RISON - It’s literally no rest for the weary, as the Rison Wildcats will face another outstanding quarterback and their firstever Class 5A varsity opponent this Friday night, when they host the Dardanelle Sand Lizards at George Walker Field of Champions. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 o'clock. This will be the firstever meeting between the two schools.
“This is going to be a good challenge for us,” Rison head coach Clay Totty said this week, commenting about the Sand Lizards, 2-0. “They are good defensively.” And, of course, they have their All-State senior quarterback, Drew Vega.
Coach Phil Vega’s squad, up from Class 4A to 5A, will come to town knowing their schedule in the 5A-West will become a beast after facing the Wildcats in this week’s non-conference battle. After Rison, Dardanelle will have a league run against Shiloh Christian, Prairie Grove, Alma, Clarksville, Farmington, Harrison and Pea Ridge.
Dardanelle opened the season with an easy 43-7 win over Little Rock Hall, and then last Friday, skirted some weather delays to blank Pottsville, 35-0.
The Sand Lizards are coming off a 6-5 campaign a year ago, when they lost to Elkins in the opening round of the Class 4A state playoffs. It was last season that Dardanelle hosted Fordyce in a non-conference game at home, and the Sand Lizards whipped the Redbugs, 45-35.
The Wildcats have already been tested by two good quarterbacks, Joseph Jones of Dumas and Ian Smith of Bismarck, but Vega will likely be the best of the trio, both with his legs and arm after an outstanding junior season a year ago. Last Friday against Rison, Smith directed the Lions in piling up over 400 yards against the Wildcats, and Vega certainly is capable of duplicating that type of offensive production. Both Dumas and Bismarck tested Rison’s secondary with 30 pass attempts each.
However, as good as Dardanelle is on offense, the Sand Lizards’ defense also has the atten...
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