Har-Ber’s line solid, just green Springdale Har-Ber has no returning full-time starters on its offensive line, but the Wildcats aren’t nearly as inexperienced as it might seem.
Center Kent Woodard, 6-1, 237 pounds, started two games last season and is one of four seniors on the line. The two linemen entrusted with protecting quarterback Zach Faust’s blind side, left guard Eli May, 6-1, 265, and left tackle Sam Henley, 6-3, 237, are also seniors, as is right tackle Brandon Thayer, 6-3, 244. The fifth starter, right guard Daniel Garcia, 6-0, 245, is a sophomore. Har-Ber Coach Chris Wood said he’s confident his linemen will be able to get the job done this season, although he’s looking forward to seeing how they perform in a scrimmage Friday against Tulsa Union and Owasso, Okla. “I like all five of them,” Wood said. “They just need to get experience, and they need to get hit in the mouth. “ It’s physical football in the trenches, and our guys need to experience that.” — Rich Polikoff VAN BUREN Work in progress Van Buren has plenty of work to do following its scrimmage at Greenwood earlier this week. No official score was kept, but three-time defending state champion Greenwood was clearly the better team. “Greenwood came out blazing and put up some points,” Van Buren Coach Mike Lee said. “We wanted to get a good look at a lot of kids and get something on film to solidify our depth chart. Greenwood was a good test. They’re a model program and something that we aspire to be.” Greenwood returned an interception for a touchdown and Van Buren had two fumbles during the live portion of the scrimmage. “We fumbled the football and didn’t do a good job of blocking on the perimeter,” Lee said. “On the plus side, our receivers ran their routes pretty well and our quarterbacks did a good job with their reads for the most part.” — Rick Fires HARRISON QB adapts well Quarterback Hayden Stokes, in his first season as the fulltime starter, was put in a tough spot during Harrison’s Blue and Gold scrimmage. Center Khelon Hayes was unavailable to play after tearing a toenail, so Stokes had to get by without his usual snapper. The Goblins plan to have Stokes taking both Shotgun snaps and working under center.
“The two kids we put in there [for Hayes ] did the best job they could, but it’s not like having your old center that puts that ball right on your belly button every time,” Coach Tom Tice said. “He had to be alert for bad snaps, and we had way too many of them.” Stokes, a senior, was the junior varsity starting quarterback last year but also was a varsity defensive starter, so the Goblins feel good about his experience.
“We threw the ball well,” Tice said. “He’s pretty comfortable. Quarterbacks have to do a lot of reading defenses. He did a good of getting us out of a bad play and putting us into a play that had a chance to make something happen.” — Chris Cocoles BERRYVILLE Defensive concerns Berryville Coach Bobby Bishop is more concerned with his team’s defense than its offense entering tonight’s scrimmage at Gravette. The Bobcats, who will face Gravette and Lincoln in their only exhibition of the preseason, have a few worries defensively as they prepare for their Sept. 5 season opener at Yellville-Summit. Senior lineman Sam Bennett will miss tonight’s scrimmage and could be out longer with a knee injury. Bennett, 6-0, 275, is scheduled to have an magnetic resonance imaging this week. “He came in Monday morning limping on it really bad,” Bishop said. “He could be back; he could be out for the season.” Bishop also said the linebackers were having trouble filling gaps in practice and the defensive backs have been missing too many assignments. — Lane Kramer MOUNTAINBURG Line looks sharp Coach Tom Harrell gave his team the day off Wednesday after Mountainburg played in a jamboree Tuesday with Green Forest and Elkins. Mountainburg scored four touchdowns — three against Green Forest — and didn’t give up any scores. Dragons quarterback Michael Thomas threw three touchdown passes and rushed for another. What impressed Harrell the most was how well the offensive line protected Thomas. Mountainburg intends to throw more frequently this year, so it’s imperative the line play well. “What worried me was the pass protection,” Harrell said. “Our offensive line did a good job, more than what I expected them to do. I’m going to brag on them. We looked better than we did in practice. That’s a good surprise.” — Marty Cook
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