Playoff Picture Coming Into Focus

The top four seeds from the 7A West will be determined in Benton County on Friday night when Bentonville hosts Springdale Har-Ber and Rogers Heritage hosts Fayetteville.

Top-ranked Har-Ber is the only unbeaten 7A team left in the state and coach Chris Woods’ Wildcats can lock up the outright conference title with a win against No. 2 Bentonville. Both teams boast balanced attacks and should fight tooth and nail to the finish at Tigers Stadium. This matchup has been a long time coming. Last season, Har-Ber was the only team to beat Bentonville during the Tigers’ state championship run a year ago. That came at the end of the regular season and Har-Ber ended up losing to Southside in the semifinals before a rematch could take place — until now.

On the other side of the county, Heritage has been the Cinderella team of the season in only its second year as a program. The War Eagles can lock up the No. 3 seed with a win over the Fayetteville Bulldogs while the loser will be the fourth seed. The game should be worth the price of admission with both teams loaded with offensive weapons. The team that’s defense rises to the occasion the most will come out on top.

Fort Smith Southside is the No. 5 seed no matter what happens while Springdale can claim the sixth and final spot in the playoffs with a win at Rogers. The Mounties are 0-6 in conference but can get into the playoffs by beating Springdale by more than four points but only if Northside loses to Southside. If Northside wins and Rogers wins, then the Grizzlies are in. If Rogers beats Springdale by three or less and Northside loses, then the Springdale Bulldogs are in.