RISON - It’s not often that you find coaches unhappy with a “mercy rule” victory, but coach Chris Vereen found enough things to be concerned about after the Rison Wildcats finally put their foot on the pedal to speed away from the scrappy Barton Bears last Thursday night at George Walker Field of Champions. From a 7-point third quarter lead, the ‘Cats strung together four unanswered touchdowns during an 11-minute stretch to scratch the Bears, 56-28, securing a second place finish in the 8-3A Conference race with a regular season mark of 9-1.Rebounding from a 3-8 season a year ago, the ‘Cats, picked to finish 5th in the 8-3A Conference in 2024, rolled to a 6-1 league record, their only setback a heart-breaking 2-point loss at Fordyce, which finished 10-0 for the crown. Meanwhile, Barton, a young squad, with only 6 seniors, closed at 4-6 overall and 2-5 in the conference. Rison now leads the series with Barton, 10-3, as the Wildcats moved to 7-0 against the Bears since legendary coach Frank McClellan (deceased) retired.Commenting about this year’s lower tier teams in the conference race, Vereen said, “They all gave us their best shot. They came ready to play, and we didn’t. This game was a mirror image of Drew Central and Lake Village. We didn’t really play well against any of them, and that has to be a concern. You have to come out ready to play each game. But other than our mentality, I think that offensively, we did fine. I mean, if you gain 400 yards (12-yard average per run) on the ground, it can't all be bad. Just not coming out focused and ready to play, even after a tough loss, that’s when guys can get hurt.” In amassing their 399 yards by rushing, the ‘Cats had ball possession for only 18:07, but with a half-dozen touchdowns on offense to go with a pair of TDs by the defense.Vereen continued, “I think the thing that bothered me most was the way they (Barton) took it down our throat to start the game. We could not...
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