CAMDEN — The Harmony Grove Hornets (11-2, 6-1) will make the 265 mile trip to northeast Arkansas to play the 3A-3 Osceola Seminoles (11-1, 7-0) at 7 p.m. on Friday night. The winner will get to play for the 3A State Championship.
It’s the second week on the road for the Hornets after defeating the Rison Wildcats, 30-16 last week in a game Hootens.com picked the Hornets to lose by two points.
The Seminoles are coached by Robert Hooks who is 35-6 in his four years with the school. The name will sound familiar to those in the Ouachita County area as he was the offensive coordinator for the Camden Fairview Cardinals when they won the 5A State Championship in 2012. Hooks’ Osceola team also played and defeated area teams Fouke, Smackover and Rison in the playoffs last year on its way to the 2018 3A Championship game. However, Osceola was blanked by Booneville 35-0 in the title game and finished as runner ups.
This year, the Seminoles has only loss one game and that was to a 5A Valley View team that finished its regular season undefeated. Osceola is led by agile quarterback M.J. Vance. The senior quarterback has passed for over 1,500 yards and completed over 55 % of his passes. Vance has also rushed for nearly 900 yards to be the team’s leading rusher.
Vance has found his most success when he has been able to locate Greg Hooks. Hooks is “6’1 and has 800 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns on the season.
Osceola operates out of a spread formation on offense that is predicated on getting speed in space. The Seminoles are averaging around 40 points per game.
Osceola is just as potent on defense ranking in the top 3 in terms of points allowed in the 3A Classification (16 points per game).
The Hornets enter the game after one of its best overall performances of the season. H.G.’s defense was able to force three turnovers and make Rison - a team that was Ranked No. 1 in Class 3A at the time of the game - turn the ball over on downs twice. H.G. only allowed one big run play for a touchdown and it didn’t come by way of Rison’s best player.
H.G. will have its chances against Osceola as the Seminoles are averaging two turnovers a game. Vance has 9 interceptions and seven recorded fumbles this year.
The Hornets were also able to spread the ball out and display its big play abilities from a variety of student athletes last week with touchdown runs from Xaylon Falls, Tobias Hicks, Mecca Arnold and a timely big pass from Zach Smith to Damian Daniels.
Daniel Hicks was a force in the middle and disrupted several plays along the defensive line and the secondary kept everything in front of them when Rison looked for the pass late in the game.
This is the third time in four years that the Hornets have advanced to the semifinals.