Newport and Batesville set to resume rivalry Friday in the White River Bowl
BY DUDLEY E. DAWSON
One of the state’s oldest and most storied high school football rivalries will resume its spirited competition on Friday night at 7 p.m. in Newport.
It will be the 99th career meeting between Class 3A Newport (1-0) and Class 5A Batesville (0-1), but the first in 13 years.
It’s a series the Greyhounds lead 48-47-3 and was once played on Thanksgiving Day and is now dubbed the White River Bowl.
Both head coaches won a state title as a player at their school with Newport’s Brian Reardon doing so in 1991 and Batesville head Ryan Morrow as a Pioneer in 2004.
“There has been a whole lot of education about it and it is great to have it back again,” Reardon said. “We are having a big pep rally downtown on Thursday night.
“I’ve spoken to them and (former Newport player) David Black has spoken to them about the rivalry and they certainly been educate on it a lot by their parents because they were all involved in it.
“I don’t know that they know just how big it was, but they are aware how big it was and is going to be again.”
One major part of the game’s festivities will be the awarding of eight $1,000.00 scholarships, four from each school.
The scholarships will be awarded to one senior team member, one senior band member, one senior cheerleader, and one senior member of the school’s dance team.
Newport won 23 straight games in the series from 1976-1998 before Batesville end that streak in 1999 and would later go on to win 10 of the last 11 – the last two by a combined score of 96-29.
Former Newport head coach Jeremy Poole decided to end the series at that point due to declining enrollment and the Greyhounds dropped a pair of classes.
“It was a shock to a lot of people and many of those have been working to get it back on the schedule and now we have it back and look forward to making a lot of new memories,” Reardon said.
One of the head coaches will feel something new on Friday night.
“I never lost to them and that is one of biggest memories and I know Coach Morrow said he never lost to Newport,” Reardon said. “…Something has obviously got to give on Friday night.
“My 10th grade year was probably as close as they came to beating us during that 24-year stretch,” Reardon said. “We were up 6-0 probably with about two minutes left and were backed up, but we got out it after being really close to ruining that streak.
“I’m glad I didn’t end up being a part of that. And then the next year, we won state.”
Newport was 6-6 lasts season and lost in second round of the playoffs.
“I told the kids that is probably the biggest game I have coached here in five years, but I hope there are bigger ones coming soon down the line,” Reardon said.
Newport opened its season with a 40-point first half en route to a 48-30 win at Marked Tree.
“We didn’t get to play a scrimmage game after practicing really hard this summer – probably as hard as I ever had as a coach – and we just wanted to come out and make sure we didn’t lay an egg that first game,” Reardon said. “
“We finally got to play somebody else and we were ready to go in that first half. We were real excited about that.”
Newport tailback Kiandrea Barker had 93 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns, Demetric Denton a 36-yard fumble return for touchdown, wide receiver Aamoni Wren a 75 yard kickoff return and quarterback Kenyon Carter passes for 171 yards and 3 TDs.
Barker, a former Penn State commit, is now considering Arkansas.
“We were real pleased with how we were able to spread the ball around,” Reardon said. “The guys don’t mind sharing the ball and know that makes us harder to defend against.”
Visiting Searcy downed Batesville 42-18 last Friday.
“I tell you this, they are not going to take many mistakes,” Reardon said of Batesville, who was 3-7 last season. “They are really, really well-coached and a have great special teams, including a kicker that can make field goals from 60.
“On defense, they are a bend, but don’t break one and they will try to limit our big plays. The big thing is they are not going to make many mistakes and will play as hard as anybody we will see all year.”
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