Page 5 - RVO Football Preview Sept 2017

Get Ready For The Game
RIVER VALLEY & OZARK EDITION OF THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE FOOTBALL PREVIEW |
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2017
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CONWAY WAMPUS CATS
Conway assistant coach Brooks Hollingsworth watches as his linemen hit the blocking sled.
MATT JOHNSON/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
first round, winning 35-20 to set up their trip to Fayetteville.
Ashcraft said the overall experience of last season was a good life lesson for his team.
“It was big to prove to our kids if you just stay positive and keep working, good things can happen,” he said. “We kept trying to relate the season to life. There’s good and bad in life. That’s where we were, and to see them have that success, I know our coaching staff was happy for those seniors, to see them have a lot of things to smile about there at the end.”
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first round before traveling to Fayetteville for
the quarterfinals, where their season ended with a 35-0 loss to the eventual state-champion Bulldogs.
“It was tough,” Ashcraft said. “Like we told our kids, nobody’s going to feel sorry for you outside of your parents. Other people, even when you’re playing, might even enjoy seeing an opponent down.
“We talked about guarding against apathy, not feeling sorry for ourselves, trying to stay focused on finding a way to make something good happen. And they did. It took us a while to get going, but the second half of the season was enjoyable.”
Among the rash of injuries, the Wampus Cats lost two quarterbacks.
“It was just one of those things that just kind of snowballed,” Ashcraft said. “There was noth- ing we could do about it. Everything happened — we had a kid get injured in a special teams walk-through.”
Of course, the positive of such an experience a year later is that younger players — ready or not — got plenty of playing time, and that should bode well for the Wampus Cats in 2017.
Ashcraft agreed.
“The silver lining now is a lot of those guys got to play, got some experience, and they’re
all back,” he said. “I’m hoping they can all stay healthy, for their sakes. Those guys have worked very hard.”
Conway opened the season with a 37-30 loss to Springdale; fell at Jonesboro, 41-38; lost to Bentonville, 16-7; at Fort Smith Southside, 23-20; and to North Little Rock, 38-7.
But the season turned with a 37-14 victory at Cabot.
“Our kids were fired up to play them,” Ashcraft said. “We were playing against [quar- terback Jarrod Barnes, now at Arkansas]. They all knew there were a lot of eyes on that game just because we were playing against a guy of his caliber.
“To see them have the success they had that night, and to be as excited as they were — that shot us into the second half of the season.”
Although the next week the Cats fell 28-21 to Fort Smith Northside — which went on to finish as league runner-up to North Little Rock — they then put together their only two-game winning streak, 35-17 over Little Rock Central and 27-17 over Little Rock Catholic. Conway lost its regular-season finale to Bryant, 21-7; the Hornets went on to the semifinals, where they fell to North Little Rock.
The Wampus Cats tied for fourth in the 7A-Central and got the fourth seed for the playoffs. They played host to Rogers, fifth from the West, at John McConnell Stadium in the