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Heber Springs vs. Clinton ... "Battle for the Little Red" ... The Series

Started by philip.seaton, August 15, 2018, 08:03:10 pm

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philip.seaton

HEBER SPRINGS VS. CLINTON

"Battle for the Little Red"
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The Series is tied at 38-38-5.

Games played in Heber  Springs: Tied, 19-19-1

Games played in Clinton: Clinton leads 19-18-4

Games played on a Neutral Field: Heber Springs leads, 1-0.

FIRST MEETING: Heber Springs' first season of football was 1913 and it would be 26 years before Clinton fielded its first team. It didn't take long for the two teams to meet after that with Heber Springs winning the first game played between the two schools on October 13, 1939, in Heber Springs. The Panthers won by a score of 31-0 on that day. The two teams met again less than a month later on Veteran's Day (November 11) 1939 in Clinton where the Panthers and Yellowjackets played to a 6-6 tie. The teams would go on to play continuously after that with a couple of exceptions. During World War II, neither school fielded a team during the 1943 season while Clinton did not field one during the 1944 season. After the war, Clinton and Heber Springs would meet twice per season in 1945 and 1946 with the Yellowjackets winning all four meetings. Financial constraints in the Heber Springs School District forced the school to not field a football team for the 1947 and 1948 seasons. The two teams meet again during the 1949 season with Clinton winning both games of the home-and-home series.   The teams would go on continuously playing until 2007 when the opener scheduled with Clinton -- which was played during the 2006 season at the Hooten's Kickoff Classic at Estes Stadium on the campus of the University of Central Arkansas in Conway -- was changed to allow the Panthers to play Mayflower instead of Clinton in the same Kickoff Classic in 2007. The series resumed in 2008 and continues today.

LONGEST WINNING STREAKS: Clinton has won six straight in the series twice. Once from 1945-1949 and the second time from 2000-2005. Heber Springs won seven straight in the series from 1978-1984.

CONFERENCE FOES: Heber Springs and Clinton were first paired in the same conference in 1974. They would be paired in the same conference from 1974-1990. They would again be paired in the same conference from 1993-2001 and from 2008-2013.

OVERTIME GAMES: There have only been three overtime games in the series and those all occurred during a four-year span from 1986-1989. Clinton won a double overtime home contest in 1986 (20-14) while the Panthers won in overtime the following season in 1987, 19-12, in Heber Springs. In 1989, Clinton defeated Heber Springs, 13-12, at Panther Stadium.

CLOSE GAMES: Twenty-two of the games have been decided by a touchdown or less during the series, not including the five ties.

NOVEMBER THE 4TH: Strangely enough the largest margin of both schools in the series occurred the same day 50 years apart with Clinton (56) winning 56-0 on Nov. 4, 1949; while Heber Springs (39), won 57-18 on Nov. 4, 1999. The 75 combined points both teams in that 1999 contest remain the most combined points in any contest during the series.

DEFENSE: Of the 81 games played between the schools, the two teams have only combined to score more than 50 points or more 12 times, with seven those 50-plus combined scoring games coming since 2008.

COACH'S WIFE: Clinton head coach Chris Dufrene's wife Heather (Bivens)is a 1987 graduate of Heber Springs High School.

TROPHY GAMES: Heber Springs won the trophy for the Hooten's Kickoff Classic between the two schools in 2006, but since the inception of the "Battle for the Little Red" trophy, Clinton has both meetings, 28-20 in 2016, and 28-17 last season in Heber Springs.

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