SPRINGDALE — It was bad enough that Springdale High had to deal with its sixth loss of the season last week against Bentonville.

But the fact that the Red’Dogs were shut out only made matters worse.

Regardless, Springdale (3-6, 1-5 7A-West Conference) is hoping it can rebound this week in its season finale against Rogers High by doing what it’s typically done best - scoring points.

“That was really disappointing,” said Springdale interim coach Dennis DeBusk, whose team has averaged 31.1 points per game. “Don’t take anything away from Bentonville, they played great. But we should have scored; we just couldn’t get it going.”

For both Springdale and Rogers, Friday’s game couldn’t be more important as both are still fi ghting for the conference’s final seed in the playoffs.

“This a huge game for both teams,” DeBusk said. “The fact of the matter is that the playoffs have already started for both of us.”

Rogers, which has only won two games this season, has gone through a drastic change on offense because of so many injuries. The Mounties started the season with a throw-first offensive mindset, but have now switched to being a run-first team.

Senior Andy Couture, who passed for 1,061 yards this season, is no longer the team’s quarterback after suffering two concussions. Instead, junior Graham Parker is running the Mounties’ offense, which has been recently lining up in Power-I and Dead-T formations.

Seniors Jason Oller and D.J. Smart will also see plenty of time in the Mounties’ backfield while senior Casey Caton will be the team’s goto receiver. This season, Oller has carried the ball 52 times for 352 yards and three touchdowns.

“Since we have changed offenses, we have become more one-dimensional,” Rogers coach Ronnie Peacock said. “You can game plan to stop our run. But we did complete some huge passes (against Fort Smith Northside). But with what we do, they will be able to keep a lot of people in the box.”

Defensively, the Mounties have had trouble stopping their opponents, giving up an average of 387.1 yards and 34.3 points per game.

Peacock said not turning the ball over and playing fundamental football will be the biggest keys for the Mounties to win the game.

“We are just giving people touchdowns,” Peacock said. “We have to maintain control of the football and not turn it over. That is something we haven’t done the last two games. We have to avoid those things.

“It’s just been one of those things that happen. Because we have had to change offenses, the ball handling is not going to be perfect.”

Sports, Pages 7 on 11/05/2009

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