The out- of- towners

The out- of- towners

Oh, hello there! Welcome back to Power Poll HQ.

I know, I know. I didn’t write last week because it was Labor Day and it was a four-day work week and due to space and time constraints, it wasn’t possible to run my weekly Player/Team of the Week awards and the Power Poll. So, that’s my bad.

1.) West Memphis Blue Devils (2-0 overall, hosts Little Rock Central) West Memphis was able to hit the road to win in a place that they couldn’t last year, so mentally, I think that was crucial.

I like the Blue Devils resurrecting the Little Rock Central non-conference rivalry as those were always exciting week 1 games when the schools hooked up annually, in addition to playing in consecutive state title games in 2003 and 2004.

2.) Marion Patriots (1-1 overall, at Blytheville) 3.) Earle Bulldogs (1-1 overall, at Mountain View) I lumped these two together because they both took on out-of-state competition last week, and each claimed impressive wins.

Marion got Jackson, Missouri to town and rolled up 62 points against a team that has won a lot of games over the past five seasons. The Pats could have gotten to 70, but they pulled their starters for their last two drives. Good on Jed Davis and staff for not being unkind hosts.

Earle has gotten used to playing on the road, and last Friday was no different in Halls, Tennessee. After digging an early hole, the Bulldogs dominated the rest of the game and snapped their three-game losing streak, dating back to week 10 of last year.

I’m not one to put a ton of stock into non-conference games, but I liked how these two squads were willing to solve their scheduling issues by thinking outside of the box, as well as the state.

I liked it even better that they both won and represented the state of Arkansas well.

4.) West Memphis Christian Black Knights (1-3 overall, 1-0 district.

Host Kirk Academy) I could tell just from talking to Darrow Anderson how much last Friday’s loss at Oak Hill Academy hurt him.

His team had slapped together three good quarters of football before watching the hosts rally.

In most circles, a non-district loss wouldn’t be much worth worrying about, right? Get ‘em next week.

Except in this edition of the MAIS postseason formula, a win on Friday would have been a major shot in the arm for a team trying to enter the postseason mix for the first time since 2013.

A win would have netted the Black Knights 10 power points, with a few more winnable games remaining.

Additionally, it’s almost the halfway point for West Memphis Christian as they play their fifth game on Friday. There’s still time to make a move, but it’s getting shorter by the week.

Thanks for reading.

Chuck’’s Corrnerr

By Chuck Livingston