The 2012-13 school year is upon us and with that so begins the athletic schedule for Arkadelphia Public Schools. While the AHS Lady Badger and Badger golf teams have already participated in matches, including two at their home course of Turtle Pointe Golf Club, this Tuesday, August 21, marks the first opportunities for Badger and Lady Badger fans to see the football and volleyball teams in action.
Arkadelphia High School will be a busy place
Tuesday evening as AHS volleyball hosts Hot Springs at 4:30 and
Arkadelphia’s junior and senior high football teams will host Prescott
in a scrimmage game beginning at 5:30.
The Lady Badger volleyball program actually opens
their 2012 season on the road at El Dorado Monday afternoon, but the
Lady Badgers will play their home opener Tuesday when they face former
5A-Southwest conference foe Hot Springs at Badger
Gymnasium.
The Lady Badgers and Lady Trojans will face off in three matches on Tuesday. The 9th
grade Lady Badgers will start things off at 4:30 followed by the junior
varsity teams and then the nightcap when Kim Williams’ Lady Badgers
will look to start the home portion of their season off with a win
against the Lady Trojans of HSHS. The matches will also mark the first
home matches for junior high head coach Jenny Coon, who joined the
Arkadelphia staff in the summer. Coon replaces Lawrence
Jefferson who left the district for a job with the Bryant Public School
District in May.
Tickets for volleyball matches are $4 for adults and $3 for children and all students, including college students.
The volleyball action begins at 4:30 and an hour
later the Arkadelphia football program will put its pre-season practice
to work with a junior high and senior high scrimmage against Prescott at
Arkadelphia’s Badger Stadium. The junior high
teams will begin at 5:30 while the Badgers and Curleywolves are set to
begin the high school scrimmage around 7:30.
The game is a benefit game for the Arkansas
Activities Association Catastrophic Insurance Fund and all tickets (for
students and adults) are priced at $4. The only passes that will be able
to be honored are Arkansas Activities Association
passes. All other attendees will be required to pay the $4 fee.
“Since this is an AAA Benefit game, we can’t honor
any passes other than AAA passes,” said Arkadelphia Athletic Director
Chris Babb. “This includes season tickets, which will be on sale at the
game, or any other local passes. We hope that
our fans understand that most of the money from these benefit games
goes right back to the AAA and we don’t set the prices or the policies
regarding tickets for that night.”
The Arkadelphia football staff also will have some
new faces in new places for the 2012 season. Assistant coach Eric Allen
was tabbed as the head junior high football coach by Badger head coach
J. R. Eldridge in the spring and the AHS staff
welcomed Eli Cranor to the district for the 2012 season. Cranor joins
Eldridge in the AHS English Department and will serve as Offensive
Coordinator for the Badgers on Friday nights.
“We’re excited about our coaching staff for the
2012-13 school year and we’ll be introducing our newest coaches to our
fans more as we go,” said Babb. “These men and women spend a lot of
hours investing their time and effort into the students
of our district and I appreciate all they do.
“Tuesday night will be the first of many
opportunities for our fans to see the Badgers and Lady Badgers in action
this year, so we look forward to our community coming out to support
our boys and girls this year.”
The APSD Athletic Department will also be hosting the annual “Meet the Badgers” event this Friday, August 24th, at Badger Stadium at 7:30 p.m. preceded by the 2nd
Annual BadgerFest sponsored by the Arkadelphia Badger
Booster Club. The booster club and athletic department will be sharing
more information about those events as the week progresses.
