Tough Out-of-Conference Games Ahead for Har-Ber

Scheduling out of conference games is sometimes a tough task for many head coaches.  Often they are forced to head out of state to find an opponent.  It was no different this year for Har-ber High School in Springdale.  Their first two games were against Missouri schools, one being Webb City, which is currently riding an 83 game regular season winning streak.  Har-ber Head Coach Chris Wood weighs in on the scheduling process.

“We love it from a stand point that it prepares us for conference play.  Webb city, they won 82 games for a reason; they do all the little things right, they got after us Friday night.  We think games like that prepare us for league, and if we stay healthy and get better we got to see growth on film and see a team that’s improving each and every week. We got a lot of things to work on,” Wood said.

Playing tough out-of-conference games has helped Coach Wood identify areas that his team needs to improve on.  And improving those areas is vital as they head into conference play.

“Offensively, just getting the play started. Center quarterback exchange — we struggle with that a little bit. We got to be a little cleaner in our run game. For us to have a chance in conference you have to establish a run game. Defensively it’s playing assignment football. You got to have  eleven guys doing their job, and if any one of them deviates from the plan you really put yourself in a bind. For us it’s just making sure everyone’s doing their assignment defense so we’re flying to the football,” Wood said.

With the first two out-of-conference games behind them, the players are ready to move forward and begin their quest back to Little Rock.

“Conference play is everything,” said wide receiver Zach Thompson.  “The first two regular season games are just to get ready for conference, that’s what it is. We just got to keep working hard to get there.”

“At the end of the season we just want to get to the championship game in Little Rock. So every win gets us closer to that,” added running back Tucker Lee.

Har-ber returns to the state of Arkansas next week to take on Southside.  Then in two weeks they open conference play as they take on Bentonville in Bulldog Stadium.