“I said I had the best doubles team (Anderson-Kraus) in the state all year long, and they came out and played that way,” Pautsch said. “They were an absolutely phenomenal doubles team for the last two years.”

Mount St. Mary’s Rebecca Bailey defeated Hillyer in the finals for the second straight year after posting a 6-0, 6-3 victory. Bailey defeated Bentonville’s Morgan Ryan 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals.

The Bentonville boys finished in second after leading the tournament after Monday’s first two rounds. Little Rock Central won the school’s 11th consecutive title, edging the Tigers 12-11. The Bentonville doubles team of sophomores Matt Tabler and Zach Ellis won the doubles title but the Tigers watched Central’s Mario Martinez defeat Fayetteville’s Rob Hodous in the singles final to give Central the championship.

Martinez overcame severe cramping to defeat Hodous 6-4, 1-6 ,7-6 (7-5). Both players will advance to next week’s Overall Championships.

“I drank too much Gatorade and it made me cramp, so I had to change my strategy,” Martinez said. “I can’t run to the ball and I had to take the angles away. I was really glad that I was able to pull it out at the end. I was never going to quit. I’m representing the school.”

Ellis and Tabler defeated Central’s Bobby Emerson and Austin Crawford 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 to run their record to 15-0 on the year. They also advance to the Overall Championships.

“Those two sophomores came out and they absolutely played their guts out,” Pautsch said. “They could have rolled over. They were way up, and then they got down. They could have quit but they didn’t.”

CLASS 7A STATE TENNIS TOURNAMENT

Boys Singles

Semifinals

Hodous, Fayetteville defeated Fox, LR Catholic 6-2, 6-0

Martinez, LR Central defeated Blake, FS Southside 7-5, 6-2

Finals

Martinez defeated Hodous 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5)

Boys Doubles

Semifinals

Z. Ellis-Tabler, Bentonville defeated Bagwell-Dunn, Van Buren 6-4, 7-5

Emerson-Crawford, LR Central defeated B. Ellis-Shah, Bentonville 6-3, 6-4.

Finals

Z. Ellis-Tabler defeated Emerson-Crawford 6-4, 3-6, 7-5

Girls Singles

Semifinals

Hillyer, Bentonville defeated Gray, Russellville 6-1, 6-2

Bailey, Mount St. Mary’s defeated Ryan, Bentonville 6-1, 6-2

Finals

Bailey defeated Hillyer 6-0, 6-3

Girls Doubles

Semifinals

Anderson-Kraus, Bentonville defeated Word-Word, Van Buren 6-1, 6-4

Liles-Randolph, LR Central defeated Skinner-Kincannon, FS Southside 6-1, 7-5

Finals

Anderson-Kraus defeated Liles-Randolph 6-2, 6-0

TEAM STANDINGS

Boys

1-Little Rock Central 12

2-Bentonville 11

3-Fayetteville 7

4-Fort Smith Southside 3

5-Little Rock Catholic 2

5-Van Buren 2

7-Rogers High 1

Girls

1-Bentonville 13

2-Mount St. Mary’s 9

3-FS Southside 4

3-Little Rock Central 4

5-Russellville 2

5-Van Buren 2

7-Rogers High 1

7-Rogers Heritage 1

If the two Bentonville doubles teams win today, it would set up a rematch of the 7A-West Conference doubles finals that was won by Zach Ellis and Tabler.

Brandon Ellis and Shah will face Little Rock Central’s Bobby Emerson and Austin Crawford in the semifinals at 10 a.m. today.

“Brandon and Varun have to play the team from Central and I watched them and they are good,” Pautsch said. “Our guys can beat them if they do some things right.”

Zach Ellis and Tabler will face Van Buren’s Bagwell-Dunn in the other boys’ semifinals.

“We have seen them this year and had good success,” Pautsch said. “But they (Van Buren) have improved and I am impressed with them. They are in a position and now it is up to them.”

Rogers High’s Trent Lamers and Adam Hile advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-1 victory before losing to Ellis-Shah in the quarterfinals. Mounties coach Steve Peck said the quarterfinals finish was one of the best in recent years.

“We played well and we actually played better in this match (quarterfinals loss),” Peck said. “We did well in the first match and this is the first time I have had a doubles team make it past the first round at state. It felt good.”

The Lady Mounties doubles team of Caroline Kelley and Anusha Manjagi also won a first-round match before falling 6-0, 6-2 in the quarterfinals to the Little Rock Central duo of Lindsey Liles and Trinity Randolph.

“In the first match, we limited unforced errors, covered the nets well and played good team tennis,” said Lady Mounties coach Ronnie Cowan. “We were just overpowered in the second match.”

Rogers Heritage freshman Pratheepa Ravikumar won her first round match against Conway’s Mary Leath 6-0, 6-2 before losing in the quarterfinals.

CLASS 7A STATE TENNIS TOURNAMENT

WHEN: 10 a.m. today

Semifinals

Hodous, Fayetteville vs. Fox, Little Rock Catholic 10 a.m.

Martinez, Little Rock Central vs. Blake, FS Southside 10 a.m.

Finals, 1 p.m.

Semifinals

Emerson-Crawford, LR Central vs. B. Ellis-Shah, Bentonville 10 a.m.

Z. Ellis-Tabler, Bentonville vs. Bagwell-Dunn, Van Buren 10 a.m.

Finals, 1 p.m.

Semifinals

Hillyer, Bentonville vs. Gray, Russellville 10 a.m.

Ryan, Bentonville vs. Bailey, Mt. St. Mary’s 10 a.m.

Finals, 1 p.m.

Semifinals

Anderson-Kraus, Bentonville vs. Word-Word, Van Buren 10 a.m.

Liles-Randolph, Little Rock Central vs. Skinner-Kincannon, Southside 10 a.m.

Finals, 1 p.m.

Boys

1. Bentonville 6

2. Fayetteville 5

2. Little Rock Central 5

4. Fort Smith Southside 3

5. Little Rock Catholic 2

6. Van Buren 2

7. Rogers High 1

Girls

1. Bentonville 6

2. Mount St. Mary’s 4

2. FS Southside 4

4. Russellville 2

4. Van Buren 2

6. Rogers High 1

7. Rogers Heritage 1

Gordon Welch was shoved into action real quick for Springdale Har-Ber this season.

Starting tailback Tre Tyler broke his fibula on the eighth play of the season-opener against Greenwood, forcing Welch into service. Since then, Welch has been the most consistent runner in the conference and now leads the 7A-West Conference in rushing.

“He’s literally taken the ball and ran with it,” Har-Ber coach Chris Wood said. “He’s iron-manned up for us.”

In Friday’s hard-earned 21-14 win against Rogers Heritage in overtime, Welch carried 35 times for 147 yards and all three of the Wildcats’ touchdowns.

“We really pounded him up in there,” Wood said. “It’s nothing fancy. It’s all between the tackles.”

Welch leads the conference in both carries with 167 and in rushing yards with 781. Three times this season, he’s had over 30 carries. Five times, he’s went over 100 yards rushing.

“It starts with the guys around him,” Wood said. “The offensive line has blocked well, and the receivers are blocking downfield.”

Friday night, Heritage just dared Har-Ber to run. Welch did.

“They had eight and nine guys in the box,” Wood said. “They knew what we were going to do, and that’s what we did.”

Welch brings a no-nonsense approach to the position for the Wildcats.

“His parents are hard-working down-to-earth people, and so is he,” Wood said. “He’s a blue-collar worker. He comes to work every day with a lunch pail. He’s very humble.”

Welch had 12 carries for 43 yards and no touchdowns last year as a sophomore in mop-up duty.

Friday night, Welch scored on a 3-yard run and a 14-yard in regulation before scoring on a 10-yard run on Har-Ber’s first play of overtime for the win.

Har-Ber Eyes Gauntlet
Har-Ber is No. 2 the Associated Press poll this week, but the Wildcats will be challenged the final three weeks of the regular season with Fort Smith Southside, Fayetteville and former No. 1 Bentonville waiting to knock them off their perch.

“It’s a gauntlet,” Wood said. “All three are very good. We’re aware of that. Fortunately, two of the three are at home.”

Southside visits Jarrell Williams Stadium this week and will be looking to bounce back from a 34-26 loss to Fayetteville.

“It will be a physical ball game,” Wood said. “Their coaching staff does as good a job as anyone in the conference as far as scheming for their opponents.”

That game will also be a rematch from last year’s semifinals, which Southside won, 8-7, with a late touchdown and two-point conversion.

Bentonville Seniors Make History
The rivalry between Bentonville and Rogers High is as old and storied as any in the state.
Friday, Bentonville’s seniors made history by becoming the first class to go undefeated in all three years against the rival Mountaineers.

“It was in the newspaper earlier in the week, and it was brought up after the game,” Bentonville coach Barry Lunney said. “It’s a long rivalry so it goes without saying when you can do something for the first time, it’s pretty special.”

Friday, Bentonville blanked Rogers, 48-0. Last year, Bentonville won 17-15. In 2007, the Tigers prevailed 28-0.

The win was also Bentonville’s biggest over Rogers since a 58-0 win in 1914.

Perfect Tigers
Bentonville was perfect on Friday against Rogers on possessions.

The Tigers did not punt, committed no turnovers and scored on all six offensive possessions.
“We were real efficient,” Lunney said. “We executed really well. We didn’t have any dropped passes. The passes were on target.”

Bentonville led 41-0 at halftime, applying the mercy rule to begin the second half with the continuously running clock. The Tigers scored on all five offensive possessions in the first half and added a defensive touchdown on Christian Larimer’s 33-yard interception return on the second play of the game.

“We were running the ball, and the clock was running,” Lunney said. “We took a lot of time off the clock in the third quarter and were running the ball with our second group in.”

Bentonville took the second-half kickoff and used up the first seven minutes, 17 seconds of the third quarter before scoring.

Bentonville did have a final possession to end the game running out the clock without scoring, which does not count in scoring efficiency.

End Of The Passing Era?
Passing is still the fancy around the state, but the trend is changing in the 7A-West. In 16 conference games played thus far, the team that rushes for the most yards is 14-2.

“It’s an interesting statistic,” said Lunney, who brought the pass-happy Spread attack to the conference in 1996 while at Southside. “I heard somebody on a college game on Saturday talking about the team with the most rushing yards usually wins. It’s still about the ability to run the football.”

Bentonville and Springdale Har-Ber are the leading rushing teams in the conference. Har-Ber is currently the top-ranked team in the state. Bentonville is the former No. 1 team in the state.

“I think we’re seeing an offensive evolution again,” Wood said. “It’s controlling the clock and controlling the game by running it.”

Har-Ber also has the best defense in the conference, which goes hand-in-hand with the philosophy of controlling the game.

“For us, we have a good defense so why would we throw the ball over and over, stopping the clock and extending the game,” Wood said. “We want to protect the ball and not take any chances with it.”

Many of the teams that are running the ball, however, are still in the one-back shotgun Spread attack but with certain philosophies of the Power-I, Wishbone, the Wing-T and Split-back veer.

“There is a little bit of all of each one of those in the Spread,” Wood said. “There are just variations.”

Teams are relying on defense, field position, ball-control offense like the conference did in the 1980s and 1990s.

“It’s like back in the day of Jarrell Williams and Joe Fred Young,” Wood said. “And those guys sure won their share of games.”

Remember When …
There was actually a 7A-West game that ended regulation in a scoreless tie?

In this modern age of offense, so-called basketball on grass and a barrage of scoring, in 2001 Fayetteville and Springdale actually played a scoreless tie in regulation.

Springdale quarterback Damon Moody broke the tie with a short touchdown run in overtime to lift the Red Bulldogs to 6-0 win over their purple rivals at Harmon Field.

Each team had 14 first downs, Fayetteville had 292 yards of offense while Springdale had 242.

It is the last time two 7A-West teams played to a scoreless tie in regulation and the lowest scoring game in the conference in the past eight years.

By Leland Barclay/Special To The Morning News

THAT FIGURES

0 — Turnovers and punts by Bentonville on Friday night
1 — Win needed by Bentonville’s seniors to tie last year’s senior class as the winningest in school history
3 — Scoreless quarters this season by Bentonville, including two in the fourth quarter of mercy-rule victories, out of 28 quarters played
6 — Straight times in which Springdale has defeated Fort Smith Northside at Jarrell Williams Stadium since Grizzlies won 23-12 in 1997
7 — Straight wins by Fayetteville over Fort Smith Southside, all during Daryl Patton’s tenure

The Bentonville team of Zach Ellis and Matt Tabler is seeded second behind a Central team, but the sophomores won the 7A-West title by knocking off Zach’s older brother, Brandon, and Varun Shah.

Pautsch said he’s happy the elder Ellis’ team is matched against the top Central team.

“Brandon can handle the pressure,” Pautsch said. “He can handle the pressure.”

Two players were suspended prior to the conference tournament, but Brandon Ellis has taken a stronger leadership role, Pautsch said.

“I’ve waited for the last year for him to step up, but he’s done it,” Pautsch said. “Brandon’s really done a great job.”

The Lady Tigers’ doubles team of Kendall Kraus and Amy Anderson come in as the top seed.

“There’s not doubt they’re one of the best doubles team in the state,” Pautsch said. “Amy Anderson is a three-time conference champion.”

Oksana Hillyer, who lost in the state singles finals a year ago, and teammate Morgan Ryan, will be keys to the Lady Tigers’ chances of a sixth state title.

“The (Rebecca) Bailey girl from Mount St. Mary is the best player in the state,” Pautsch said.

Fayetteville’s Rob Hodous could also make a run at a boys singles title. Hodous is the top seed in the draw.

There are also several area players who qualified for the Class 4A Tournament to be played in Arkadelphia.

On the girls’ side, Shiloh Christian’s Alisha Hedgecock will play in the singles draw along with teammates Bailey Riggins and Shannie Suttie, who qualified in doubles. Farmington’s team of Shylene Scott and Plearn Seripumitapap, who won the 4A-1 conference title, will face a team from Nashville.

Shiloh’s Ross Naber and Daniel Evans will play boys doubles, while Shiloh’s Andrew Evans and Farmington’s Blake Cutter qualified in boys singles.

“To win this race, it says a lot about him, he’s having a great year,” said Thane Garnett, College Heights Christian’s cross country coach. “He was pretty determined to finish well in this race, and I think he showed it.”

In the girls invitational, Greenhill High’s (near Dallas, Texas) Chelsey Sveinsson won for the third straight year with a time of 17:32.71. Sveinsson, a senior, is one of the top long-distance runners in Texas and is hopeful she can continue doing so next year on a collegiate scholarship.

“This is one of the races that I look forward to the most during the season,” said Sveinsson, who was disappointed with her finishing time. “I really just wasn’t feeling it, but like my mom told me, I’m just happy again to win it.”

Fayetteville’s boys team finished fifth overall with 261 points while Bentonville’s girls team finished sixth with 206 points.

Fayetteville’s Austin Simkins had the highest finish among area competitors, finishing sixth with a time of 16:06.19. Elkins’ Grace Heymsfield also finished fifth with a time of 18:24.48.

2009 Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival

The Tigers forced a punt on the next possession and scored in eight plays on junior Pearson Gean’s 1-yard quarterback sneak. Larimer picked off another Conley pass on Rogers’ first ensuing play, and Bentonville needed only two plays to lead 20-0 when senior Courtney Haskell surged in from 6 yards out.

Haskell’s second touchdown of the night, a 7-yarder late in the first quarter, put the Tigers up 27-0.

Peacock inserted Graham Parker at quarterback late in the first quarter, and the junior did lead the Mounties to four first downs. Still, the Tigers added two more touchdowns in the second quarter and finished the first half with a 257-58 advantage in total yards.

Gean’s 9-yard roll-out touchdown pass to senior Austin Griffith with 46 seconds left in the half ensured the second half would start with a running clock. Gean finished the night 12-of-13 with 126 passing yards, all in the first half.

“It was a struggle for us early (on the ground), and we have to be diverse on offense,” Bentonville coach Barry Lunney said. “The kids caught the ball well, and Pearson threw it well. It was very good offensive execution.”

The only downer for Bentonville: A possible season-ending injury to Hayden Boydston. The senior linebacker suffered an ACL injury to his right knee on the opening kickoff of the second half, and Lunney said he was still awaiting MRI results.

Despite being bummed about Boydston’s injury, Lunney seemed optimistic about the state of his team.

“(Friday night) meant a lot because we’re hitting the stretch right now where we’re competing for a conference championship,” Lunney said. “(Offense, defense and special teams) are going to have to all come together if you want to compete for it, and it was good to see that out there.”

BENTONVILLE 48, ROGERS HIGH 0

Rogers High    0    0    0    0    —    0
Bentonville    27    14    7    0    —    48
First Quarter
Bent — Larimer 33 interception return (Levin kick), 11:07
Bent — Gean 1 run (Levin kick), 5:43
Bent — Haskell 6 run (kick failed), 4:34
Bent — Haskell 7 run (Levin kick), :42
Second Quarter
Bent — Boedeker 5 run (Levin kick), 7:53
Bent — Griffith 9 pass from Gean (Levin kick), :46
Third Quarter
Bent — Shackelferd 2 run (Levin kick), 4:43

Rog    Ben
First Downs    5    22
Rushes-Yards    14-30    45-238
Passing Yards    47    148
Comp-Att-Int    7-14-2    12-13-0
Punts    4-32.3    0
Fumbles-Lost    0-0    2-0
Penalites-Yards    6-32    4-30

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Rogers, Parker 8-29, Austin 2-13, Carpenter 1-2, Conley 1-2, Oller 1-(minus 3), TEAM 1-(minus 13). Bentonville, Shackelferd 15-78, Boedeker 6-69, Haskell 11-45, Murphy 6-24, Gean 4-15, Sanderlin 1-3, Hardison 1-2, McKane 1-2.
PASSING—Rogers, Parker 6-11-0-44, Conley 1-5-2-3. Bentonville, 10-11-0-126, Sanderlin 2-2-0-22.
RECEIVING—Rogers, Melton 3-15, Oller 2-24, Fountain 1-5, Parker 1-3. Bentonville, Edwards 3-40, Gneiting 2-34, Griffith 2-25, Snow 2-23, Trudo 1-10, Cole 1-9, Vanderpool 1-8.
MISSED FIELD GOALS—None.

Rogers Kirksey 24, Rogers Lingle 6

Ty Galyean returned a kickoff 73 yards for a touchdown and threw for another score to keep Kirksey unbeaten on Tuesday.

Galyean threw a 62-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Hill after taking a backward lateral from quarterback Max Harrell.

Harrell threw a 56-yard touchdown to Brett Gentz and a two-point conversion for Kirksey (7-0). Devin Young also tackled the Lingle quarterback in end zone for a safety.

Kirksey will host Bentonville Washington next week.

Springdale Central 20, Fayetteville Ramay 9

Kyle Pianalto threw a touchdown pass and added a two-point conversion to lead Central past Ramay.

Pianalto completed a 36-yard touchdown pass to Cole Brothers. He ran in thw conversion for an 8-3 Central lead.

Holden Thornton added a 16-yard touchdown run and Trashaun Gaus finished the scoring with a 51-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter.

Brothers also interception a pass for Central (6-1).

JUNIOR HIGH FOOTBALL

Springdale Central 21, Fayetteville Ramay 7

Tucker Lee ran for three touchdowns to help Central remain undefeated on Thursday night.

Lee scored on runs of 13, 47 and 2 yards. Lee’s 47-yard run came after Central (7-0, 5-0 in Northwest Arkansas Conference) stopped Ramay on a fourth-and-1 play. Jesus Sidon added three extra points.

Safety Alex Rice also had two interceptions in the red zone for Central.

PREP VOLLEYBALLL

Springdale Har-Ber def. Rogers High

Alicia Swearingen had 22 kills and Marisa Pless added 20 kills to lead Har-Ber to a 25-12, 25-17, 23-25, 25-20 win over Rogers High in 7A-West Conference play Thursday.

Har-Ber improved to 11-2 in the 7A-West and is now tied with Fayetteville for the league lead. The Lady Wildcats finish the season Tuesday against cross-town rival Springdale High.

Sydney Marsellis contributed six blocks and Katie Huff five blocks for Har-Ber. Katie Collins added 22 digs and four aces.

Springdale High def. Fort Smith Northside

Kristin Hylton finished with 21 kills and Lauren Perry added 20 kills to help Springdale High claim a 23-25, 20-25, 25-14, 25-22, 17-15 win over Northside in 7A-West Conference play Thursday.

The Lady Red’Dogs (14-12, 5-8) clinched a spot in the Class 7A state tournament with the victory. Springdale will likely be the fifth seed.

Setters Emily Broad and Tisha Watkins contributed 19 and 18 assists, respectively. Chloe Brown led Springdale with 20 digs.

“I’ve never had the number of injuries to key players that we have had the last couple of years,” Peacock said. “And it has happened in an offense where you build everything around the quarterback. It’s just unfortunate.”

It’s no coincidence that the Mounties most successful season came when their quarterback remained upright for the entire season. In 2006, Rogers reached the 7A state championship game, where it lost 23-22 to Fort Smith Southside in War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock behind the play of senior quarterback Cody Kirby.

Peacock coached at Class 5A Greenwood for seven seasons and guided the Bulldogs to the 5A state championship in 2000. Greenwood also made a trip to the finals in 1996 and made four semifinal appearances under Peacock. Rogers runs the same spread offense that Peacock used at Greenwood.

“When we were at Greenwood, the quarterback was a pretty big deal and we never lost a quarterback,” Peacock said. “Never. Some of the best years that you have, some of the best teams that you have is because you didn’t have any injuries. The state championship year (2000), we didn’t lose any of our starters.”

The Big Hurts

Kirby, now the starting quarterback at Missouri State, led the Mounties to a 12-1 record in 2006. But his sophomore season at Rogers never got off the ground after he broke an ankle in the first junior varsity game of the 2004 season. A year later, he suffered another broken ankle in the 7A-West Conference opener against Bentonville.

Kip Allen replaced Kirby at quarterback in 2005, but he never finished the year after being injured early against Springdale High the 10th week of the season.

Kirby was slated to be Johnny Brewer’s backup in 2004 and his injury proved critical when Brewer went down with a shoulder injury against Fort Smith Northside the second week of the conference schedule.

Entering the Northside game, Brewer had passed for 1,307 yards and Rogers was 3-1 overall and primed to move to 2-0 in conference play. Brewer eventually returned late in the season that year, but he was never the same as Rogers finished 4-6. A total of 12 starters missed playing time that season because of various injuries.

Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn was the Springdale coach in 2004 and said at the time that losing Brewer was a devastating blow.

“Rogers was a team doing great things until their leader (Brewer) went down,” Malzahn said at the time.

And the injury wave since 2006 hasn’t subsided for the Mounties. Last season, quarterback Andy Couture (thumb) and running back/quarterback Michael Tibbs (knee) were both sidelined with season-ending injuries. Third-string quarterback Austin Young was also hobbled with an injury down the stretch.

Couture came back for his senior season fully recovered from a torn thumb ligament, but was lost for the season last week after suffering his second concussion in three weeks. In all, five different Mounties have suffered concussions this year.

Peacock said he and the Rogers staff have looked at each major injury, but can’t find a reasonable explanation for the trend.

“Why?” Peacock asked. “Is there something we are not doing? Is it our helmets, is it the turf, is it something we are doing? No, we have brand new helmets. We lift weights during the season, offseason to help with injuries.”

A Different View

North Little Rock coach Brad Bolding said the number of Rogers quarterbacks that have been injured over the past few seasons is mind boggling and something he has not witnessed in the 7A-Central Conference. Bolding was an assistant under Peacock at both Greenwood and Rogers before getting his first head coaching job at Mayflower. Bolding is in his third season in North Little Rock.

“When you look at the numbers, it is something that will shock most people,” Bolding said. “You can’t do anything about the freaky injuries and when you look at this (Rogers), you say, ‘wow, they have been unfortunate and unlucky.’”

Dr. Scott Cooper has been on the Mounties’ sidelines for 10 years and agrees with Bolding’s assessment.

“I think what appears to be an increased incidence of concussions this year is just random bad luck for the Mounties,” Cooper said. “It’s certainly true that more attention is being paid to what are now called traumatic brain injuries, but that is not new this year. For as long as I’ve been on the sideline, more than 10 years, and really longer than that with (athletic trainer) David Roller, who is very knowledgeable, professional, and conscientious, the care with which we address head injuries hasn’t changed much. These kids are wearing high-quality helmets. This year is just a strangely bad one for this type of injury.

“As for what seems like a high number of all injuries the last few years, I see no common denominator, because the injuries are so varied. Head, knee, ankle, shoulder, you name it. If I knew of something to change, we’d certainly fix it. Maybe it’s not that many. Maybe it’s just that so many higher-profile athletes have been affected.”

Learning Lesson

Regroup and move on is what Peacock is preaching to the Mounties as the team tries to move past losing Couture. There is still a lot of football left and with six teams from the West advancing to the playoffs, Peacock knows the season is far from over.

A year ago, and despite losing Tibbs and Couture, Rogers missed a trip to the playoffs after a pair of two-point losses to eventual state champion Bentonville (17-15) and Fayetteville (31-29).

“When you have an injury, there isn’t anything you can do about it,” Peacock said. “We do what you are supposed to do. We regroup and fight harder. What an unbelievable lesson for these kids. It’s important that I use this to teach these kids about life. This is a great teaching moment and a great learning lesson for these kids.

“What do you do when you get knocked down? You have to continue and go on.”

Unfortunately for Peacock and the Mounties, this is one lesson that keeps repeating itself.

ROGERS — Graham Parker and Andrew Conley will split time at quarterback when Rogers High visits Bentonville on Friday night.

Rogers (2-4, 0-3) lost starting quarterback Andy Couture for the season during last week’s 27-14 loss to Springdale Har-Ber. Couture suffered his second concussion of the season against the Wildcats.

Rogers may also be without receiver Lucas Gartman Friday. Rogers coach Ronnie Peacock said the senior is hampered with a hamstring injury.

One bright spot in last week’s loss was the play of linebacker D.J. Smart, Peacock said. Smart finished with 25 points on the Mounties’ tackle chart.

“(Smart) is just a key player for us,” Peacock said. “His presence at 240 (pounds) makes a statement.”

MOUNTAIN HOME — The Rogers High boys and girls cross country teams swept team titles at the Mountain Home Invitational on Tuesday.

The girls got a first place finish from Maggie Montoya and two more top 10 finishes to edge past Batesville for the team title. It was the Lady Mounties first team title of the season.

“Maggie Montoya had a great time on a tough, hilly, rain soaked, extremely muddy state meet course,” Rogers coach Carlton Efurd said. “I am so glad we got to see this course before the state meet. There is nothing really like it that we have run all year. It’s by far the toughest course we’ve seen.”

While Montoya led the way for the girls, Efurd cited Megan Wary’s 12th place finish as the key to the team win.

“Megan Wary, really stepped it up for us,” Efurd said. “She looks better in mud than a homecoming dress.”

Wary was recently named the Rogers senior homecoming queen.

On the boys side, the Mounties dominated with six top 10 spots, led by the second place finish of Jeremiah Fleeman.

“It’s nice to have Jeremiah back,” Efurd said. “He’s not at his top form, but he’s getting stronger. This group of guys are really learning how to compete as a team.”

Efurd also said Robert Dorch had his best meet of the season.

The team will compete in this weekend’s prestigeous Chile Pepper Invitational at the University of Arkansas.

“This race might hurt us a little bit this weekend at the Chile Pepper,” Efurd said, “but I think it was worth it.”