North Little Rock No. 1 no matter what
By Jeremy Peppas
Image by Jaison Sterling
North Little Rock rallied to beat Bryant, 34-28, last week in a showdown game between the state’s top two teams.
Down 21-0 early, North Little Rock rallied behind the play of sophomore quarterback Kareame Cotton and the timely running of senior all-purpose back Oscar Adaway.
Now 9-0, the Charging Wildcats are guaranteed the state’s top seed in Class 7A and that gives North Little Rock home field advantage throughout the playoffs in its state title defense and a first round bye but the playoffs, in a way, they start this Friday when Cabot comes to town.
The Panthers and coach Mike Malham have a shot at the post-season if they win, and would need some help should they lose. Hootens.com has Cabot as the 15-point underdog.
This is the last season at the helm for Malham, who passed 300 career wins earlier this season and upset Fort Smith Northside last week to pick up 301.
What happens around the 7A-Central matters in terms of seeding as only Little Rock Central is out of contention and with North Little Rock sitting atop the league, that means six teams are jockeying for five playoff spots.
Bryant and Conway face each other this Friday with the winner taking the No. 2 seed, and the loser falling to No. 3.
The remaining three seeds go roughly like this. If Catholic beats Central on Thursday, all eyes turn to Fort Smith and the Battle of Rogers Avenue in the annual grudge match between Northside and Southside.
If Southside loses, and if Catholic beats Central, the Rockets are in if Cabot loses. If Catholic to Central loses on Thursday, then Cabot is in regardless of the outcome on Friday night.
If Northside wins, and Catholic wins, Cabot would also make the playoffs as it would come down to playoff points.
Parkview heads to the playoffs
Image by Jaison Sterling
No matter what happens this Thursday, Little Rock Parkview has earned a spot in the Class 5A playoffs.
The Patriots beat White Hall and improved to a deceiving 4-5 overall record with three of those losses to larger classification schools, and two in the conference to top teams in Pulaski Academy and Little Rock Christian.
Parkview travels to winless Little Rock Fair this Thursday and White Hall is also in the playoffs, but will be the No. 4 seed and will hit the road for Harrison and the first round.
Geary Allmon scored two touchdowns and rushed for 128 yards in the win last week. Allmon is now over 1,000 yards on the season and is a college prospect.
With the top four seeds are already decided in the 5A-Central, that’s not the case around the state.
Parkview will be on the road to the 5A-West to face that league’s No. 2 seed but that’s still to be decided.
Alma lost last week when a win would have secured that spot for the Airedales.
Now, the seeding is a mess, outside of Harrison.
Morrilton and Alma are also in, but either team could finish between Nos. 2, 3 and 4.
Key will be the Vilonia and Greenbrier game in where the winner of the Faulkner County showdown makes the playoffs, loser is out. If Greenbrier wins, along with Alma and Morrilton, that would make the Devil Dogs the No. 2 seed and Parkview’s playoff date.
If Vilonia wins along with Alma and Morrilton, Alma is the No. 2 seed.