Cowboys playing for pride against Bentonville Black
Posted on Thursday, October 30, 2008
ANDY SHUPE Northwest Arkansas Times Woodland Junior High running back Farico Baymon (21 ) is hit by Heritage Junior High defensive back Elliot Schaefer during play Oct. 2 at Harmon Field.
Losing hurts but sometimes the best remedy is to forget and move on to the next task.
The ailing Woodland Cowboys dropped a disheartening 21-14 decision at Springdale Central last week that cost them a shot at a Northwest Arkansas Conference title.
Woodland (6-2, 4-2 ) has just two games remaining at home against Bentonville Black and cross-town nemesis Ramay. The Cowboys fell into a third-place tie with Springdale Southwest and Ramay following last week’s loss.
“ A lot of things would have to happen for us to even have a chance to win a conference title, ” Woodland coach Bobby Crockett said. “ But we’ve still got a lot to play for. We’ve got an opportunity to win these last two games and end the season on a good note. We’re playing for pride now and the kids want to finish strong. ”
The Cowboys ’ sturdy defense buckled against Central, which can earn a share of the conference crown against Bentonville Gold tonight.
Woodland’s defense entered the contest as the top unit in the conference but allowed a season-high 21 points against Central.
“ Defense has been our mainstay all year long, ” Crockett said. “ But we had some uncharacteristic breakdowns and missed some tackles and opportunities for interceptions. Things that we typically get done didn’t get done and I’m sure Central had a lot to do with that. They’re a very good football team. They made some great adjustments at halftime and the kids executed them. ”
A costly interception helped set up Central’s game-winning touchdown with under four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
“ I didn’t do a good job of getting our kids in good situations, ” Crockett said. “ But our offensive line has to do a better job of controlling the line of scrimmage. We didn’t do that against Central, which forced us out of our offense, hurt our running game and put [quarterback ] Austin [Allen ] in some bad situations in the passing game. ” While his pupils endured a brief hiccup, Crockett remains confident they will rally and summon a strong finish.
“ We’re still a good football team, ” Crockett said. “ We also have a job of preparing these kids for high school and they’re competing and getting better every week. We still have two games left and a lot of positives we can build on to make this a great season. ”
Standing in the way is Black (4-4, 3-3 ), which has lost two of its last three games following a threegame winning streak early in the season. Ramay outlasted Black last week in overtime, 13-7.
“ Black is very wellcoached and they will pose some problems for us with some of their formations, ” Crockett said. “ We’ve got to get back to the fundamentals of tackling and blocking. ”
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