ROGERS — A few years back, a veteran, and successful, coach in the 7A-West made the comment that a team could chalk up a conference loss for every sophomore in the starting lineup.

That proved to be the case for Rogers Heritage in 2008.

In its first season on the field, Heritage dropped all seven 7A-West Conference games after a fast 3-0 nonconference start.

Heritage was a sophomore dominated team that didn’t have a senior on the roster a year ago and that was one reason the War Eagles lost their final seven games.

But as preseason drills kick off today around the state, Heritage is probably the only team in Arkansas that returns all 22 starters. And those sophomores and juniors have a season of experience and that is one reason that Heritage coach Perry Escalante is optimistic the War Eagles can make a playoff run.

All area teams will have three days of practice in shorts and helmets before donning pads Thursday. The season starts Sept. 4.

“Not many people can say they have 22 starters back,” Escalante said.

Tops among the War Eagle returnees is junior quarterback Reed Brown. As a sophomore, Brown was 211 of 379 passing for 2,581 yards, 22 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.

“Our size and strength and complete knowledge of the system is the biggest difference this year,” Escalante said. “It’s amazing how much kids can grow and get bigger in a year. We didn’t have any seniors (last season) and we will have four or five on defense and nine on offense.”

While many 7A-West teams have an experienced quarterback back in the fold, Springdale High has the task of replacing the graduated Ashton Glaser, who will play at Missouri.

Bulldogs coach Kevin Johnson said Joseph Calcagni will take over behind center and is expecting that the junior signal caller will lead Springdale back to the playoffs. Springdale lost to Bryant in the first round of the playoffs a year ago.

“Joseph did a good job this summer,” Johnson said. “We have a good nucleus of receivers back and the defense was young (last season). We are excited about the defense.”

One big question mark for Springdale entering August drills is on the offensive line as only one starter returns.

“That is the biggest question mark,” Johnson said. “We need to find somebody at center to step up and be able to snap the football.”

Big 6 Scrimmage Schedule

Bentonville: Aug. 28 at Tulsa Union
Fayetteville: TBA
Rogers High: Aug. 28 vs. North Little Rock
Rogers Heritage: Aug. 27 vs. Russellville
Springdale High: Aug. 25 vs. Siloam Springs
Springdale Har-Ber: Aug. 28 vs. Tulsa Union

SPRINGDALE — Some of the state’s best high school quarterbacks will compete against each other today to try to win the annual Top Gun QB1 Challenge.

Today’s competition, which begins at 7 p.m. at Shiloh Christian’s Champions Stadium, will be a series of on-field events where participants will be tested on strength, speed and throwing accuracy.

Former Arkansas quarterback Jason Allen, who created the quarterback challenge six years ago, said this year’s event should be exciting.

Last year’s winner, Springdale High’s Ashton Glaser, passed for 3,069 yards and 29 touchdowns for the Red’Dogs last fall and is now a freshman quarterback at Missouri.

“We’ve got a lot of talented guys out here, guys that are capable of scoring a lot of points,” Allen said. “It should be a fun competition for anyone who decides to come out. It’ll be a great way to get a football fix in the middle of July.”

Besides the 15 quarterbacks that were invited to compete, there are also five vacant spots that were left available this year for any quarterback that wanted to qualify for the competition.

The five quarterbacks that qualified on Wednesday morning are Clarksville’s Trey Schucker, Camden Fairview’s Brandon Keaton, Wynne’s Grant Smith, Springdale High’s Chris Clinard and Timberland’s (Mo.) Chase Cresong.

“We’ve had a lot of talented quarterbacks in this competition before, and I can tell we’ve got several again this year,” Allen said. “My guess is that it’ll be a really close result.”

SPRINGDALE — Ashton Glaser isn’t one of those quarterbacks who shuffles out of bounds or slides onto the turf. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound senior seeks out contact when his number is called for Springdale High.

SPRINGDALE — Fayetteville knew that Springdale High would rely heavily Friday night on senior quarterback Ashton Glaser. But the Purple’Dogs still couldn’t do anything to contain Glaser, who will play at the University of Missouri next year.

FS Northside 21, Springdale Har-Ber 7

FORT SMITH — Semaj Edwards’ 30-yard interception return for a score sealed Fort Smith Northside’s upset of previously unbeaten Springdale Har-Ber.

Coming into Thursday night’s field events, Glaser wasn’t even in the top 5. However, the 6-foot-2, 205-pound quarterback finished third in the Speed and Mobility competition, first in the Coverage Call competition and tied for third in the On-The-Move Accuracy competition.

Glaser’s performance didn’t surprise Springdale High coach Kevin Johnson, who thought his quarterback had an opportunity to win all along.

“I felt like he had a real good chance of winning,” Johnson said. “He handles pressure pretty well. Last year, he was under a lot of pressure. We had to throw him into varsity action (as a junior).

“But Ashton handles it very well, he’s had a great summer and we’re expecting him to have a great senior year.”

Springdale Har-Ber’s Zach Faust, who was in third before Thursday night, won the Mental Test, the Throwing Accuracy and the Long Throw competition, finishing fourth overall.

Faust won the Long Throw with a heave of 68 yards, two yards longer than Johnson’s.

Pea Ridge junior Kip Kelly won the Physical Endurance Test and Shiloh Christian’s Kiehl Frazier finished third in the Mental Test.

Former Arkansas quarterback Jason Allen, who created the quarterback challenge five years ago, said Glaser’s consistency in every competition was the key to him being the overall champion.

“We had a lot of great quarterbacks this year, but Ashton proved to be the top guy,” Allen said. “He did really well and impressed a lot of people. He’s going to be a great player for Springdale this season.”

At A Glance

TOP GUN QB1 CHALLENGE

OVERALL RESULTS

1. Ashton Glaser, Springdale High 520
2. Claude Johnson, Pine Bluff 505
3. Spencer Keith, Pulaski Academy 500
4. Zach Faust, Springdale Har-Ber 480
5. Hayden Smith, Warren 455

COMPETITION RESULTS

Physical Endurance Test

1. Kip Kelly, Pea Ridge
2. Zac Cole, Cen. Arkansas Christian
3. Kendall Pinkney, Dardanelle

Mental Test

1. Faust
2. Griffin Kuhn, LR Christian
3. Kiehl Frazier, Shiloh Christian

Speed And Mobility

1. Hayden Stokes, Harrison 17.84
2. Keith 17.95
3. Glaser 17.98

Coverage Call

1. Glaser
2. Keith
3. Michael Thomas, Mountainburg

Throwing Accuracy

1. Faust 55
2. Smith 50
3. Ethan McKinzie, Gravette 45

Long Throw

1. Faust 68
2. Johnson 66
3. Pinkney 63

On-The-Move Accuracy

1. Kuhn 80
1. Johnson 80
3. Pinkney 65
3. Frazier 65
3. Smith 65
3. Glaser 65