Greenwood, Lake Hamilton ready to square off

Greenwood travels to Lake Hamilton for the biggest game in the state on Friday to conclude the regular season.

Both teams are undefeated, ranked in the overall top 10 and tied atop the 6A-West standings.

It’s definitely a winner-take-all game.

The winner will be the outright conference champion, the top seed in the playoffs, and at home throughout the post-season.

Both teams passed road tests last week; Greenwood winning at Van Buren, 50-29, and Lake Hamilton winning at Benton, 51-34.

Greenwood is No. 1 in Class 6A and No. 4 overall in the latest Arkansas Sports Media Poll while Lake Hamilton is No. 2 in Class 6A and No. 8 overall.

5A-West

The Airedales will wrap up the regular season at home on Friday as they host Farmington.

Alma (1-7, 0-5) will be the eighth seed regardless of the outcome and will travel in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs to the 5A-South champion, which will be Texarkana if the Razorbacks beat DeQueen on Friday.

Alma is coming off its best offensive performance this season in a 49-35 loss to Greenbrier.

Hunter McAlister threw for 251 yards and four touchdowns and Logan Chronister recorded his fifth 100-yard rushing game with 19 totes for 131 yards and a touchdown. Connor Stacy had eight catches for 103 yards and a touchdown.

The game was tied at the half, 28-28.

Farmington (4-4, 2-3) will be the fifth seed from the 5A-West.

4A-4

Ozark can still capture the top seed in the 4A-4.

The Hillbillies (6-3, 4-1) are currently a game behind Mena in the loss column and host Waldron (4-4, 1-4) on Friday.

Mena (6-2, 4-0) hosts Lamar (5-3, 2-2).

In normal years, Mena would already have the top seed wrapped up regardless of the outcome on Friday but since the Bearcats had two games canceled due to Covid-19, they must win on Friday to stay even with Ozark in the win column.

Ozark won at Lamar, 26-10, last week.

The Hillbillies held Lamar to just 149 yards of offense.

Keystan Durning led Ozark’s defense with 13 tackles. Ryker Martin and Lawsyn Jackson each had 12. Durning also recovered a fumble.

Harper Faulkenberry threw for 102 yards and ran for 105 yards and three scores.

3A-1

Charleston wrapped up the top seed in the 3A-1 with last week’s 42-21 win at West Fork.

Breckon Ketter ran for a touchdown and caught one of quarterback Brandon Scott’s three touchdown passes in the win. He also had 12 tackles with 1-1/2 for loss.

Freshman Bryton Ketter had 190 all-purpose yards, including 115 yards and a touchdown receiving and 65 yards on four kickoff returns.

Charleston (7-2, 6-0) takes on rival Lavaca (1-6, 1-5) on Friday.

Greenland (7-2, 5-1) will be the second seed in the conference.

Cedarville (7-2, 4-2) hosts Lincoln (5-4, 3-2) on Friday and can claim the third seed in the playoffs with a win.

The Pirates will take plenty of momentum into Friday’s key game after a 60-20 win against Mansfield.

Darryl Kattich had 20 carries for 227 yards and three scores. Kelin Mitchell and Hayden Partain each had two touchdown runs, and Bruce Turney and Hayden Morton both had one.

Cedarville ran for nine touchdowns in all and for 410 yards on 44 carries.

Cody Dickens added 86 yards passing.

Mansfield (1-8. 0-6) hosts Hackett on Friday.

3A-4

Booneville took a giant step toward the 3A-4 conference title and the top seed with Friday’s 28-20 win at Paris.

In an oddity due to COVID-19, Booneville, Paris and Atkins could tie for the league lead with wins on Friday.

Booneville (7-2, 4-0) hosts Perryville (6-3, 4-2) while Paris (8-1, 4-1) travels to Danville (1-7, 1-4), and Atkins (6-3, 4-2) travels to Mayflower (2-6, 2-3).

Booneville, though, would still be the top seed due to wins over Atkins and Paris but must still beat Perryville on Friday.

A Booneville loss and a Paris win would give the Eagles the top seed due to one more win in conference play than Booneville.

Paris can be no worse than second seed with a win on Friday and a home game in the first round of the Class 3A playoffs.

In Friday’s win, Bonneville had 62 rushes for 382 yards. Randon Ray ran for 194 yards and a score, and Ty Goff had 133 yards and two touchdowns.

Booneville’s defense was stellar in the win, allowing just 231 yards and one touchdown.

2A-4

Mountainburg dropped a high-scoring 41-38 decision at Quitman on Friday.

The Dragons (2-5, 2-4) can still lock up the fourth seed in the 2A-4 with a win at home on Friday against Yellville-Summit (3-6, 2-4) coupled with a loss by Hector (4-4, 2-2) against Quitman (5-4, 4-2).

Friday, Gus Newton ran for 173 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries. Noah Johnson added 16 tries for 118 yards and two scores. Isaac Cowett threw a touchdown pass to Houston Morris.

Mountainburg had 438 yards of offense in all.

Johnson County Westside (2-6, 1-4) travels to conference leader Magazine (7-2, 5-1) on Friday.

Extra Points

Cedarville’s Darryl Kattich continues to lead the state in rushing with 1,809 yards on 183 carries and 24 touchdowns. … Booneville’s Randon Ray went over the 1,000-yard mark in Friday’s game and has 1,141 yards on 149 carries with 14 touchdowns. … Paris’ Duke Walker returned two fumbles for touchdowns, of 90 and 82 yards, in the loss to Booneville for the Eagles’ seventh game with a defensive score. … Due to the cancellations throughout the season, conference championships and playoff seedings will be decided by 1) conference wins, 2) head to head, 3) the usual 13-point tie-breaking procedure except divided by total number of conference games played, and 4) coin flip. … All teams will be eligible for the playoffs in their respective classifications this season due to cancellations caused by COVID-19 unless they choose not to participate with the deadline to opt out moved to Nov. 7 at 8 a.m. after which the Arkansas Activities Association will release the playoff brackets.