Woodlawn Takes on South Side In Final Non-Conference Game

Woodlawn will have its final non-conference game of the season this Thursday when the Bears travel to Hendrix College in Conway to play the South Side-Bee Branch Hornets. The junior high teams will kick off at 5:30 p.m with the varsity teams playing afterwards.The Bears are coming off a 4232 win at home against Midland that moved them to 2-0 on the season. This will be the last time they hit the field before opening up South Conference play Oct. 3 on the road against defending state champion Strong.While both Woodlawn and South Side have met up plenty of times in the baseball playoffs, this will be the first time for the two schools to face one another on the gridiron. The Hornets are entering their third year of football, and is coming off a 4-4 season that saw South Side win its first four games before dropping its final four. All eight games were played on the road. So far this year, South Side is off to an 0-2 start, falling to a much-improved Hermitage team, 72-66, in the season opener, and then coming up short in a 54-42 decision on the road at Class 4A Cave City. Woodlawn Coach Doug Means described the Hornets as a runoriented team that usually lines up in a power running formation with two tight ends, a wing and a tailback. He said they occasionally go with one wideout and sometimes two.South Side is led by running back Christopher Jones, who Means said has nearly 500 yards rushing on 48 carries so far this season.Overall, Means said the Bears and Hornets match up fairly even in regards to speed and size. He said Woodlawn may be a tad faster overall and maybe slightly bigger.Means said he would like to finally see a full game from his Bears this week after they were less than stellar during the first half of their wins over both Rose Bud and Midland. "I guess you could say at least we're a second half team," he said.In the season opener at Rose Bud, Woodlawn was up 22-18 at the break before outscoring the Rambles ...