Fumbles a problem Mistakes are costly

The Hillbillies fumbled seven times against Clarksville but still won 22-15 in the Alltel/Hooten’s.com Kickoff Classic on Sept. 1 in Little Rock.

Ozark Coach Michael Johnson knows there is no way a repeat performance will result in a victory Friday. Ozark (1-0) plays Alma (1-0), the No. 4 team in Class AAAA.

“We can’t do that against Alma,” Johnson said. “We wouldn’t be able to stay on the field with them. You can’t make mistakes against Alma because they don’t make mistakes.

“We have to execute. If we do that, we can play with them. I’m not saying we’ll beat them, but we’ll compete.”

Quarterback Chaz Holderman fumbled three times, and the Hillbillies’ two new starting halfbacks had their troubles, too. Johnson said his runners did not protect the ball well, allowing an aggressive Clarksville defense to rip the football loose.

“We just didn’t do a good job of holding on to the football,” Johnson said.

— Marty Cook

Defense, QB step up

Elkins overwhelmed Class AAA Greenland with its running game last season in a 28-12 victory.

It was the Elks’ defense that made the difference this season. Elkins held Greenland to 182 yards of total offense in a 13-0 victory Friday night.

It was quite an improvement from the previous year, when the Pirates rolled up 314 yards total offense.

“We held them to under 100 yards passing and under 100 yards rushing,” Elks Coach Aaron Clark said. “We bent a couple of times, and any time you spread the offense out like Greenland did you’re going to eventually get a big play running the ball, but we stopped them from scoring.”

Clark also was pleased with the play of senior quarterback Rusty Tate, who completed 6 of 10 passes for 165 yards and 1 touchdown. That helped take some of the pressure off running back Josh Finkus, who accounted for just fewer than 80 yards running.

“We tried to work on our passing game a lot as the year went on last season, but we really worked on it hard at the end of the season,” said Clark, whose team faces Mountainburg on Friday night. “You can’t be one-dimensional when you reach the playoffs. The passing game was something we continued to focus on in the offseason, and I’m really pleased with the way Rusty played.”

— Neal Shulenburger

BERRYVILLE

Berryville’s offense was touted in the preseason as being one of the more explosive ones in Class AAA this season.

The team averaged 33 points a game last year, but the Bobcats had to hang on for a 76 victory in their opener with Cassville, Mo.

“It’s always discouraging when you only score seven points,” first-year Coach Doug Scheel said. “We went to Pea Ridge and scored 40-plus points and we turn around a week later and score single digits. It was things we weren’t doing, making silly mistakes. We stopped ourselves.”

The Bobcats were penalized 110 yards and fumbled 5 times, losing 3. One of those fumbles occurred on the Cassville 2. Two touchdowns also were called back because of penalties.

“We stopped ourselves,” Scheel said. “Even with some of the bone-headed things we did, we have the talent and the kids gave the effort to win the game.”

Senior quarterback Steven Truelove accounted for close to 150 yards rushing in the first half before spraining his knee, Scheel said. Truelove returned in the second half and is expected to play this week against Huntsville.

Scheel said the Bobcats will have to play much better if they expect to go to 2-0.

“If we play like we did against Cassville, we will get beat by four or five touchdowns,” Scheel said. “They very easily could be the best team on our schedule this year.”

Tate