Pea Ridge’s Next Three Games Will Tell Us If They Are Legit

Perhaps the most surprising team six weeks into the high school football season is Pea Ridge. They are 6-0 and tied for first in the 4A-1. But the next three games are going to tell us all we need to know about the Blackhawks. Our McDonalds Team of the Week has always been an underdog, and they will be the next three games. That’s just the way they want it.

“I would say that,” said senior quarterback Austin Easterling. “You don’t really hear much about us on the news but I think we can get it done.”

If Pea Ridge can get through this grueling three-week stretch coming up no one will see them as underdogs any more. Ozark, Prairie Grove and Farmington are next, in that order, a combined 15-2 on the season.

“Now our goal is a possible conference championship and each win we get now we can go up a seed,” said head coach Tony Travis. “That’s our goal. It starts Friday night against Ozark.”

This was a team that two years ago started as many as eight sophomores. They won one game that year, but now those sophomores are finally seniors. Their running back Dayton Winn is a big reason for the success.

“I just try to be a team leader for our guys,” said Dayton Winn. “They open holes and running lanes. It’s a team thing. We all stick together and play as one.”

That’s what they attribute this 6-0 start to. The seniors have done a great job of mentoring the young guys. Now everyone on the team contributes.

“It makes you feel like those guys are learning and coming along too so I think the work ethic that our seniors have provided throughout the spring and summer and carrying it to football season was really starting to see the benefits of it,” said Travis.

Pea Ridge is adamant these next three games won’t make or break their season. But this stretch will prove if the Blackhawks are contenders or just pretenders.

“We can get away with conference if we win these. If we come out here it’s where we want to be.”

Pea Ridge starts the tough road ahead Friday at home against Ozark at 7:00pm.