Hootens.com Class 2A Rankings

Week 14, 2024

1. Conway Christian (13-0)

2. East Poinsett County (10-3)

3. Junction City (9-4)

4. Mount Ida (9-3)

5. Carlisle (11-1)

6. Des Arc (9-3)

7. Bigelow (8-4)

8. Murfreesboro (8-4)

9. Cross County (7-4)

10. Marked Tree (6-5)

11. Bearden (6-5)

12. Poyen (7-4)

13. Mineral Springs (6-5)

14. Hazen (5-6)

15. Hector (6-5)

16. Gurdon (5-6)

17. Earle (4-6) 

18. McCrory (6-4)

19. Dierks (6-4)

20. England (4-6)

Not ranked:

1-2A: Mountain Pine (3-7), JC Westside (1-8), Magazine (2-7), Mountainburg (4-6)

2-2A: Izard County Consolidated (1-9), Marianna (0-9)

3-2A: Spring Hill (2-7), Foreman (0-10), Lafayette County (4-6)

4-2A: Clarendon (0-9), Baptist Prep (5-5), Hampton (4-6)

LAST WEEK

Hootens.com correctly predicted 1 of 2 games involving Class 2A teams. For the season, Hooten’s has correctly predicted 163 of 199 games (82 percent).

CLASS 2A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

12 p.m. Friday, War Memorial State

No. 1 Conway Christian (13-0) vs. NO. 2 EAST POINSETT COUNTY (10-3): This was probably not the championship matchup that people expected when the season began, but these teams have earned their spots.

Conway Christian ascended to the top spot a week ago after Carlisle fell to Junction City in the quarterfinal round. And for a while, last Friday, it looked like Junction City would be making the trip to Little Rock, jumping out to a 21-0 lead on Conway Christian. But the Eagles never panicked. QB Jeryn Thomas scored on a long run right before halftime to put his team on the board. 

Conway Christian tamed the Dragons offense in the second half, allowing 1 first down. The Eagles rallied in the fourth quarter with Thomas hitting Deagan Meeks with a 21-yard touchdown pass with only seconds remaining to give the Eagles a 25-21 win and their first spot in the championship game.

EPC, which played for the title a year ago for the first time, lost to Bigelow in the finals. 

The Warriors beat Mount Ida 54-33 last week. Dee Buchanan rushed for 238 yards and 3 TDs on 18 carries. Jacob Gaines rushed 16 times for 220 yards and 2 TDs. 

This game is a rematch of last season’s quarterfinal matchup, which was won by EPC 34-20.

“They’ve got the experience,” Conway Christian Coach Justin Kramer said. “They graduated a few, but they had plenty of juniors who were really good last year too. I assume they had some sophomores that stepped up. He (Brandon Powell) does a really good job. They’ve always got big, strong athletes. In some ways, it will be similar to last week in that regard for them. The looks that we’re going to get will be similar. Coach Powell does a really good job of mixing stuff up. His schemes are really good. They are the team that put us out in the quarterfinals last year. That’s the last loss we have. 

“It’s going to be tough. They’ve got the experience of going last year. They got that taste in their mouths. I have no doubt that we’re going to get the absolute best of them.”

This season, Conway Christian has three 1,000-yard rushers: Brady Domokos (1,171 yards, 19 TDs), Jeryn Thomas (1,159 yards, 17 TDs) and Aaron Lovelace (1,046 yards, 18 TDs). Thomas has also thrown for 1,406 yards and 15 more TDs. 

EPC is led by Gaines (1,422 yards, 18 TDs) and Buchanan (1,392 yards,  18 TDs).

“Making it back this year after the kids we graduated last year is really a testament to those underclassmen who stepped up and had a good season,” Powell said. “That was a talented group we graduated last year.”

Powell estimated about 7 or 8 contributed in the title game a year ago. 

“Conway Christian is a complete football team,” Powell said. “Their QB is a special player, who can take a team and lead them. He’s done that all year. We’ve got to play good defense and limit the big plays. We’ve got to score with them and keep that game close. Hopefully our experience from being there a year ago gives us an advantage on the back end of the game.”

EPC has won 7 in a row after starting the season 3-3 following a 36-28 loss to Cross County on Oct. 11. The Warriors won close games at Earle and Des Arc to get things really rolling before routing Marked Tree in the regular-season finale. They won a close game with Gurdon in the first round of the playoffs before pulling away from Bigelow and Mount Ida the past 2 weeks. 

“Playing in this conference, we always say if you get to the playoffs, you have a chance to win some playoff games,” Powell said. “Our goal going into was to win a playoff game, But we lost to Cross County midway through the season then kind of got into playoff mode. If we lose a couple of more games, we don’t go to the playoffs.”

Both teams seem to be evenly matched, but EPC weathered the tough 2A-2 conference and its experience playing in the state-title game could be the difference.