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PREP RALLY | 8.18.2024
Shiloh Christian in 6A one of the changes this season
RICK FIRES NWA DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Do you remember what football fans used to say about Shiloh Christian after the Saints emerged as a small-school power in the 1990s?
It went something like this: Shiloh’ s really good, but there’ s no way they can compete with the best teams in the state. Those big schools would crush them.”
After years of gradual ascension in the high school ranks, Shiloh Christian will face it’ s biggest challenge yet in Class 6A, the second-highest classification in Arkansas. The Saints have been assigned for the 2024-2026 classification cycle to the 6A-West Conference, which includes perennial state power Greenwood, former 7A-West Conference member Fort Smith Southside, and Lake Hamilton, which won the Class 6A state championship in 2008 and finished as state-runner up to Greenwood in 2020.
Shiloh Christian is one of the private schools in Arkansas that have bumped up
because the Competitive Equity Factor that was initially passed by the Arkansas Activities Association in 2021 for the 2022 season. Under this system, a state championship earned a school four points, a state championship game appearance earned three points, a playoff win earned two points and a winning conference record earned one point.
Shiloh Christian, which won its first state championship in Class 2A in 1998, bumps up to Class 6A after finishing as state runner-up in Class 5A the past two seasons. The Saints won their eighth state championship as a Class 4A member in 2020.
“ The grind of what a 6A season is like— we don’ t really know yet,” Shiloh Christian Coach Tucker Barnard said.“ We are going to get after it, and I think we’ ll find success.”
The Competitive Equity Factor will greatly affect the football landscape in central Arkansas as well. Private school powers Pulaski Academy and Little Rock Christian will both play in the 7A-Central Conference, where Bryant won four consecutive state championships before being stopped last year by Bentonville. Conway and Cabot are also top holdovers from the 7A-Central who could make also make life uneasy for the newcomers to the league.
Bentonville is one of the teams that’ ll attempt to wrest the Class 7A state championship away from Fayetteville, which finished 13-0 after beating the
Tigers 22-16 last December in Little Rock. Bentonville West and Rogers are also expected to challenge in the 7A-West Conference, which adds Fort Smith Northside and loses Southside from the 2022-2024 classification cycle.
Reclassification has turned the relatively tight loop of 5A-West Conference teams in Northwest Arkansas into a league that covers one-fourth of the state. The league loses Shiloh Christian, Prairie Grove, and Dardanelle and replaces them with Greenbrier, Morrilton, and Vilonia in central Arkansas. That means added travel from Farmington and Pea Ridge, which will make the 400-mile round trip to Vilonia on Oct. 4. Farmington plays at Vilonia on Oct. 18.
“ We really don’ t think it matters that much who’ s in this conference,” Farmington senior running back Russell Hodge said.“ To me, it’ s a nameless, faceless opponent, and we’ ll be ready to go against whoever shows up. It doesn’ t matter to us.”
Reclassification is always interesting, where new football powers emerge and former stalwarts like Little Rock Central( 31-game losing streak) continue to decline. In 2024, a few of the state’ s private schools that’ s been dominant in football will receive an opportunity to strut their stuff against the state’ s best programs. That should make for another exciting season for high school football in Arkansas.
PREP RALLY FOOTBALL PREVIEW
President Brent A. Powers Editor Graham Thomas Staff Writers Henry Apple • Rick Fires • Paul Boyd Contributing Writers Leland Barclay • Mike Jones •
• Harold McIlvain • Kevin Taylor Photos Charlie Kaijo • Hank Layton • Spencer Tirey Videos Blake Sutton • Spencer Tirey Video Interviews Graham Thomas • Kevin Taylor
• Leland Barclay • Walter Woodie
TABLE OF CONTENTS Rick Fires Column............................................ Page 4 Veteran Coaches Cover Story...................... Pages 6-7 Class 7A Preview / Capsules....................... Pages 8-16 Class 6A Preview / Capsules..................... Pages 18-21 Class 5A Preview / Capsules..................... Pages 23-25 Class 4A Preview / Capsules.......... Pages 27-29; 36-44 Class 3A Preview / Capsules..................... Pages 46-48 Class 2A / 8-man Preview / Capsules.......... Pages 49-50 The List................................................... Pages 51-62
• Kane Archer, Greenwood...................................... 52
• Cash Archer, Greenwood...................................... 53
• Grant Karnes, Greenwood..................................... 54
• Jaison DeLamar, Fayetteville................................. 55
• Rhett Tidwell, Fayetteville..................................... 56
• Jeff Regan, Rogers............................................... 57
• Harris Vinson, Bentonville West........................... 58
• Cam Massey, Fort Smith Northside...................... 59
• Eli Brooks, Bentonville.......................................... 60
• Carter Henley, Shiloh Christian............................. 61
• Israel Towns-Robinson, Alma............................... 62
Exclusive videos available on the Northwest Arkansas and River Valley Democrat-Gazette digital replica apps. Download today for Apple and Android.
* Videos available on YouTube ** The Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette would like to thank the Northwest Arkansas Naturals for use of the NW Health Community Room at Arvest Ballpark for hosting NWA Media Day on Aug. 1. The River Valley Democrat-Gazette would like to thank the River Valley Fellowship of Christian Athletes for the use of their facility to host River Valley Media Day on July 23 and July 30.
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