Blue Devils looking to improve position in crowded 6A East

West Memphis on the road against Pine Pluff tonight

WM School District As for securing the No.

2 seed from the 6A-East Conference for the state playoffs, the West Memphis Blue Devils are holding up their end of the bargain.

However, they’re going to need some outside help from here on out.

Jonesboro’s 44-34 victory over Searcy last week threw a monkey wrench in West Memphis’ plans for second place in league standings. With the win, Jonesboro now holds the inside track for first place.

The Hurricane and Searcy are tied with 4-1 records, followed by West Memphis, Marion and Sylvan Hills all in a three-way tie for third with 3-2 marks.

The Blue Devils (4-4 overall) will try and gain even more traction Friday night when they play their regular-season road finale at Pine Bluff (2-6, 2-3).

The Zebras appear to be at least somewhat of a wild card in the conference race, according to West Memphis head coach Billy Elmore.

“Everybody says Pine Bluff is down,” said Elmore. “But, I’m not really seeing that. They’re in a real similar position from last year. You’ve had a (coaching) staff change and that’s been a factor, but I know they play an incredibly tough non-conference schedule and now they’re playing a lot better than they did earlier in the season.”

Searcy and Sylvan Hills have the tie-breaker over the Blue Devils, but for once West Memphis will be rooting for Marion when the Patriots host Jonesboro in Week 10.

A Marion win over the Hurricane could be the key to help the Blue Devils to a second-place finish.

Provided, that is, they take care of the rest of their business.

Besides Pine Bluff, the Blue Devils host bottom- feeder Mountain Home in the regular-season finale on Nov. 7.

“We (as coaches) look at the standings,” Elmore added. “We’d be lying if we said we don’t. But every time I look at it I’m like ‘hey let’s go beat Pine Bluff.”’ With two straight victories, the Blue Devils are gaining a little steam toward the finish line.

Although they bolted to a commanding 31-0 halftime lead at home last week against Jacksonville on their way to a 38-6 mercy-rule win, the Blue Devils weren’t as impressive as the score indicates, according to Elmore.

“I know we were up 31-0 at halftime, but I really don’t think we played that well,” he stated. “In the film review, when you can slow everything down, I didn’t feel like we played very well. I think if we’d have played Jonesboro last Friday night we’d have lost the game.”

Pine Bluff’s talented senior quarterback, Tyler Foots, is healthy now after missing last season with a knee injury. Foots is a dual run-pass threat.

“Foots is a problem,” Elmore said. “He can beat you in multiple ways.”

West Memphis’ own offense has gotten a boost in the last two weeks with the emergence of junior running back Elijah Eulls, who made an impressive debut at Jonesboro before scoring the first touchdown of the night in last week’s win over Jacksonville.

“He’s really come on,” Elmore said of Eulls. “That helps.”

Elmore admits his offense’s departure from conventional formations has been a desperation move to get the unit clicking.

Sometimes the offense will utilize the wildcat formation with Cedric Loving or Dennis Dallas taking the direct snap or the single wing formation has been used.

“At some point, I guess you’re going to accept it,” Elmore said. “We’ve played eight ball games.

In our run game we’ve had to go to some smoke and mirrors and try to disguise some things and hide some guys. It has been effective.

We try to add something to that each week. As a coach I’ve had to go away from some of the things I’ve always done, but at the same time the things we’ve done have worked.”