Bison getting better, coach says

Carlisle's Jasean Harper runs the ball during the Bison's win over Brinkley last season. (Photo by Mark Buffalo)

By Mark Buffalo

Staff Writer

@markbuffalo

CARLISLE — The Carlisle Bison are trying to work out the kinks as they head into the season opener against Lonoke on Aug. 31 at James B. Abraham Stadium. 

The Bison are now coached by Caleb Shock, the fourth coach in the last six seasons. 

“We knew it was going to be a big adjustment for the kids,” Shock said. “One thing that I talked about with the kids today that these seniors have their fourth head coach in me in their time with the program.”

The seniors had Brandon Barbaree when they were in the seventh grade, then Jack Keith in eighth and ninth grade. Mark Uhiren was their coach in 10th and 11th grade. 

“There has been a lot to turnover and inconsistencies for these guys,” Shock said. “It’s not really a fair deal for them. It will be a life lesson that life’s not fair and you have to adjust on the fly sometimes. They have done that. They’ve really tried to embrace the things we are doing.”

The Bison scrimmaged at Bald Knob on Tuesday. 

“The biggest takeaway for me is that our guys showed marked improvement in some of the intangibles that I really challenged them to work on that wasn’t there when we got there in June. It’s just effort and attitude, a little bit of accountability to your teammates and yourself.”

Shock said the team’s execution wasn’t good at the scrimmage

“But those intangible things are the things I stress the hardest,” Shock said. 

The Bison have six seniors on the roster. They are: Jasean Harper, Christian Harrison, Baylor Craig, Kaden Bray, Braiden Jenkins and Blake Sumner.

Harrison and Jenkins missed all of summer workouts after attending basic training for the Arkansas Army National Guard. Jenkins returned right before school started two weeks ago. Harrison will be back Monday. 

Jenkins was the starting quarterback last year. Sophomore Eli Moody had been playing quarterback but was injured and Jenkins started against Bald Knob. 

“Jenkins is going to be a heavy two-way guy for us,” Shock said. 

Shock said that Harper and Bray ran the ball hard against Bald Knob. 

“Baylor has made a lot of improvement as an offensive linemen,” Shock said. “Christian, we’ll see what he can do when he gets back. He’s been a guy who has started at times over the last two years.”

Shock said his team was ready to hit another team prior to the Bald Knob scrimmage. 

"We were ready to hit someone in a different color uniform,” Shock said. “We’ve tried to be pretty physical in practice. I know our numbers are low. Being physical hardens you, prepares you because the game is physical.”

Jackrabbits healthy heading into season opener with Bison

Lonoke's Jackson Ward blocks for an extra point during the Jackrabbits' win over Carlisle last year at Fred C. Hardke Field. Ward is one of 12 seniors on this year's Jackrabbits' football team. (Photo by Mark Buffalo)

By Mark Buffalo

Staff Writer

@markbuffalo

LONOKE — Lonoke Jackrabbits football coach Taggart Moore said his team is good shape as it starts game week for the Carlisle Bison.

Lonoke hosts Carlisle in the Central Lonoke County Showdown on Aug. 31 at James B. Abraham Stadium. The Jackrabbits have won the previous two meetings after the rivalry was suspended after the 1990 season. 

“Everything has gone according to our plan,” said third-year coach Taggart Moore. “The main thing is we’re completely injury free, knock on wood. All 41 of them. So we’re happy about that.”

Moore said the coaching staff has installed everything offensively and defensively. The Jackrabbits scrimmaged Lamar and Dover on Tuesday in Lamar. 

“We came out of the scrimmage exactly where we need to be,” Moore said. “So we’re really happy with where we’re at right now.”

The Jackrabbits have 12 seniors on this year’s squad. And Moore said all 12 will start. They include: Braidon Bryant, Jackson Ward, Nicholas Dixon, Terry Moore, Noah Mulligan, Will McNeil, Cody Finley, Nick Tate, Dalton Smith, Hunter Keyzer, Julian Lopez and Antonio Earl. 

“The seniors are pretty much everything to this group,” Moore said. 

The seniors were sophomores when Moore took over as Lonoke coach after Doug Bost resigned after a 1-3 start. 

“They’ve gone through some hard times and some good times,” Moore said. “I feel really close with this group. They’ve seen where we were and where we’ve come to this year. They’ve all grown up physically and mentally. All of them are leaders. We’ve never had a group where all of them are going to play a big role on the field, every single one of them.”

While the Lonoke-Carlisle game does not help either team get to its ultimate goal of winning state championship, it is a huge game as far as crowds. 

“We’re excited about the game,” Moore said. “It means a lot to the two towns and to these kids and to the parents, grandparents and great grandparents.

“We’re excited about the opportunity. We love the game. It’s not a conference game but we think of it as a conference game. We think of it as a state championship game. The kids are excited. They want to play in this game. They love the crowd and the atmosphere that we get.

“We’re expecting it again. Even though it’s not a conference game, we’re not letting our foot off the pedal for sure.”

Walker, Warren represent Lonoke County in all-star game

Lonoke's Keiunna Walker directs traffic for the East squad. (Photo by Emmy Buffalo)

Carlisle's Kylie Warren is fouled while driving to the basket for the East squad. (Photo by Mark Buffalo)

By Mark Buffalo

Staff Writer

@markbuffalo

CONWAY — The two best high school girls basketball players from Lonoke County participated in the Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star Basketball Game at the Farris Center on Saturday.

Lonoke’s Keiunna Walker and Carlisle’s Kylie Warren were members of the East squad, which lost to the West 86-79 in a five-period contest. 

Walker, who will continue her playing career at Louisiana Tech University this coming year, finished with a game-high 16 points in 20 minutes of action. She had 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block and 1 steal. 

“It was a great experience,” Walker said. “I’d do it all over again. I wish we could have stayed a week to get to know the team better. Playing against better competition got me better.”

Walker reports to Ruston, La., on Sunday. She’s taking a summer class. 

“i’m taking a summer math class,” she said. 

Warren, who will continue her playing career at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, scored 4 points and grabbed 2 rebounds in 12 minutes of action. 

Warren said she enjoyed playing with some of the best players in the state. 

“It was different,” she said. “It’s a lot more advanced that high school ball is. Most of them are going to play college basketball. It was a good experience. I really enjoyed it.”

Warren said she needs to get back in shape to get ready for SAU.

“I need to stay in the gym … I really regret taking the time off that I did. It was a wakeup call. I’ve been practicing with Coach [Jonathan] Buffalo and the Lady Bison. I feel like I’m old now.”

Caleb Shock is new Bison football coach

Caleb Shock, left was hired as the new Carlisle Bison football coach Tuesday night. He is pictured with his wife Danielle and daughter Katie Mae. (Photo courtesy of the Shock family)

By Mark Buffalo

Staff Writer

@markbuffalo

CARLISLE — The Carlisle Bison football team has a new coach.

Caleb Shock, a 2004 graduate of Vilonia High School, was hired to replace Mark Uhiren by the Carlisle School Board on Tuesday night. 

Shock, 32, was out of coaching the last year, working for his mother’s insurance company, Sue Shock Insurance in Vilonia. His last coaching job was in Heber Springs, where he was the junior high coach then defensive coordinator for the Class 4A Panthers. 

“The man is more that just a great football coach; he is a leader of men that always displays impeccable character and work ethic,” said B.J. Green, Carlisle Director of Athletics. “Coach Shock comes from a  coaching family as his father was a longtime Arkansas football coach. Coach Shock was exposed to the game, the grind of building a top-notch program and how to treat others at a very early age.”

Shock is excited for the opportunity to a first-time head high school coach at tradition-rich Carlisle. 

“I’m very excited and honored that Carlisle would have me,” Shock said Tuesday night. “I know this is late in the game for B.J. and the administration. I’m sure that played a little bit into my favor. It’s been  dream of mine to be a high school head coach. And to finally have the opportunity to do that … I’m thrilled to do it.”

Shock said he had full intentions of taking over the family business and staying in it until he got a phone call about the Carlisle job. 

“I answered it and listed to it and it materialized into this,” Shock said of an offer to come to Carlisle. 

Shock got his first taste of coaching while attending Harding University. He volunteered with the Harding Academy football program under coach Tommy Shoemaker. He also coached with Shoemaker at Central Arkansas Christian. He’s been a coach at a school in Tennessee before coming to Heber Springs. 

Shock’s name may sound familiar to some Bison fans. His father, Steve Shock, was the Carlisle Bison football coach for the 1988 season. He hired James Clayton as his defensive coordinator. The next year, Clayton was promoted to head coach when Steve Shock left and the Bison went to the Class A state title game. 

Caleb Shock said coaching where his father did at one time means a lot to him. 

“Because I grew up in Vilonia, my first dream was to follow him at Vilonia,” Schock said. “Sometimes God has different plans. I still got to follow him as a coach; it was just at a different school.”

Shock said his dad speaks fondly of his one year at Carlisle. 

“He’s always said it was a special place to him,” Shock said. “I think he probably looks back and thinks what if he had stayed and been around for those good years that followed with Coach Clayton.

“To be where he was and be able to get Carlisle back up to where it was after he left and restore some of those traditions, I’m excited to get in there and learn about it and do it.”

Shock said he’s not ready to talk about goals for the upcoming season but he does have some things he wants to accomplish with his new team. 

“I want to build a big-time rapport with the kids,” he said. “I think relationships with the players are important. We demand a lot out of those teenage guys. Before you can really start demanding that out of them, they’ve got to know that you think about them more than as just a player. You learn about them as a person.”

Greene is excited about the future of Bison football with Shock at the helm.

“Coach Shock is a diligent worker that embodies what it means to be a Bison — respectful, hardworking and tenacious. I am extremely excited for Coach Shock to arrive and begin working with our young men.”

Shock and his wife Danielle, have one daughter, Katie Mae. 

Bison football coach retires; search underway for replacement

Bison football coach Mark Uhiren, right, talks with quarterback Braiden Jenkins during a game in 2017. Uhiren retired as a coach and teacher with the Carlisle School District last week. (Photo by Mark Buffalo)

By Mark Buffalo

Staff Writer

@markbuffalo

CARLISLE — The Carlisle Bison football team is searching for a new head coach.

According to Carlisle High School principal and athletic director B.J. Greene, Bison coach Mark Uhiren has retired from coaching and teaching at the Carlisle School District. 

The head coaching position was posted on the Arkansas Activities Association bulletin board June 6. 

“The interview process started on Friday [June 8],” Greene said Sunday night. “I interviewed our first coach. We’re going to go through interviews for about a week, just because I want to get it done as soon as possible. That way, we can get our kids introduced to the new head coach.”

The Bison have lost two assistant coaches since the end of the 2017 season. Mike King resigned earlier this year then Phil Bernhardt resigned recently. 

Uhiren, a 1977 graduate of Carlisle High School, went 7-5 in 2016, his first year at the helm. Injuries beset the Bison in 2017 and they went 2-7. Uhiren previously was head coach at Lonoke and Marion. 

Carlisle is now looking for its fourth head coach since Scott Waymire left for Trumann following the 2012 season. Waymire is now the athletic director for the Jacksonville North Pulaski School District. 

Former Bison coach Greene to return as CHS principal, AD

Former Bison baseball coach B.J. Greene is pictured with his wife Amanda and children Banks, Amanda and Cole. Greene was recently hired as the new principal at Carlisle High School. (Photo courtesy of the Greene family)

By Mark Buffalo

Staff Writer

@mark buffalo

After leaving Carlisle six years ago as head baseball and assistant football coach, B.J. Green is coming home. 

Greene, 36, was recently hired as the Carlisle High School principal and athletic director, replacing Brad Horn, who was hired earlier this year to be the new superintendent for the Carlisle School District.

Greene is currently head baseball coach and assistant principal at Smackover High School in south Arkansas. 

“I’m very excited,” Greene said in a telephone interview Friday night. “I’m excited for my family. I’m excited that we all get to be in one district. I’m excited to come back to a place where I always felt like was home.

“It’s like I said at the last sports banquet, I’ll always bleed black and gold.”

Greene and his wife of five years, Amanda, have three children. Daughter Maggie, 12, is currently in the sixth grade at El Dorado; son Cole, 4, is in preschool at El Dorado and their youngest son Banks is 2. 

Greene left Carlisle in 2012 after five years. He coached the Bison baseball team to 29 wins and a state runner-up finish in 2012. He was an assistant for former football coach Scott Waymire and the Bison finished as state runner-up in 2011. 

Greene coached three years at Heber Springs High School before going to Smackover, where he is in the middle of his third year. He earned his master’s degree to become a certified school administrator from Arkansas State University in 2016. 

Being an administrator has it’s different challenges than coaching presents, according to Greene. 

“The big thing for me, now that I’ve been in an administration for two years at Smackover, in coaching, I just got to deal with a certain few of the athletes,” he said. “As a principal, you get to deal with every student in the building. You get to have a relationship with them. And you get to have a relationship with the teachers, which is something the last two years that I’ve had to learn how to deal with that. It’s not the same as handling kids. You’ve got to handle your staff members completely different.”

Being an athletic director and principal is something that Greene has wanted to do since he started working on his master’s degree. 

“Getting to do both of them as the same time is sort of a dream come true, especially in a town like Carlisle, that means so much to me,” Greene said. “I’m excited because I have been a coach for 15 years. I don’t know if that will ever get out of my blood and being able to be AD as well, which I’m blessed that Mr. Horn is going to allow that to happen, I’ll get to work with all the sports.”

Horn said he was glad that Greene accepted the position.

“B.J. is going to be a disciplinarian,” Horn said. “He’s going to deal well with the community and the teachers and students. He things a balance that we need at the high school on the academic side.”

Horn said Greene will work well with assistant principal Rachel Horn, who splits time between the high school and elementary school, working with principal Jason Stewart.

“On the academic side, I want some balance,” Brad Horn said. “I feel strongly that a principal and an assistant principal should compliment each other. Mrs. Horn has been a good addition. She brings some things to the table that I didn’t have or Mr. Stewart has at the elementary school.”

Mr. Horn said that Greene, on the athletic side of things, has “street credibility.”

“He’s gone some knowledge, working under Coach Scott Waymire,” Horn said “I think the things he learned under Coach Waymire are going to help him a great deal.”

Greene is appreciative of Horn offering him the job.

“I’m excited to come back to the community,” he said. 

Greene plans to have an athletic handbook for the district. 

“I’ve already had a meeting with the teachers,” he said. “At some point in time, I’m going to have a meeting for the coaching staff and create a handbook. But I’m also going to have a meeting as athletic director with the parents and athletes to explain to them that their kids are going to be held to a higher standard.”

Former Bison baseball coach B.J. Greene talks to his 2012 squad prior to the Class 2A state-championship game at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville. Greene will be the new Carlisle High School principal this fall. (Photo by Mark Buffalo)

Lady Bison tame Lady Rattlers in first round of 2A tourney

Carlisle's Kylie Warren prepares to jump center at the start of the first round state-tournament game against Murfreesboro. (Photo by Mark Buffalo)

By Mark Buffalo

Staff Writer

@markbuffalo

JUDSONIA — The Carlisle Lady Bison scored the first 16 points of the game in a 51-37 rout of Murfreesboro in the first round of the Class 2A state tournament at White County Central High School on Wednesday night. 

With the win, Carlisle advances to play defending state champion Quitman on Friday at 4 p.m. The Lady Bulldogs ended Carlisle’s season a year ago in the second round. 

The Lady Bison also improved to 29-4 on the season. They have won 21 of their past 22 games. The 29 wins are the second most in school history, or at least in the modern era of 5-on-5 girls play, which started in the early 1980s. The only team to win more was the 2007 state championship team, which won 35 games. 

In Wednesday’s win, Carlisle led 16-0 with 3:45 left in the first quarter. The Lady Bison led 19-5 after one quarter. 

Carlisle outscored Murfreesboro 17-7 in the second quarter to lead 36-14 at halftime. In fact, Carlisle’s Kylie Warren scored all 17 Lady Bison points. 

The lead grew to 31 as Carlisle led 51-20 heading into the fourth quarter. Murfreesboro outscored Carlisle 17-0 in the fourth quarter but the clock was running the entire time. 

Warren led Carlisle with 32 points. She hit seven three-pointers. Blakely Ellis had 10 points. Shelby Hancock and DeShaye Ricks had three points each. Heather Bowlan scored two. Kiara Miller had one.