Harry Wright is new Jackrabbits football coach

New Lonoke Jackrabbits football coach Harry Wright visits with his new team following an initial meeting on Tuesday. (Photo by Mark Buffalo)

By Mark Buffalo

Staff Writer

@markbuffalo

LONOKE — Harry Wright, the defensive coordinator at Bentonville West High School, is the new Lonoke Jackrabbits head football coach.

Wright, 34, was hired by the Lonoke School Board during its regular meeting Monday night. He replaces Taggart Moore, who resigned to enter into private business.

Wright has been at Bentonville West for four seasons, following coach Bryan Pratt from McAlester, Okla., to Bentonville when Bentonville High School split into two schools. 

“My family and I are excited to be here,” Wright said. 

Wright is a graduate of Eufala High School in Oklahoma. He played four years of football at Bacone College, earning All-American Honors twice. 

Wright coached at several Oklahoma schools before making his way to Bentonville.

But Lonoke reminds him of Eufala, his hometown.

“This is opportunity came open, it reminds me a lot of where I went to high school,” Wright said. “I graduated from a 3A Oklahoma school. So it’s similar. 

“I have a 6-year-old son and I wanted him to grow up in the same environment that I grew up in. Football was a huge deal. The town shut down where I went to high school. I feel like Lonoke can be that type of situation and opportunity. It really enticed me for him to grow up in that type on environment, along with the tradition of success and athletes that they’ve had here.”

Wright said everyone he’s talked to about the Lonoke job said it was a good opportunity.

“This is a place where you can be successful at and the kids are going to work hard and take pride in it,” he said. 

Wright and his wife Lauren have one son, Evan. 

“It’s always been my dream when I got into coaching to be a head football coach,” Wright said. “I’ve kind of tried to set myself up throughout my career to learn from the best. I’ve worked for some really good head coaches. My head coach in high school, Kerry Roberts, was one of my mentors. I worked for him for three years.”

The Jackrabbits finished the 2018 season 6-6. They beat Prairie Grove in the first round of the Class 4A state playoffs. They lost to Ozark in the second round.

Lonoke opens the 2019 season Aug. 30 at Carlisle. 

Bison rally to beat Pangburn, qualify for state tourney

The Carlisle Bison are headed to the Class 2A state tournament after beating Pangburn 6-3 on Friday. (Photo courtesy of Sara Seidenschwarz)

By Mark Buffalo

Staff Writer

@markbuffalo

CARLISLE — For the first time in five years and the eighth time in school history, the Carlisle Bison baseball team is headed to the state tournament.

Carlisle (17-9) rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat Pangburn 6-3 in the first round of the central regional tournament at Rockefeller Park on Friday. With the win, Carlisle will play in the Class 2A state tournament next week in Mountain Home. 

“We haven’t really talked a whole lot about wins this season but we knew one of the goals was to make it to the state tournament,” said first-year Bison coach coach Steven Tew. “It feels good to accomplish that and we hope to keep it going from there.”

Pangburn, which beat the Bison 13-3 on April 17, scored two runs in the bottom of the second and the score remained the same until the top of the fifth.

Carlisle’s Cody Brown and Ben Orton both scored runs to tie the game at 2-2.

The Bison then plated four runs in the top of the sixth to take a 6-2 lead. Scoring were Noah Seidenschwarz, Brown, Orton and Blake White. 

Pangburn added a run in the bottom of the sixth to make the score 6-3. The Tigers had a change to score in the bottom of the seventh but left runners at first and second to end the game. 

White got the win, giving up three runs in six innings. He struck out seven while allowing nine hits and five walks. Brown pitched a scoreless seventh. 

“Blake really didn’t have his best stuff early on but he batted up there,” Tew said. “They got something going in the second but he did a good job limiting the damage and giving up only two runs that inning. 

“Around the fourth, something clicked for him and he started to command his pitches a little better. After that moment, we were able to start spotting fastballs and throwing curveballs and change ups for strikes. It helped keep Pangburn’s hitters off balance.”

The Bison had seven hits but also left 12 runners on base. Brown, Orton and Ian Seidenschwarz had two hits each. 

“Offensively, we felt like we had opportunities but couldn’t get a big hit to score any of them,” Tew said. “We just kept grinding and kept having good at bats until we got two across in the fifth and four more in the sixth. 

“I was proud of how they handled themselves during those tough innings. A good example of it was really Braiden Jenkins. He had a good at bat with two outs and runners on second and third. It ended in a strikeout but it also did two important things for us. It rolled the lineup over to the top for the next inning and it helped run the pitch count up for Pangburn’s guy, which led to them having to go to the bullpen. Braiden was a little down on himself after that one but he didn’t carry it over to the field.”

Jenkins dove for a fly ball in the gap on the first pitch of the next inning for an out.

“He made of the best plays we’ve had all year by diving to the gap,” Tew said of Jenkins. “It was a big moment and got us fired up.”

The Bison will play Conway St. Joseph on Sunday in the semifinals of the regional at Rockefeller Park.