GOBLINS READY TO BREAK 13 JINX

BATESVILLE — The number 13 is associated with bad luck. Friday night at Batesville, the Harrison Goblin football team hopes that 13 is good luck for the squad. It has been 13 years since the Goblins have won a playoff game and this year’s edition of the Goblin football team wants to end the streak. Harrison enters the contest as the No. 3 team from the 5A-West. The squad has an 8-2 mark and finished the league season with a 5-2 record. Harrison had a contest reversed to make their record 8-2 after Morrilton had to forfeit their win over the Goblins due to an illegible player. Batesville is the No. 2 team from the 5A-East and has a 7-3 overall record and finished their league race with a 6-1 mark. After winning the Class 4A state title in 1999, the Goblins have only been to the playoffs four times. The squad defeated White Hall, 34-6, in 2003 after they won the conference title that season. This marked the last Goblin victory in the playoffs. They dropped their quarterfinal game of the playoffs, 20-7, to Vilonia. Getting back to the playoffs in 2006, the Goblins had to travel to White Hall for their first round game. The contest was delayed due to weather. After an hour delay, the game got underway. Harrison dropped that contest to the Bulldogs, 37-16. That was the last playoff game that Tommy Tice coached for the Goblins. Despite a pair of back-to-back 7-3 seasons, the Goblins didn’t make the playoffs again for eight seasons. They ended their streak in 2014. Facing Camden Fairview, the Goblins put up 54 points. However, they were on the short end of a 61-54 contest. That playoff game was the only postseason game that Chad Harbison coached for the Goblins in his four years as the head coach.

GOBLINS READY TO BREAK 13 JINX

JEFF BRASEL

Harrison Daily | 11/11/2016

PHOTO CREDIT: Harrison Athletics