Brookland Seniors lead all shooters into YSS state tournament

JACKSONVILLE – The Youth Shooting Sports state finals in both senior and junior divisions May 30-31 should be full of excitement with championships up in the air — that is, if the regional competition at the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation Shooting Sports Complex over the past four weeks is any indication.

The Brookland Bearcats Misfires team did anything but that in winning the East Region in the YSS senior division. Brookland’s 240 clays hit out of 250 attempts was the best among all shooters during the four weeks of regional competition, and it also was enough to edge out perennial YSS powerhouse Corning in the East by four clays, with defending senior state champion Westside Red finishing third at 228 on the first weekend.

Texarkana Arkansas Razorback Senior Red won last weekend’s South Region with a 239 total, the second-best score among all senior teams in the regionals. That was easily enough to get past Ashdown Squad 1, which hit 231 clays, and Mountain Valley Sportsman’s Association, which took third with 229 targets hit and survived a scramble among five teams separated by two targets. MVSA carded off Spring Hill for third.

Bald Knob Red, with a winning 236 targets hit in the North Region, and Shiloh Christian School Black Lions, with their 229 targets being just enough to slide by Berryville in the West Region by one target, sewed up top seeds for the senior state tourney, set for May 31.

Ozark Youth Team 1 out of Northwest Arkansas was third in the West. Highland was runner-up to Bald Knob in the North, and the Cave City Cavemen 1 won a card-off for third place in the North, topping the Rose Bud Sharp Shooters Top Guns, as both hit 229 targets.

Jonesboro Trap Team Red in the East may go into the junior state tourney a heavy favorite as its 121 score out of 125 attempts dusted the rest of the junior competition — though, to be fair, each weekend had its own varied weather and wind that potentially affected scores. Westside, the runner-up in the East, had the second-best overall score of any junior team at 116. Five Rivers Trap Club’s Current River squad was third, nine behind the winners but just ahead of a pair of Cabot teams.

Nashville Orange cruised in the West junior region with a 115 score. Bald Knob Red was best in the North among juniors, like its senior team, in hitting 105 targets. Shiloh Christian also collected a junior regional title by taking the West with a best 104 targets hit.

Spring Hill, in second, and Ashdown, in third, collected trophies in the West junior tourney, and Nashville Black almost squeezed into the trophy presentation, finishing fourth. Bergman 1 and Highland Red were right on Bald Knob’s heels in the North, though, finishing second and third, respectively. Berryville and Alma Team 1 were second and third to Shiloh in the West, both five targets behind but Berryville winning the card-off for second.

Junior state tourney action kicks off the weekend May 30 with “head-to-head” competition among the 64 teams that qualified for state, 16 from each of the four regions. Teams are seeded 1 to 16 by order of finish in each regional and are matched in a bracket format; a team must win six matches to claim the state championship. The seniors repeat the setup on Saturday, May 31. Both divisions start shooting at 9 a.m., and both shoot 125 shells at clay pigeons from five different posts in each matchup.

It helps to be the hot-shooting team coming in, but it also helps to be lucky in the draw. Last year, Westside was the fifth-best senior team out of the highly competitive East Region, but managed to win all six matches in the state tournament.

Several thousand dollars in college scholarship money and for the programs will be on the line in the senior division, including for the winner of the Tournament of Champions shoot-off that follows the senior team championship. Qualifying for the shoot-off by hitting all 50 shots in the regionals were Case Hicks, Wynne; Isaac Hensley, Marmaduke; Maxwell Counts, Brookland; Caleb Ezernack, Bradley; Hudson Crisp, Fouke; and Logan Wagnon, MVSA.

Eight shooters also qualified for the junior Tournament of Champions shoot-off by hitting 25 of 25 targets, including five competitors out of the East Region. The eight qualifiers are Case McDonald, Corning; Foxx Thompson, Jonesboro Trap; Jon Lorkowski, Jonesboro Trap; Peyton Amos, Five Rivers Current River; Zachary Rogers, Cabot; Ethan Hamilton, Nashville; Grady Seal, Horatio; and Rhett Young, Nashville.

Click here to see all team and individual scores from YSS’s four regions.

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CUTLINES:

PRESSURE’S ON: One team in both juniors and seniors will have to shoot their best for six rounds of 125 shots each to win a title in the Youth Shooting Sports State Championship May 30-31.

BIG CROWD: Last year’s Youth Shooting Sports Senior State Championship drew a huge crowd down the shooting line at the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation Shooting Sports Complex in Jacksonville.

Photos by Mike Wintroath.