Bearden Bears practice report, Aug. 2
OLDER BEARS LOOKING FOR BIG SEASON
By KELLY BLAIR
yesradioworks.com
BEARDEN - Armed with a full coaching staff now, the Bearden Bears are looking for big things in 2017.
At one point late in the summer, Bearden head coach Ernie Horstkamp thought he may have to go into the new season a little shorthanded, as former line coach David Clark left for a new job in Springhill.
But then last week, former Bearden assistant Larry Reeder walked into the fieldhouse.
"He asked me if we wanted any watermelons, and I asked him, 'Do you want a job?'" "Horstkamp said, noting Reeder worked under him and former Bearden coach Mike Cox for eight seasons before retiring a couple of years ago. "We talked about it, and we were able to work something out."
With Reeder now on board to coach offensive lineman and defensive backs, and with new coach Lavell Wright joining the staff as well, the Bearden coaching staff is back to full strength and ready to go into the new season. William "Bud" Chambliss, Ryan Thomas and Anthony Hammonds are still on board with the Bears as well.
The new staff welcomed 32 players to training camp on Monday, and return six starters on each side of the ball. Currently there are two players out of action with injuries, but Horstkamp said the ones who are in camp are ready to go.
"Practice has gone well the last three days," Horstkamp said following today's workout. "The attitude and effort has just been fantastic, and we always tell them that those are the things they can control. A lot of it is that they have had good retention from the spring and summer."
Horstkamp said with Bears getting in shoulder pads and "shells" today, the staff was able to get a better idea of just how far along the team is. After three days of limited contact practice, teams can start full-pad practices next week.
"This year we did do some 7-on-7's in July, but we didn't overdo it," the coach said. "With 30 players, everybody is going to get plenty of reps. We don't want everyone wearing down by the end of the season. We want them to still want to play by the time we get to playoffs."
The Bears will continue to have early morning practices for the rest of this week before practicing in the evenings Monday and Tuesday of next week due to teacher workshops. They will then take Aug. 9 off, before practicing in the morning on Aug. 10, and then traveling to Little Rock on Aug. 11.
With conference rival Rison installing a new turf field, Horstkamp said he wanted his team to work out on an artificial field before they played the Wildcats. He said while he could have possibly had his team travel to El Dorado or some other turf field instead, he choose to take the War Memorial Stadium in the capital city so the Bears can set a goal of getting back there by the end of the season.
"That's kind of theme - start there, end there," Horstkamp said, noting all state championship games are played at WMS. "We'll bus up there and work out ... make a day of it."
The Bears will have both junior high and senior high Black-&-White scrimmages on Aug. 15, starting with junior high at 6 p.m. Admission to those events is laundry detergent or $2 a person.
The high school team will then have a preseason scrimmage against Fordyce in Bearden on Aug. 22. On Aug. 24, the Junior Bears will travel to Fordyce for a preseason scrimmage game.
Harmony Grove Preview, Aug. 1, 2017
EXPERIENCED HORNETS LOOKING FOR EVEN MORE IN 2017
By KELLY BLAIR
yesradioworks.com
HARMONY GROVE - Two practices into what the Harmony Grove Hornets think will be a big 2017 season, head coach Tony Chambers could hardly sound happier.
"Things have gone really good," Chambers said. "Really, it's gone about as good as it has ever gone. We're making a few changes on offense, but for the most part we've got a lot of returning players and a lot of playing time back this year, and you can tell. It's been pretty impressive what the retention has been like."
Of course, Chambers said it helps when a team has its entire offensive line back, and several key contributors on offense. Overall, HG has seven starters coming back on offense, and six on defense.
"And we've got some depth this year too," Chambers added. "We're a solid 2-deep at every position, so that means nobody feels completely safe. Everybody working hard to make sure they keep their position. We have some sophomores that could step in and play on the line if we needed them too. We have some other people that can play the skill positions. We're at least 2-deep at every position - some we're 3-deep in - and most of the positions there isn't a big drop off between the ones and twos."
The Hornets had 37 players in camp for the start of the season, down from the 45 they had through most of the offseason. Chambers said a couple of the players are out of town or accounted for, but added two or three are simply "MIA." Since most of the players made all their summer workouts, however, Chambers said he believes most of them will be back.
Harmony Grove will continue to workout each morning this week, before switching to some afternoons workouts next week depending on the coaches' schedule with other activities at the school.
The team plans to have a controlled intra-squad scrimmage on Aug. 10 after team pictures are made. On Aug. 22, the high school team will take on Junction City in a preseason scrimmage game, before the squad opens up its season a few days early by taking on Smackover on Aug. 29 at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia as part of one of the Hooten's Arkansas Football Kickoff Classics.
As part of the Hooten's game, Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield will have a food drive, and the team will meet with cheerleaders and several other members of the community on Aug. 8 to pack meals for under-privileged families at Harmony Grove United Methodist Church.
Tickets to the Hooten's Classic in Magnolia are $7 each, and Harmony Grove gets to keep all the proceeds of any tickets they sell. Tickets will be on sale at the school registration day Thursday, on the Elementary Pop Night on Aug. 8 and on Spin Night on Aug. 10.
Tickets can also be purchased from any player or coach.
Despite losing three coaches during the offseason, Chambers said he is happy with the three assistant he has on staff for 2017. Mark Hill left Foreman to join the Hornets as the offensive and defense line coach. Blake Williams is back as running backs/linebackers coach and will serve as defensive coordinator with the departure of DJ Keithley, and James Garcia will serve as the receivers and secondary coach.
Starting Wednesday, the Hornets will go in "shells" for three days before being able to don full pads next week.
Aug. 1, 2017
URGENT SPORTS UPDATE
Camden Fairview to drop to Class 4A in all sports except football in 2018
By KELLY BLAIR
yesradioworks.com
With new legislation passed on Monday, Camden Fairview high school will drop down in classification in all sports except football, starting with the 2018-19 school year.
The measure, Proposal No. 9 by the governing body of the Arkansas Activities Association, will mandate that starting in the next school year, the 16 largest school districts in the state will play in Class 6A for boys and girls basketball, baseball and softball, track and soccer.
The next largest 32 schools will then be assigned to Class 5A, with the next 48 schools assigned to Class 4A.
With the 58th largest enrollment in the state, Camden Fairview would drop down to 4A for the 2018-19 school year for the non-football sports. CFHS will remain in Class 5A for football.
Reached earlier this morning in Little Rock, where the AAA meetings are taking place, CF athletic director Ricky Tucker said the result of the voting did not come as a surprise to him.
"We kind of saw this coming," Tucker said. "A lot of folks weren't really happy with the blended conferences we're doing right now ... There were a lot of schools that didn't want to go to this (proposal), but it passed, so in the end so we'll go forward from here."
Currently Camden Fairview plays in a 9-team "blended" conference for sports including basketball, baseball and softball. Camden Fairview's current conference includes 6A members El Dorado, Texarkana and Lake Hamilton.
Part of the confusion with the blended conferences came when teams advanced to postseason, and would go back to playing only teams in their classification size. For Camden Fairview, that meant seeing White Hall and Watson Chapel rejoin the conference for the district tournaments as the end of the season.
No conference assignments have been made by the AAA for the new legislation yet. Schools close to Camden Fairview which could be possibly be assigned to - although there is nothing official yet - include districts such as Arkadelphia, Nashville, Malvern or Crossett.
As the 48th largest district in the state, Magnolia should be assigned to Class 5A, along with White Hall, Hot Springs Lakeside and Watson Chapel.
Schools that currently share a conference with Camden Fairview such as Hot Springs High School, Hope and DeQueen will likely remain in the same district as CFHS.
Tucker said while looking for a solution in getting away from the "blended" conferences, he believes it is important to remember that each school had a right to have their say in this issue.
"Y'know, this thing is a democracy," Tucker said. "I know that not everyone is happy with it, but it's what we have now and everyone had a chance to vote. I can remember when (Camden Fairview) was in the old 5A, which was the largest classification in the state (in all sports) with schools as big as Fayetteville and Bentonville, and no one was real concerned about it then. Now we've got some other folks that aren't happy with this but we'll move forward and do our best to make it work."
On a side note, Camden Fairview will also welcome a pair of newcomers to the 5A South football conference including 2018, including Texarkana and Little Rock McClellan.
White Hall and Watson Chapel have been moved to the 5A Central, while the rest of the 5A South football conference - including Lakeside, Hope, Magnolia, Hot Springs and DeQueen - will remain the same.
July 31, 2017
Cardinal football ready to bounce back in 2017
By KELLY BLAIR
yesradioworks.com
CAMDEN - After a 3-7 season in his first campaign as the head coach of the Camden Fairview Cardinals, Jake Monden has made a number of changes to make sure the Redbirds bounce back and have a better year in 2017.
Armed with 87 players on the first day of practice, Monden indicated that he not only believes the Cardinals have "the right 87 players" to have a successful season, but to also get back into the playoffs and compete for a conference championship in the upcoming season. The Cardinals went into 2016 with around 77 players, the coach noted.
"I feel good about the ones we have left," Monden said, noting the team had over a hundred players during the offseason, but as usual, saw the number dwindle during the summer months. "The kids we have now have sacrificed and put in the work."
The Cardinals begin their first official practice of training camp today at 5 p.m. The Redbirds will work out all month while preparing for a Red-White game on Aug. 18th at Cardinal Stadium, and their pre-season scrimmage game against Monticello, also at Cardinal Stadium, on Aug. 22.
Monden said he went exclusively with an evening schedule for practice instead of mornings because after a week or so, the team had to switch to evenings to accommodate teachers’ workshops and coaches' schedule anyway.
"This way, we just keep doing the same thing - it allows us to get into a routine," Monden said. "We'll keep the same schedule and have an easier transition."
The head Cardinal said the afternoon practice schedule also allows a little more time for him to meet with his mostly new coaching staff, which saw a lot of turnover for the second straight year.
Only two coaches, Monden and offensive coordinator Landon Dover, are left over from 2016. Dover served as the receivers coach last season, but was already set to take over the play-calling duties in 2017.
Matt Sandifer, the new high school defensive line coach, served on the Junior Cardinals’ staff last season, but otherwise, there are a lot of new faces in the meeting rooms these days.
TJ Hill is the new CF defensive coordinator, coming to Camden Fairview from El Dorado. Garrett Whitley takes over as the new O-Line coach, while Tramaine Brown will coach running backs and Jon Brooks will coach receivers.
Joining Sandifer on the defensive side of the ball include new faces Dex Gardner (linebackers) and Devin Ball (secondary).
The large turnover came due to a number of reasons, including a pair of coaches who had a chance to coach a little closer to their hometowns, a pair that went into administration, and some that simply were not asked back.
Monden said he feels really good about the staff he has now, and after having eight coaches total on the high school staff last year, he added that having nine on the high school staff now was always a goal of his.
"With the amount of kids we have, I think this number now gives us the expertise that we need on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball," Monden said. "It also allows me to float and have my hands in all aspects of things, instead of having to spend so much time on one side of the ball like I did last year (as the acting defensive coordinator).
Monden also pointed out that having Chris Coker serve as the junior high head coach for both the 8th and 9th grade teams would give the junior high players the same staff to work with for two years in a row. Troy Keith will be the offensive coordinator for both junior high teams, and is joined by defensive coordinator Jamal Russell and assistants Carlos Tucker, Jacob Wiedmaier and Dillon Fogle.
Overall, Monden said workouts for the high school Cardinals went very well over the offseason and summer. The team competed in a number of 7-on-7 passing games, and team camps where they were able to get a number of padded workouts in as well.
"I think our kids are confident," Monden said going into the new year. "We're definitely a lot stronger .... and I think the harder you work, the harder it gets to spit the bit out when things get tough. Mentally, I think we're a lot better. During our team camps, I saw our level of competing with other teams go way up. I'm looking forward to getting the new season going and being a lot more competitive this year."
