Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Judge Refuses To Overturn Decision; GHS Record Is 9-1

There will be no overturning of the Arkansas Activities Association ruling by a judge of arbitration.

This means, for now, Gurdon is 9-1 on the season with the 2-0 forfeit to Dierks on Oct. 3.

Still, this didn't stop the Go-Devils from trouncing every other team foolish enough to actually step on the field against them, including the 36-14 win Friday night against Horatio for the undisputed conference title.

According to Bobby Smithson, superintendent for the Gurdon School District, the judge refused to overturn the AAA decision in Thursday's hearing.

Smithson said Bill Wright, the district's attorney was able to get Jim Coates, the director of the AAA, to admit there is no rule stating a school must contact officials before a game.

The judge ruled having a signed contract is sufficient, which Gurdon had. However, the judge also ruled the AAA director had not violated any rules either and allowed the original decision to stand.

Smithson said the next step will be filing a lawsuit. This, he said, will be done unless he is directed to do otherwise by the Gurdon School Board. In fact, he said the matter will be pursued until the board decides otherwise.

This decision was a disappointment to the Devils as a team with their otherwise perfect record.

The Devils, according to the state paper, are ranked 8th in class A statewide.

Gurdon's football team also punished the Lions Friday night, Nov. 7, for the undisputed conference championship in the 7A West.

The judge's decision has also helped stoke the fires for the 1998 Gurdon-Dierks game to be held in Outlaw territory. Junior and sophomore members of the Devil brigade have already been talking about getting a measure of revenge.

Meanwhile, the Devils have other fish to fry. Friday night they will be hosting the Rison Wildcats from the 7A East division.

The 'Cats posted a 6-4 overall record this year, while going 5-3 in league play. Their three losses were to Bearden, Smackover and Camden Harmony Grove. These three teams finished in a three-way tie for the title.

The 'Cats will be bringing their multiple set offense to Gus Brown Field, where they will show the I-formation, a split backfield and a full house backfield, similar to the wishbone offense.

Defensively, they will line up in a 5-3.

At the beginning of the season, the top three teams finished as expected, but Rison was able to edge out Junction City and Strong for the fourth place spot in the playoffs. Other teams in the league are Norphlet, Hermitage and Rison Woodlawn.

Senior signalcaller Jason Young will lead the 'Cats on the field of battle, with a quartet of running backs behind him throughout the game. Two seniors will be behind Young to rush the pigskin -- Kenny Macon and Jason Henry. Others who will most likely see action are junior Billy Ballard and sophomore Brigham Watson.

Watson will be one to watch out for. As a freshman he gained 214 yards on 10 carries against Norphlet and finished the season with more than 500 yards. He also scored five touchdowns against Norphlet.

The 'Cats got away from their passing game early on in the season, relying primarily on the ground attack. However, when they do take to the air, the primary receiver will be senior Layne Reed.

Defensively, the 'Cats will be relying on two-way lineman Nick Rawls, noseguard Jerome McCleod and linebacker Tony Andrews to stop Gurdon's punishing rushing offense.

Should dame fortune continue smiling on the Devils and they get past Rison successfully, their next foe will be the winner of the Shiloh Christian Academy-Hackett contest.

Shiloh's Saints went 10-0 overall, but ended second in the 1A West conference behind Greenland. The Saints have the same problem as Barton's Bears in finding opponents for their gridiron team.

The Saints had to play a team from Kansas, which counted as a conference game this season, according to the Associated Press.

Shiloh and Greenland did not play one another during the regular season, though they are in the same conference.

This is because there is no round robin conference play in the northwest corner of the state. Instead, certain games are determined to be conference game. With the AAA's 13 point margin of victory rule, where a team is given credit for winning by 13 no matter how much more they score, Greenland won all of its games by 13 all. Shiloh, however, won all but one of its games by 13, the other saw the Saints win by 12 against the Kansas crew.

Because of this, Greenland was termed conference champs.

Should Gurdon and Shiloh meet on the field of play, the Saints have a long road trip as they will have to come to Gus Brown Field on Nov. 21.