Friday’s forecast for the 7A semifinal between Northside and Bryant calls for a 90 percent chance of rain.

The chances for severe storms, though, appears to be minimal, unlike the previous time the Grizzlies traveled to face Bryant two months ago in the 7A-Central opener for both squads.

Lightning forced the start of the game to be delayed, and once it finally started, rain continued to fall. Then late in the first half, with Bryant leading 16-7, more rain and lightning hit the area, forcing the game to be stopped.

After debating whether the game would continue into the late hours of the night or even be resumed on another day, it was eventually agreed that the Hornets would be awarded a 16-7 win. Northside coach Mike Falleur had expressed concern about the safety of his players as well as the long bus ride the Grizzlies still had to make back home to Fort Smith.

“When I made the decision that I made, I made it for what I thought was the betterment of our players, mainly the safety of our players and the fact that we had been down there sitting in that locker room for two-and-a-half hours and if we stayed, we were going to be sitting in there for another two hours, or at least that’s the information we had,” Falleur said. “It could have been different.

“Or we drive back Saturday or Monday, but in my mind that wasn’t the best thing for us.”

As it turned out, in a unique sort of way, the Grizzlies and Hornets will resume what they started in September.

When the two teams square off Friday night in the “rain rematch,” there will be much more at stake. For the winner, a trip to Little Rock next week for the 7A championship game.

“The comment was made that night (when the previous game in Bryant was called) that maybe we’ll get another shot at them; let’s take care of our business and who knows what will happen,” Falleur said. “Well, so here it is; it’s worked out to where we get another shot.

“Our kids are excited about that and our coaches are excited about that, and probably anybody that likes Northside football is excited about it.”

Northside defeated Van Buren two weeks ago before going to Bentonville in last week’s quarterfinals and scoring 27 second-quarter points en route to a win as the Grizzlies make their first trip to the semifinals since 2005.

Bryant, which finished second in the 7A-Central behind North Little Rock, drew an opening-round bye before outlasting Fayetteville in its quarterfinal last week.

“Everybody talks about North Little Rock and they’re very good, don’t get me wrong,” Falleur said. “But Bryant is every bit as talented as North Little Rock.

“They have the same big linemen, physical linemen, they’ve got a great running back (Latavion Scott), their quarterback (Ren Hefley) is a three-year starter. They’ve got everything that you’re supposed to have to be a good football team, so we’ve got a huge challenge in front of us; they’ll be twice the size we are at just about every position and great skill athletes.”

The Hornets are averaging nearly 367 yards of total offense while holding opponents to an average of 242 yards per game.


Scott, a senior, rushed for 195 yards in last week’s quarterfinal win against Fayetteville, including a 63-yard touchdown in the third quarter to put the Hornets in front to stay. On the season, Scott has rushed for 1,468 yards and 18 TDs, and in the rain-shortened game against Northside, Scott had 102 yards and two TDs.

Hefley, another senior, has passed for 1,455 yards and 15 TDs. Last week, he threw for 158 yards and two TDs on 10 completions.

Falleur is also wanting to avoid the mistakes which plagued the Grizzlies in the rain-shortened game at Bryant in September. A main reason Northside has currently won three straight games is that the Grizzlies have greatly reduced the amount of turnovers compared to the loss to Bryant as well as three straight losses late in the regular season.

“We need to continue that trend, that’s how we’re going to have a chance to win,” Falleur said. “If we go down there and do what we did the first time or do what we did in those three games right there in the middle, we’re going to come home sad and it’s going to be pretty bad.

“But if we can go down there and play clean the way we have, do a good job tackling on defense and not giving up the big play, be patient on offense and be solid in the kicking game, it’s going to be a ballgame.”

The Northside-Bryant winner will face the winner of Friday’s other semifinal, between Bentonville West and North Little Rock, in next week’s 7A title game at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
