By Jason Avery
News-Times Staff
Thanks to winning the 5-3A title, Smackover received a bye for the first round of the playoffs.
With their sabbatical now completed, the Bucks return to the gridiron for a showdown against Danville tonight in the second round of the 3A playoffs.
Game time is set for 7 p.m. from Memorial Stadium.
The game was moved from Smackover to El Dorado due to unplayable field conditions.
The winner advances to the quarterfinals next week.
The Bucks (8-1) are the 5-3A’s No. 1 seed, while the Little Johns (8-3) are the 4-3A’s No. 3 seed.
Danville advanced with a 54-12 win over Yellville-Summit, forcing a whopping nine turnovers, including six interceptions, in the win.
Despite winning in lopsided fashion, Danville coach D.J. Crane felt there was plenty of room for improvement on his team’s performance.
“I really felt like we didn’t play our best game,” Crane said. “We turned the ball over way too much, which is not consistent with how we normally do things. It just wasn’t typical to play the way we did. We had penalties and turnovers, which is something that we don’t do a lot of, and we can’t because we don’t have the talent to overcome stuff like that. When you do that, it really puts teams like us in a bind.”
As far as the nine turnovers are concerned, Crane said it’s just an anomaly that can occur at times.
“It is crazy,” Crane said. “I’m glad I wasn’t on the other end of that. It was just one of those things that happened. We were just in the right spots. They completed a lot of balls and threw for a lot of yards, so it wasn’t like we played tremendous in the secondary, but we did turn them over quite a bit.”
Smackover coach Brian Brown was impressed with the feat.
“They do a good job,” Brown said. “I really think their secondary does a good job also. They’ve got some players over there. A lot of that was just great coverage and just making plays when you have to make them. As a football coach, you always say, ‘There’s not an in-between. You either make the play or you don’t.’ They made a lot of plays on that side of the ball.”
The Little Johns are accustomed to playing deep into November.
Over the last four years, Danville has won 36 games, and the confidence from that success will help them in their showdown with Smackover.
“We’ve had a lot of success at Danville,” Crane said. “We’ve got good kids and parents that buy into our system. We didn’t have success early, but we always ended up battling through it because our parents believed in what we were doing and our kids believed in what we were doing. They knew eventually it was going to turn around. It usually works out to our benefit.”
When the Bucks take the field tonight, it will have been 15 days since they downed Harmony Grove to clinch the outright 5-3A title, and Brown said the bye has been very beneficial for his team.
“It’s always good to have that breather and get some of your bumps and bruises healed and get refocused on some things,” Brown said. “We went to some basics with our quarterbacks and some of our receivers. We taught some things that we taught during the summer. We refocused on those and got refreshed on some things that we haven’t been able to work on. It was pretty good. We didn’t put too much in there because anything can happen, but we put a few things in that we worked on later in the week.”
Both teams enter having offenses that can light up scoreboards.
Smackover has been held under 30 points only on two occasions this season, while Danville has scored 40 or more points four straight weeks.
For Brown, trying to stop an offense that’s as balanced as Danville’s is will be a tough test for the Bucks.
“It’s a little different than some,” Brown said. “Prescott had a great receiver, and Harmony Grove had some good players at receiver and the quarterback was good. They’ve got a lot of guys they throw to, and it can cause problems if you’re not where you’re supposed to be. It’s something we’ve been working on for two weeks. We kind of knew we were going to play them, so we’ve been working on it. You just have to have some different coverages and mix it up and stay with the receivers.”
The Bucks are also well-balanced with Greg Turner and Dexter Crockett leading a potent rushing attack with quarterback Roshard Boone having several big-play threats in the passing game.
Against Harmony Grove two weeks ago, Turner rushed for 278 yards and three touchdowns in the Bucks’ win, and Crane said trying to stop the Bucks’ tandem in the backfield will be a tall order.
“Their vision and the breakaway speed that they have is going to be a challenge for us,” Crane said. “As far as strength goes, we have strong, physical kids, but speed-wise, we just don’t match up with them, so we’re going to have to be in the right spots and play sound, sound defense, which we have played really good defense all year. It will be a challenge for us, but it’s a challenge that we accept and we’re ready for it. Our kids are experienced. This will be the fourth year in a row we’ve been in the second round or better, so our kids understand how big the game is and they know how to prepare for times like these.”
Since starting the season with a 3-3 record, the Little Johns have won five straight, and Crane credited his team for staying the course.
“We just don’t get rattled,” Crane said. “We lost three all-conference players to injuries before the season even started. It was just something that we have to take in stride. We never get really up or down as far as our emotions go. We knew early we were going to have to battle because we were playing some really solid teams. We take every game like it is its own season. If we happen to lose a game, we just pull down the shades and that’s it. That game is over and we’re going to the next one. We always end up playing really good football by the end of the year because of that philosophy. We just don’t let those kind of things bother us.”
If the Little Johns are to move on, Crane said his team can’t turn the ball over and must avoid penalties.
“You have to tip your hat to how well they’re playing right now,” Crane said. “They’ve beaten some really good teams. It’s been really impressive watching some of their scores. They’re a very, very talented team. They’re well-rounded. They play really hard and they’re well-coached. It’s going to be a quite a challenge for us.
“If you’re going to have any kind of chance to beat a team like that, you cannot turn the ball over and have penalties. You’re going to have to hope that they turn the ball over and have penalties. You’re going to have to hope that they have one of those nights where the ball is popping out of their hands or their quarterback is off or something like that where you give yourself a chance. You have a few extra possessions that they don’t get. If you get in a shootout with them, you’re probably not going to win. You’re going to have to gain some extra possessions against those guys.”
For the Bucks to advance, Brown said it will come down to his defense.
“We’ve got to play good pass defense and we’ve got to tackle the running back,” Brown said. “Just basic stuff. I think if we tackle well and play great in the secondary, I think we have a chance to win on the defensive side of the ball. Offensively, we need to stay with our blocks and get to the second level. We need to throw the ball efficiently. We’ve kind of been on and off all year, and I’d like to have one of those games where we’re on. I think we’re getting close. We really worked on that during the off week, throwing the ball and being more accurate and running our routes the correct way instead of being sloppy, so hopefully those things will show up on Friday.”