WOODLAWN - Last season, the Woodlawn Bears were finally able to break through for their first eight-man football victory over the Brinkley Tigers. This Friday night, they will be looking to do the same thing only this time against the Mountain Pine Red Devils. The two teams are scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Friday at Mountain Home after the junior high teams playing at 5 p.m.
Woodlawn could not seem to get over the hump against Brinkley until last year when the Bears pulled off two wins against the Tigers: once in the regular season (20-12) and another in the playoffs (60-16).
Mountain Pine, meanwhile, has been a thorn in Woodlawn's side since the Devils joined the eight-man football ranks.
The Bears lost 38-28 to Mountain Pine last year in a game that ended up deciding the South Conference championship. The year before that, the Devils won by a 56-28 margin. And even when the two teams were still playing 11-man football back in 2017, Mountain Pine managed to end a long losing streak by surprising the Bears 56-19.
The common denominator among all those games was that they were all played within the friendly confines of the Carl Jones Sports Complex at Woodlawn. To find the last time the Bears beat the Devils you would have to go to 2016 when Woodlawn came away with a 39-17 victory at Mountain Pine.
Woodlawn Coach Zach Meyer hopes to repeat that feat Friday night as hgis Bears look to exorcise the Devils in a key South Conference matchup.
Mountain Pine and Woodlawn both come with 4-2 overall records with each suffering a non-conference loss to the Class 4A Genoa Central Dragons. The Devils lost 44-38 to the Dragons last week while the Bears fell to Genoa Central 22-14 back on Sept. 15. In that game, Woodlawn had two two-way starters, Aden Moore and Garrett Weatherford, unavailable due to injuries.
Mountain Pine's other nonconference loss was at North Conference leader Rector by a 46-22 margin. The...
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