If anyone in Arkansas knows about high school football in Texas it's Casey Dick, who came from Allen, Texas, to play quarterback at the University of Arkansas.

So, Dick knows what he was getting into when he scheduled his Fayetteville team to face Texarkana, Texas, on Friday at Harmon Field. The Texas High Tigers are a star-studded team that's 3-0 after going 11-2 last season in Class 5A, Division II. They're currently ranked No. 4 in 5A-2 after pounding Midlothian (Texas) Heritage 51-13 last week.

"Anytime you're ranked that high in 5A, that tells you something," Dick said. "They're a really, really good football team."

Fayetteville is a good football team as well, and the Bulldogs are 2-0 after winning the Class 7A state championship last season with a 13-0 record. The Bulldogs are ranked No. 1 in Class 7A following wins over Cabot (48-13) and Broken Arrow, Okla. (30-23).

Texas High is loaded with college prospects, beginning with junior running back Tradarian Ball, who is committed to Oregon. Sophomore offensive left tackle Qua Ford (6-foot-6, 270) recently received offers from Georgia and Miami, and senior quarterback David Potter has received recruiting interest from Southern Methodist.

Fayetteville should be well-rested for Friday's showdown with a bye week following its win Sept. 6 at Broken Arrow as senior running back Christian Battles broke loose for 156 yards rushing. Senior quarterback Garyt Odom, who is committed to Nevada-Las Vegas, leads a productive passing game with a number of quality receivers, including Jaison DeLamar, an Arkansas baseball commit who has 7 catches for 173 yards and 2 touchdowns in two games.

Friday's game is the first meeting between Fayetteville and Texas High.

"We had this game on the back burner and a couple of things fell through, so we decided 'let's go ahead and play,'" Dick said "They're a really good team, but we love our kids as well. We're excited about this opportunity."

-- Rick Fires

ROGERS HERITAGE

War Eagles, Tigers look to snap streaks

The War Eagles spent their bye week trying to fix and clean up "little things," according to Coach Eric Munoz.

"It was a very physical bye week," he said. "Just a lot of tackling, a lot of good-on-good and just trying to improve those little things."

Heritage (0-2) travels to Little Rock Central (0-2) for a 7 p.m. kickoff Friday at Earl Quigley-Bernie Cox Stadium.

One team will emerge from Friday's game having snapped a long losing streak. Heritage has lost 11 in a row, including home losses to Siloam Springs (17-7) and Carl Junction (25-13) to open the 2024 season. The War Eagles' last win came in the 2023 season-opener at Siloam Springs 38-13 on Aug. 25, 2023.

Central, however, has lost 33 straight games. The Tigers came into the year with a 31-game losing streak and dropped road games at Springdale (49-21) and at Fort Smith Southside (45-14) to begin the year. Central's last win came 37-35 at Fayetteville in the Class 7A playoffs on a last second field goal on Nov. 13, 2020.

The War Eagles are looking for some consistency at quarterback. Senior Dominic Castaneda is a returning starter from last year, but Heritage also has used sophomores Jack Presley and Bradeon Carroll at the position.

"Who's going to be the guy to eliminate crucial mistakes?" Munoz said.

-- Graham Thomas

BENTONVILLE

Tigers set to face athletic Broncos

Bentonville Coach Jody Grant admits he doesn't know a lot about Lee's Summit (Mo.) North, the team the Tigers will play Friday night.

But what he does know about the Broncos is they're the type of team that will help Bentonville prepare for games down the road. Lee's Summit North enters the game with a 3-0 record after a 26-13 victory over Mill Valley, Kan., a five-time defending state champion and a team Bentonville played in 2020.

"It's a very athletic team," Grant said. "The idea behind playing them is to get our kids used to playing athletes like what we will see when we play teams like Bryant and North Little Rock and try to prepare us for the playoffs.

"We're going to get that because they are athletic across the board. It will be a nice test for us as we go into conference play after this."

Bentonville (0-2) was idle last week, and Grant said the practices have been competitive and good during the open date. A few changes were made as far as flexibility toward some players on the defensive end, the most notable one being Cam Thornton-Mead's move from the defensive line to linebacker.

The Tigers' main focus, Grant noted, is how much they need to improve their game on a weekly basis.

"I told our players this Monday -- we need to play clean and good and showing signs of getting better from our previous game," Grant said. "We worked on areas we needed improvement on, and now we need to be able to transition that from the practice field to the game field and see signs of that Friday night.

"We can't worry about how athletic a team is and what their record is. We need to worry about us. It's about us and getting better in operating and blocking and tackling -- the things that win football games."

-- Henry Apple

PRAIRIE GROVE

Tigers show effort late

Prairie Grove led Highway 62 rival Farmington 8-6 at halftime, but the Tigers gave up 22 unanswered points in the second half to fall 28-8.

But Tigers Coach Danny Abshier was able to find a silver lining in a pair of hustle plays that prevented pick-sixes for the Cardinals.

Midway through the fourth quarter with Farmington up 21-8, Cardinals linebacker Peyton Bailey stepped in front of an Alex Abshier pass and intercepted at the Farmington 12 with nothing but green grass in front of him. Bailey would have scored on an 88-yard interception return had it not been for a Prairie Grove receiver chasing him down at the Tigers' 15-yard lin.

Farmington did score a field plays later, but Abshier was impressed with Edwards' effort.

"We showed some real guts on some kids," Abshier said.

The Cardinals had another shot a pick-six when D.K. Turner intercepted a pass at the Cardinals 20 and rumbled the other way. Prairie Grove's Morgan Cobb came across the field to run down Turner at the Tigers 15.

"If you can chase a kid down from here all the way to the (15-yard) line across the field and catch him, that shows some guts. And then still standing out there ready to play again. Did that twice on two picks."

Prairie Grove hosts Coweta, Okla., on Friday.

-- Graham Thomas

GREENLAND

Big fullback a concern

Limiting Ridge Gordon-Swofford will be a primary objective when Greenland (1-1) hosts Green Forest (1-1) on Friday.

Many teams have trouble containing Gordon-Swofford, an all-state running back who rushed for over 1,100 yards and 14 touchdowns last season. He was particularly effective against Greenland when he scored six touchdowns and led a fourth-quarter comeback from an 18-point deficit during a 56-52 victory over the Pirates.

So, Greenland has to do a better job of taking Gordon-Swofford to the ground to avoid a repeat from last season.

"We've got to limit the explosive plays," Greenland Coach Cody Napier said. "Gordon-Swofford is a big (6-foot-1, 230), strong fullback. He lowers his shoulder and keeps moving forward. He picks up yardage by just falling forward."

Greenland overcame an early 7-0 deficit last week en route to a 47-21 victory over Berryville. Sophomore Slade Norwood threw for 314 yards and 5 touchdowns in only his second start as a varsity quarterback. Greenland also received a big game from Brandon Vaughan, who caught 8 passes for 159 yards and 2 touchdowns and returned a kickoff 95 yards for a score.

Vaughan had a big game last year against Green Forest with touchdown catches of 52, 22, and 28 yards. He also threw a touchdown pass.

"Brandon is our strong safety and slot receiver," Napier said. "He just finds a way to get open as a receiver, and he has 14 career picks on defense. He had a phenomenal game."

-- Rick Fires

WEST FORK

Tigers 'hurting themselves'

West Fork takes an 0-2 record into Friday's final nonconference game against Huntsville, but the Tigers have been their worst enemy at times while suffering earlier losses against Green Forest and Lincoln.

"The first half (against Lincoln), I thought we played pretty well," West Fork Coach Rodney Selph said. "They made some adjustments defensively, and we didn't do too good of a job picking that up. Against Green Forest, we moved the ball up and down the field, got inside the 5 twice and didn't score.

"But that's football, and we need to find a way to fix those things so we can win games like that. We will; we just need to keep working."

West Fork couldn't capitalize on scoring opportunities in its opener against Green Forest, then had an 18-16 lead midway though the second quarter last week against Lincoln. Running back Bryson Whitmill had two touchdown runs and finished with 100 yards on 17 carries for the Tigers.

But with the Tigers beginning conference play next week, Selph said there are things West Fork needs to do against a Huntsville team that also needs a win.

"We need to quit shooting ourselves in the foot," Selph said. "I think that's the biggest thing -- turnovers, penalties, not punching it in when we're inside the red zone. We've got to quit hurting ourselves.

"What I'm looking for is for us to go out and play solid football. We don't need to put ourselves in bad positions, don't be putting ourselves behind the chains. We just need to do the things to win a football game, and a lot of that is just us and taking care of what we need to do."

-- Henry Apple