All eyes on Pine Bluff

All eyes on Pine Bluff

Two- time titleist Zebras a formidble foe for Pats

Sports Editor Ready or not, it’s time for the Marion Patriots’ closeup.

On Friday night in Pine Bluff, the Pats will do battle with the two-time Class 6A state football champion Zebras with the media coverage of a small college.

For starters, the game will be streamed live on meridix.com, with a pregame show running at 6:30 p.m.

The contest between two of the four first-place teams in the 6A-East was also selected as the THV Channel 11’s “Showcase Game of the Week,” edging out the Cabot-Bryant game by a slim 46%-45% margin.

The game will be aired on radio by both schools, and reporters representing the Pine Bluff Commercial, The Evening Times and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette were also confirmed as being present to cover the festivities.

So how does one handle all of these extra potential distractions in a game that is bigger now than it looked just three short weeks ago?

“I think anyone would like to think that they have the type of success where people are paying attention to what you’re doing,” said third-year head football coach Jed Davis on Wednesday morning. “This isn’t a big game in week 2 or 3 or 4. We’re talking week 8, on the road, playing a game with huge seeding implications, maybe a conference title, and it’s a huge testament to our players and coaches and everyone associated with the program. There aren’t a whole lot of teams in a position to control their own destiny in week 8, and we’re fortunate to be in that spot.”

Davis’s first Marion team finished just 1-10 following a first-round playoff loss to El Dorado, but the 2015 Patriots jumped to 57 following a 1-1 run in the playoffs, which included a road win at Lake Hamilton (14-13) and a road loss to Greenwood (42-3). Pine Bluff would defeat Greenwood 28-21 at War Memorial Stadium for last season’s state title.

Still, the increased media coverage of the game shouldn’t affect his team’s focus, Davis says.

“We keep them pretty level-headed,” says the coach. “I remind them on a daily basis that just as quickly as you get all of this attention and things, you can be forgotten just as quickly. They’ve earned the right to be mentioned and talked about right now, but the only way that continues is if you continue to play good football.”

While the off-the-field distractions could submarine Marion (4-3 overall, 3-1 6A-East) on Friday at Torii Hunter Field, Pine Bluff (4-2 overall, 3-1 6AEast) will be a challenge all its own.

The Zebras lost a lot of starters from their 2014 and 2015 state champs, but that doesn’t mean that they’re rebuilding by any stretch.

“They have a lot of meat up front, on both sides of the ball, and we have to figure out how we’re gonna deal with that,” Davis says of Bobby Bolding’s team. “As for play calls and things like that, it doesn’t really matter if their offensive line is whipping you, because they can make it a long night when that happens.”

Pine Bluff lost to Cabot 28-27 and Jonesboro two weeks ago in a muchanticipated showdown on the road, but scoring hasn’t been an issue for the Zebras, as they’ve averaged right at 51 points per game. That’s due in large part to Simeon Blair, their senior signal-caller who transferred into the school from nearby Pine Bluff Dollarway.

“If you don’t stop that guy, you can’t win the game,” Davis says simply.

“If you do stop that guy, you still have to do a good job of keeping a few other guys in check to really have a chance. Their running back is pretty good, and their receivers are fast and athletic, though maybe not excellent route-runners. They want to run the ball, I bet they run it 70% of the time, so we’re going to have to load up the box and stop that run.”

Kickoff of the first game between Marion and Pine Bluff is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday night.

By Chuck Livingston