomore Logan Brown tallied a career-high 20 kills while Hailey Dirrigl (16 kills, 11 digs) and Rachel Rippee (47 assists, 10 digs) each had double-doubles in the setback.

In the weekend opener against NC State (Sept. 14), the Razorbacks had 11 service aces including four from freshman Lauren Evans.

Logan’s Last Five
Over her last four outings, sophomore Logan Brown has put down 68 kills which is good for 3.78 kills per set coupled with a .297 hitting percentage.

Her career-high 20 kills against Georgia Tech (Sept. 15) replaced her previous best of 15 which she posted in the previous two matches.

Milestone Watch
Senior libero Okiana Valle enters the week needing 26 digs to reach 1,500 for her career.

She has four matches this season with at least 20 digs including a season-high 24 digs in the opener against Kansas (Aug. 24).

Additionally, Rachel Rippee is 34 assists shy of 2,732 career assists which would move her into the program’s all-time top five.

Career Assists at Arkansas
1. 5,886 – Tina Rico (1994-97)
2. 3,661 – Raymariely Santos (2010-13)
3. 3,182 – Ning Zhao (1998-99)
4. 2,825 – Lindsay Scanlan (2006-09)
5. 2,732 – Roberta Tarnauskaite (2002-03)
6. 2,698 – Rachel Rippee (2016-pres.)

Where They Rank
Through four weeks of the 2018 campaign, junior Rachel Rippee is second in the SEC with 10.89 assists per set and senior libero Okiana Valle is third with 4.41 digs per set.

In the middle, sophomore Elizabeth Pamphile ranks fifth in the conference with 1.05 blocks per set.

Additional top-10 SEC performers are sophomore Hailey Dirrigl who is seventh with 3.53 kills per set and freshman Lauren Evans who is eighth with 0.38 aces per set.

Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Tuesday

0

Tommy and John are joined by Tyler Wilson to discuss Ty Storey’s strengths, battle at Auburn and more!

???? Monday Halftime Pod — Featuring former Hog Brett Goode

0

Phil Elson and Tye Richardson are joined by former Razorback Bret Goode to discuss losing a second consecutive game, former players calling the team out, 3up-3down and more!

Craddock on Storey at QB, facing Auburn’s defense this week

Hogs offensive coordinator Joe Craddock talked Monday about Ty Storey being named the starting quarterback and facing one of the best defensive fronts in college football against Auburn.

Morris names Storey starting QB at press conference

Arkansas coach Chad Morris named Ty Storey as the starting quarterback for this week’s game at Auburn and it appears he will go the entire game unless something falls apart.

Chavis on some of problems in North Texas loss

Razorbacks defensive coordinator John Chavis met with the media Monday and talked about the problems they had against North Texas last Saturday and the game against Auburn this week.

Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Monday

0

John and Tommy are joined by former Hog QB Tyler Wilson to discuss another loss, former players commenting on the program, interview Tom Murphy and more!

Doyle’s goal, Friars’ response forces draw between Hogs, Providence

FAYETTEVILLE — Junior Stefani Doyle’s 79th minute goal broke open a scoreless match between Arkansas and Providence on Sunday night and seemed to be enough to push Arkansas ahead for the win.

However, the Friars scored their only goal five minutes later and forced a 1-1 draw at Razorback Field.

Doyle’s score was her second of the year after she a deflected shot from sophomore Taylor Malham, finishing at the right post just past the outstretched arms of the Providence keeper.

Doyle is now one of seven Razorback players with five or more points on the year and she now has 13 goals for her career.

Even though Providence equalized shortly after, the Razorbacks continued an offensive onslaught, taking 18 of their 31 shots in the second half and four more in the first overtime.

Unfortunately, the Razorbacks were unable to finish those chances and had to settle for a draw for the second time this year (vs. West Virginia – Aug. 19).

Arkansas still remains undefeated at home at 4-0-1 and has earned two ties after going to overtime three times this year (vs. West Virginia, McNeese State, Providence).

How It Went Down
52nd minute –
 Arkansas opened the second half with a deep shot from Haley VanFossen that was tipped high by the keeper in front of the net. The deflection provided a rebound shot for Taylor Malham that was covered up quickly.

56th minute – The Razorbacks had another opportunity to find the net when Parker Goins sent a shot from 15 yards toward the post that almost squeaked by the goalie. Malham tried to capitalize on the rebound, but was blocked by the keeper.

78th minute – Doyle provided the first goal of the match when she placed a missile in the lower left portion of the net from roughly 10 yards out for her second goal of the year.

94th minute – Providence turned up the pressure offensively after Arkansas’ goal and found the equalizer from Amber Birchwell, who received perfect service from Elayna Grillakis off the end line to Casey Estey just inside the box. Birchwell one-timed the ball past Rachel Harris for her third goal of the season.

Up Next
The Razorbacks return to Razorback Field in their first SEC home match of the season on Thursday when it hosts Texas A&M at 6 p.m. That match will be televised on the SEC Network.

Was loss to North Texas a ‘bottoming out’ for this team?

12

It’s obvious something is disconnected somewhere with this Arkansas team.

Exactly what that is, though, I’m not really certain.

Seeing only about 20 minutes, twice a week, of some routine individual drills that are a half-step above jumping jacks it’s hard to get a good read on things.

It is, however, so clear Stevie Wonder can see it is all of this started heading downhill when Sam Pittman left after the 2015 season. We’d heard he wasn’t particularly happy with things in Fayetteville, particularly after his good friend Jim Chaney left after the 2014 year.

Pittman was stood up on two separate occasions by Bret Bielema on visiting a recruit that came in from another state on different weekends. Pittman wanted to offer the recruit, a highly-regarded offensive lineman who had an interest in Arkansas because one parent is from the state.

Bielema told Pittman to hold on until he could meet the recruit and his family. Pittman arranged an unofficial visit with the family driving in over a weekend.

When they got there, the family received a tour of the new football facility and visited extensively with Pittman. Bielema left without meeting anybody and Pittman had to give a flimsy excuse.

The family came back a time later for another visit, this time specifically to meet with Bielema. Pittman greeted them with the news Bielema, who had okayed the visit, had left that morning with his wife to Las Vegas for the weekend.

That recruit has now been on another SEC team’s roster for three years.

Meanwhile, back in Arkansas, Pittman left to join Chaney on Kirby Smart’s staff at Georgia and within two years had a team in the national championship game that they lost in overtime.

The Razorbacks’ offense continued to slide downhill with zero development of anybody, particularly offensive linemen. Bielema had hired the equivalent of an NFL graduate assistant to be the Hogs’ line coach.

The results were predictable. For the last two years, Arkansas’ offensive line was coached down, not up.

Overall, Bielema’s recruiting mantra of avoiding problems also didn’t deliver any leaders. There was less accountability from the coaching staff and almost no accountability within the team.

Look inside any championship-caliber team, there is leadership within the team that takes care of many problems. Those leaders create the accountability within the team.

That disappeared from the Razorback football program. Chad Morris has instilled accountability from the coaching staff, but there doesn’t appear to be any accountability within the team.

No one seems to be either capable or willing to hold his teammates accountable. Morris has his leadership group, but whatever they are trying isn’t translating into much success on the field.

Being kept at a certain arm’s length from the team, no one in the media really knows what’s going on. Some get bits and pieces from this player or that parent, but nobody really knows.

What is evident, though, is there is a serious disconnect within this team.

Cheyenne O’Grady saw his first game action of the year Saturday. While generally regarded as maybe the most talented tight end on the roster, he didn’t even dress for the first two games and, reportedly, it had nothing to do with an injury or major rules violations.

No, there hasn’t been any sort of leadership within the team. Senior Jared Cornelius, who has been around for what seems like forever, came close to flashing some leadership in the wake of Saturday’s 44-17 loss to North Texas.

“It’s really easy to pick one guy to point a finger at, and for the majority of the first half, I think that guy was Cole … at least by the outside world,” he said. “Like Hjalte (Froholdt) said, the receivers could run better routes. The offensive line could protect better. The running backs could get out on the checks and chip the defensive ends.”

Cornelius pretty much confirmed they heard the boos of the snall number of fans that remained after halftime.

“When you come out of the locker room in the second half and your starting quarterback is getting booed? By the home team? When is that right?” Cornelius asked after the game. “How is that right?”

If there was any doubt about his feelings, he removed them.

“And I feel like I’ve been kind of holding this in for a minute, but at the end of the day, that’s somebody’s son, that’s somebody’s brother,” he said. “That’s my brother. And I’m not going to sit around like that’s going to be OK. When a guy comes out after the first half and we’re in middle of the football game — at that point we’re still in the game — and you’re booing him.”

He was not happy. Nobody was.

But you do wonder if an internal group of leaders are ready to step up for this team.

We may not find out for a few weeks. With a stretch of games against Auburn, Texas A&M, Alabama and Ole Miss coming up, it may get worse before it gets much better.

Fans don’t want to hear that. They want wins now.

The guess is they don’t want it more than Morris, his coaches or this team. Some of us didn’t realize just how bad things were towards the end of last year.

Two years of almost coaching players down extracts a toll. I’ve seen it before at all levels. When Jimmy Johnson took over the Dallas Cowboys in 1989 he discovered he’d left more talent at Miami … the university, not the Dolphins.

It took a year to wash out all of the sludge that slowly built up the last two years of Tom Landry’s stumbling and bumbling. It took another year to get things pointed in the right direction.

Two years later was the first of back-to-back Super Bowl wins.

Morris inherited a situation worse than what many of us thought He’ll get a chance to clean it up. That’s never a particularly pretty job, by the way.

The mind-numbing debacle against North Texas may be the bottoming out of a path set in motion over two years ago.

But we won’t even know that for awhile.