Another Friday = more games coming your way! We’re getting you ready for all of tonight’s action, but first, here’s a quick look back at last weekend:

Coming up in today’s newsletter:

🎙️ The Varsity Vibe Podcast gets you ready for Friday night
📈 What’s trending
👀 One to Watch
🏈 Game of the Week

Let’s dive right in!

🎙️ Varsity Vibe Today. It’s another week of big time high school football match-ups, and Alyssa Orange and Brey Cook are here to break down the biggest games of the week, including Shiloh Christian vs. FS Southside, Bentonville West vs. Rogers and Bryant vs. Pulaski Academy.

🏈 Friday Night Face-off. It’s a battle of undefeated teams tonight as Rogers hosts Bentonville West. The Rogers Mounties average 56 points a game with one of the most efficient offenses in the state. The Wolverines have a high-powered team of their own, scoring more than 41 points in each of their last four games. In last season’s meetings, Rogers won 38-3. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 pm and can be watched here.

🏃‍♂️ Record Run. High school cross country teams across the region traveled to Fayetteville to participate in the Chile Pepper Festival. Mountain Home’s Jackson Free recorded a personal best of 14:44 in the “El Caliente” heat, while setting a new Arkansas boys’ record. Mountain Home’s team score put them in third, behind Olathe North (MO) and Bentonville.

🎾 Tennis Takeover. It was a great week for the Rogers Mounties tennis program after taking both the boys and girls 6A West Conference Championships. Rogers dominated on the boys side, taking the singles and doubles titles. The Lady Mounties edged out Fayetteville 13-11 in team points to earn their own title.

🏈 Senior wide receiver Tristian Watson has made a huge impact for Bryant so far, helping the Hornets remain undefeated with a 5-0 record. In last week’s 49-21 win against Little Rock Christian, Watson recorded eight catches for 129 yards, including a game-tying 2-yard touchdown reception just ten seconds before halftime. Watson, who has committed to Henderson State, has consistently performed well for Bryant. In 2023, he caught for 667 yards and 11 touchdowns, and then followed that up with 67 catches for 1,020 yards and another 11 touchdowns last season.

🏈 A big-time matchup takes place tonight when the Shiloh Saints travel to Southside. The Mavericks come into this game off of a 49-44 win against Lake Hamilton. Senior quarterback Blake Forsgren passed for 164 yards with three touchdowns, while running back Terrell Warren ran for 126 yards and had one touchdown. Meanwhile, Shiloh took down Mountain Home 55-41. Junior quarterback Cole Creighton threw for 349 yards and four touchdowns, while racking up 240 rushing yards as a team. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 pm and can be watched here. 

⛹️‍♀️ Performance Athlete of the Week. This week’s performance athlete of the week is Jaida Crawford from Har-Ber. Crawford started at SRD following an ACL tear and recovery. Despite her injury, she has made strides to full recovery with little re-injury risk. Crawford improved her limb symmetry by 9.29%, shaved 0.14 seconds off her 20-yard dash, dropped 0.28 seconds on her Pro Agility, added 8 inches to her Broad Jump, and gained 1.1 inches on her Approach Vertical. Her progress is proof that prioritizing safe recovery leads to real performance milestones. To learn more about the program, visit srdathlete.com.

Despite a rocky start to the season, Pulaski Academy has started 2-0 in conference play. In their first 7A matchup of the season, the Bruins cruised past North Little Rock 45-31. Pulaski Academy went on to defeat Central 63-42 the next week. What changed for the Bruins? Head coach Anthony Lucas credits the seniors for taking initiative: Going into conference play, the seniors called a team meeting, helping turn the culture around. Lucas spoke to Alyssa Orange in an episode of Varsity Vibe Today about the impact the veterans have had on the team as a whole.

The rest of the episode can be watched here or listened to here.

Oct. 10:
🏈 7A Bentonville @ Heritage, 7:00 pm | Watch Here
🏈 7A Bentonville West @ Rogers, 7:00 pm | Watch Here
🏈 7A Fayetteville @ Northside, 7:00 pm | Watch Here 
🏈 7A Springdale @ Har-Ber, 7:00 pm | Watch Here
🏈 7A Bryant @ Pulaski Academy, 7:00 pm | Watch Here
🏈 7A Central @ Little Rock Christian, 7:00 pm | Watch Here 

🏈 6A Greenwood @ Siloam Springs, 7:00 pm | Watch Here
🏈 6A Russellville @ Mountain Home, 7:00 pm | Watch Here
🏈 6A Shiloh @ Southside, 7:00 pm | Watch Here
🏈 6A Catholic @ Jonesboro, 7:00 pm | Watch Here
🏈 6A Sheridan @ Benton, 7:00 pm | Watch Here

🏈 5A Pea Ridge @ Morrilton, 7:00 pm | Watch Here
🏈 5A Gentry @ Green Forest, 7:00 pm | Watch Here

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