Playoff Push

With two weeks left in the 2024 regular season, the Berryville Bobcats and the Green Forest Tigers find themselves in similar circumstances.

Both teams have a chance to advance to the state playoffs as the No. 5 seed from the 4A-1 conference. To do it, either the Bobcats or Tigers will need to win their final two games of the season.

“If we win the last two, we’re in,” Green Forest coach Greg Tibbitt said. “So, we’ll see.”

“This is crunch time,” Berryville coach Macklin Chermak said. “It’s do or die, and we need to go get the job done, for sure.”

Since Berryville (1-7, 1-4 4A-1) and Green Forest (2-6, 1-4) will meet up in the annual Carroll County Super Bowl on Nov. 8 at Bobcat Stadium, a playoff spot could very well be on the line.

“ We talked about that the other day,” Tibbitt said. “It’s already a big game as is, but if you’ve got both teams playing for that 5 seed, it’s an even bigger one for sure.”

First things first, though. Both teams have to get past conference opponents this week, as Berryville hosts Lincoln and Green Forest travels to Huntsville.

Lincoln (4-4, 1-4) beat Berryville 54-14 in 2023, and the Wolves get a boost from the return of senior running back Kale Jones, who returned from an injury last week to lead Lincoln to a 48-6 win last week over Huntsville. Jones did not play in the Wolves’ 42-24 loss to Green Forest on Oct. 18.

Green Forest takes on a winless Huntsville team that lost to Berryville 21-7 on Sept. 27. The Tigers beat the Eagles 14-6 last season.

Berryville is coming off a 55-14 loss last week at Gentry. Sophomore quarterback CT Hicks threw touchdown passes to senior Decimus Ruiz and sophomore Josh Arechiga. Green Forest lost to Elkins 480.