Pointers start 7A-West on high note

Van Buren opened 7A-West play 1-0 for the first time since 2010 with Friday’s 30-20 win at Rogers. “Anytime, you start off 1-0 in conference, it’s big,” Van Buren head coach Casey Dick said. “Our kids were happy, they were ecstatic. It was a good win for the kids, and a big win for our program.” The Pointers, aptly named after a bird dog, had little trouble with the rain on Friday night. “I told them that the team that will win tonight will be the one that handles some adversity with the weather that goes out and plays football and ignores the conditions,” Dick said. “Just go out, have fun and play football like I know they can. They competed really, really well.” Van Buren jumped to a 16-0 lead, but Rogers led 20-16 after taking the second-half kickoff and driving and scoring. Van Buren’s offense, behind offensive coordinator Crosby Tuck, answered with two touchdowns while defensive coordinator Kenneth Chick’s defense held Rogers scoreless from there. “Coach Chick and Coach Tuck did a great job all night of enabling our kids and getting them to respond,” Dick said. “I didn’t think anybody lost their composure or hung their head or obviously never gave up. That was big, and it was nice to see. We’re growing in those areas, but we still have some growing to do to get to the point that we eventually want to get to.” Van Buren took the lead for good with a 10-play, 74-yard drive right after Rogers had scored. The Pointers used Landrey’s Wilkinson punt return to the Rogers’ 24 to add a 1-yard touchdown run by Brayden Rivas in the fourth quarter for some cushion. While Van Buren’s special teams set up that touchdown, an 82-yard interception return from the 1 by David Evans set up a 22-yard field goal by Chris Flores in the second quarter for a 10-point swing. “They’re already in field goal range,” Dick said. “Anytime, you get a turnover down there and not let them get any points, that’s huge. Then to take it back like he did, that’s a big momentum swing.” Inside linebacker Devin Swearingen had 11 tackles for the second game in a row. Cha’Raun Page had a sack. Evans had the interception along with eight solo tackles. Isaac Davis also had an interception. Rogers had 86 offensive plays, but only converted 6-of-21 third-down attempts. “Our D-line played great,” Dick said. “We put some pressure on them, and we tackled really well.” Van Buren returns home Friday and will host Bentonville, which opened conference play with a 44-8 win over Springdale Har-Ber. Alma The Airedales resorted to the past to overcome a 0-3 start and open 5A-West play with a 34-16 win over Vilonia. Alma ran 47 times for 244 yards in the soaking rain. “The offensive coaches just thought that we need to get more consistent and get behind the guys that have the most experience on our offense, which is our offensive linemen,” Alma head coach Doug Loughridge said. “They went back to our playbook and got some of the formations that we’ve used in the past. They went back to 2013 and got into some heavy packages. We were patient and stayed with it whether we got one yard of 10 yards.” The offensive line of tackles Zac Henson and Levi Prestidge, guards Eli Aleck and Darion Crawford, and center Nick Archer along with the package of blockers Sam Davila, Seth Cole and Mario Gonzalez definitely paved the way for the Airedales. So much so, that the Airedales even went away from their shotgun formation and put the quarterbacks under center. “Some of that has to do with the packages we were in and some of it had to do with the weather,” Loughridge said. “That kind of takes the quarterback out of it some when you’re able to get under there and hand it off.” Alma opened with runs of 14 and 17 yards by quarterback Tanner Shelton, and 10 yards by Keegan Rosebeary much to the delight of offensive coordinator Chris Gunter. “It makes you a lot better play caller when you can dial up a run and reel off 12 yards,” Loughridge said. “It makes it easier on him, makes it easier on the kids and makes it easier on the quarterbacks. Another big deal was the weather and being able to do that.” Defensively, Alma had 12 tackles for lost yardage with Rosebeary and Karsten Beneux each with three. Logan Chronister was in on 14 tackles. Alma hits the road for the next two weeks, first to Farmington. The Cardinals also are 1-0 in the conference after opening with a win over Clarksville

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Van Buren High School Athletics

POINTERS START 7A-WEST ON HIGH NOTE

LELAND BARCLAY

Times Record | 9/27/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Brian D. Sanderford