Bulldogs set for State Tournament action

Bulldogs set for State Tournament action

Earle boys, girls headed to Carlisle to continue postseason pi ay as number-two seeds

By Ralph Hardin

ralphhardin@gmail.com It was a case of “oh, so close” for both the boys and girls teams out of Earle over the weekend.

The Bulldogs reached the finals of the Class 2 A North Regional Tournament only to fall in the finals to Clarendon.

It’s an old adage that it’s hard to beat the same team three times in one season, and that proved true for the Bulldogs. The Earle boys beat Clarendon 46-43 in December and just a couple of weeks ago, the Bulldogs bested the Lions 61-60.

But the third time was, indeed, the charm for Clarendon, as they stopped the Bulldogs’ tourney run, winning 52-50 Saturday night. The loss secured the top seed out of the North for Clarendon and put Earle in the number two spot for the State Tournament, which begins this afternoon in Carlisle.

In their first-round matchup, Earle will take on the Mountainburg Dragons.

Earle (19-11, 11-2 in 2A Conference play) will be facing a Mountainburg (16-14 overall, 7-5 in 2A Conference play) squad that secured the number three seed in the 2A West with a win over Flippin in Regional Tournament action over the weekend.

Tip-off between Earle and Mountainburg is set for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in Carlisle.

The Lady Bulldogs of Earle continued their winning ways in the 2A Region tournament last week — at least until the finals.

The Earle girls dispatched Sloan-Hendrix in a rout, 79-36 and squeaked past Lake City-Riverside 55-53 to make the championship game, only to see their long undefeated run (not counting a forfeit loss on Jan. 31) end at the hands of the Lady Bearkatz of Melbourne. The loss not only snapped the Lady Bulldogs 14-game winning streak, but also gave the Lady Bearkatz the numberone seed in the North in the Class 2A State Tournament. Like the Bulldogs, the Lady Bulldogs were slotted in as the number two seed for the state tourney in Carlisle.

The Lady Bulldogs (22-4, 10-1 in the 2A North) will be matched up with the Lady Warriors of Cotter (14-17, 7-3 in the 2A West). Cotter secured the number three seed in the state tournament with a win over Hector on Saturday. The Lady Bulldogs and the Lady Warriors tip of at 4 p.m., on Thursday afternoon in Carlisle.

Should the Bulldogs prevail, they will face the winner off the first-round match-up between top seed from the 2A Central England and number-four seed from the 2A South Parkers Chapel in the quarterfinals on Friday, March 1, at 8:30 p.m.

If the Lady Bulldogs win their opening-round showdown, that will set up a quarterfinal game between Earle and the winner of the first-round game between top seed from the 2A Central Quitman and number- four seed from the 2A South Cossatot River at 1 p.m. on Friday.

The Earle Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs both will represent their school as the number two seed in the 2019 Class 2A State Tournament. Both squads fell short of earning the number one seed after losing in the North Regional playoffs over the weekend.

Photo courtesy of maxpreps.com