CARLISLE – The 2A state championship football game is three months away, but the state will be treated to a possible preview of it on Friday when Junction City makes the long trek from the Louisiana border up to Carlisle.
A matchup of Hooten’s Arkansas Football‘s top 2A squads, Carlisle (1-0) handled its business in Week 0 with a 38-6 road win over Drew Central, while the Dragons (0-1) are picking up the pieces and moving forward this week after a frustrating 30-20 loss to Harmony Grove (OC) in which Junction was shut out in the first half. It was Harmony Grove’s sixth consecutive win over the Dragons in the series between the two south Arkansas programs.
“We are thankful to handle the adversities early,” Junction City Coach Devin Ball said. “That stuff is going to come through football. It either happens early or late and it is happening early for us.”
Nostalgia will be in the air at Fred C. Hardke Field as Carlisle will honor seven of its past teams who made it to the state championship game in their respective seasons.
Junction City earned a lot of offseason hype after finishing as a state quarterfinalist and winning seven of the final nine games last fall while playing in Class 3A, plus the Dragons returned 15 starters. However, Carlisle has earned its worth as well after not having high expectations prior to the 2023 season – at least from the outside world’s view – when they were picked by the conference coaches to finish fourth in the 2A-4.
“We used what we thought of as disrespect as motivation and this year it has kind of flipped,” Carlisle Coach Gary Wilson said. “You might say we are the hunted instead of the hunter and we tell our kids that when you have a ranking attached to your name like we do that you are getting everyone’s best shot.”
The game can be heard on 103.7 The Buzz radio network with coverage beginning a 6:45 p.m.
Overcoming Early Obstacles
Junction City has been in a situation similar to its current one before. The Dragons fell 7-6 to Harmony Grove in their second game during the 2006 season and started 1-1 before winning 10 consecutive contests and earning one of their multiple December trips over the past two decades to War Memorial Stadium.
Ball got a front row seat to it as a heavily contributing sophomore for the Dragons under Hall of Famer David Carpenter and knows that you just take you lumps and move forward.
“Hats off [to Harmony Grove], they played their butts off,” Ball said. “We feel really good coming off of it and about our momentum moving forward. We have had moments that have led to this.”
For Carlisle, head coach Gary Wilson knew his guys had a tough opponent before Junction suffered its first loss, but now the dragons have added motivation.
“We just have to make sure that we do the things that we are coached to do,” Wilson said. “We have to take care of the ball on offense and get lined up and tackle well in space on defense. If we can take care of those things then we like our chances in the fourth quarter.”
Knowing the Dragons are facing a complete team that is sharp in all three phases of the game, Ball issued an early challenge to his team.
“It is about how bad do we want it,” he said. “Do you want to be here just for the good times, or also for the bad times? I’m here for the whole thing. That is what a man has got to do, learn to take it on the chin and get up to fight again. Our kids are ready to get up and get after it.
“They know what they can do, they know that they are probably picked to lose every game now by multiple people and that is what they need is that edge so that they can go put their best foot forward. Instead of taking on the accusation that we are the best team, we have proven nothing yet thus far other than to ourselves what we are not. Now our guys get to show who we are and we’re fired up to do it.”
Juggernauts Square Off
Under the direction of David Carpenter, Junction City formed the most dominant 2A program of the 21st century as winners of six state championships from 2003-2014, then added another under Junction alumnus Steven Jones in 2018. On the other side, Carlisle is a well-established program that has recently had a resurgence.
After finishing 1-9 in 2021, the Bison had the best turnaround in all of Arkansas prep football by making it to the 2A state final in 2022 and finished as a semifinalist last fall. State runner-up teams from 1989, 1991, 1993, 1999, 2011 and 2022, along with the 1960 squad that won the AP state championship, will be honored during halftime Friday.
“Carlisle is respected down here,” said Ball, who was a standout defensive lineman on Junction City’s 2008 undefeated 2A state championship squad. “We love their program and the contests we’ve had, the fellowship, the camaraderie. To have that together and share this spotlight with them, we are just thrilled.”
Wilson, a 2004 alumnus of Carlisle who played in Class 2A at the beginning of the JC dynasty, is well aware of the weight this game holds. So much so that he put an emphasis on not mentioning it until this week in order to not overlook the season opener against Drew Central.
“We have had people in town all summer who wanted to talk about Junction City and we actually put a burpee (another term for up downs) penalty on it for the players last week,” Wilson said. “If any of our kids said ‘Junction City’ they owed us 25 burpees.”
It worked both ways, though, as the same rule applied to the coaching staff.
“The town is excited and it definitely has a playoff feel to it,” Wilson continued. “We are going to know exactly where we stand, good or bad, after Friday night and that is what we want.”
With the full focus for both teams set on the big matchup, all that is left to do is play.
“We hope that it is a great contest as far as our sportsmanship on both sides, but it is also competitive,” Ball said. “We want to put on a show for everybody.”
(Cover photo by Kyle Sutherland)
Kyle Sutherland is a journalist and podcast host (Arkansas Preps Weekly) for The Natural State Sports Network. His written work has been featured in outlets including the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Best of Arkansas Sports and Hooten’s Arkansas Football. He is also the color commentator for 103.7 The Buzz’s high school football Game of the Week. Email Kyle at kyle@naturalstatesports.com.