Tater's Two Cents - Jan. 10

Welcome to another installation of Tater's Two Cents after a (no pun intended) wild weekend of NFL Wild Card playoffs where we learned that just after one day, there will be a fresh matchup in this year's Super Bowl after the Saints and Colts were eliminated back-to-back. To me, the AFC's final four teams should make for two great games this weekend while the NFC is pretty darn lackluster. But any ways, let's take a look at the week that was in the DAR coverage area.

- First thing off the bat, It was great to learn on Friday that the East Carter boys got the monkey off their back by ending a nearly two-year long losing streak on Thursday night at Ellington. I watched the Redbirds in the middle of December and knew the streak had to end sooner than later. Under the leadership of new coach and former East Carter state champion Brandon Crook, the Redbirds are coming along slowly but surely. I won't say against who, but looking at East Carter's schedule the rest of the way, I fully expect this team in put a few more in the win column before the end of the year.

- Really the same goes for the girls team at East Carter that really has turned things around for third year coach Missy Cox. The Lady Redbirds have won six games this season with many more chances at 'Ws' left on the schedule. East Carter, at 6-6, has a really good mix of veteran and young players that are just getting it done this year.

- Earlier last week we saw freshly state-ranked Bernie take its second lump of the year at the hands of Twin Rivers who beat them a week earlier at the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament. The teams won't meet again this season but played three entertaining games against each other. It didn't get much easier later in the week for the Mules as they had to play (and beat) Advance with numerous injuries and sickness on the team. Twin Rivers earned its ninth win of the year on Friday night in a key game at Doniphan and built some momentum toward a top-seed at the Ozark Foothills Conference tournament.

- Back to Carter County, the Van Buren Bulldogs capped a solid week with a win against South Iron on Friday night. Under first-year coach Dusty Weiskopf, Van Buren plays very good team ball with a good mix of guard play led by Zane Betz and Michael Duncan to go long with forward Cody Rector who poured in 24 points against the Panthers. Earlier in the week, the Bulldogs beat Neelyville after trailing by 17 in the fourth quarter.

Here's what's going on this week (subject to weather):

- Tuesday night features two boys games that should answer some questions in terms seeding for next month's OFC tournament. Naylor travels to East Carter where each team is looking for their first win in conference play while Neelyville hosts Clearwater. Clearwater, the defending OFC tournament champions, is looking for its first conference of the year while Neelyville looks to catapult itself to the top tier of the conference if they get a third win in the conference.

- There are also a couple big games for the Stoddard County Activities Association seeds for the tournament that starts at the end of the month. Bloomfield travels to Dexter on Tuesday night and then the Bearcats travel to Bernie on Friday.

- Should be a great girls game on Thursday night in Neelyville. In a game added this year, the Lady Tigers host Dexter. The game should be a huge measuring stick for Neelyville to see what they can do against a school two classes higher in their own gym. The teams met last year in the semifinals of the Lady Royals Classic where Neelyville won and both teams have similar rosters back from that game.

- Looks to be a little snow in the forecast this week. Coaches or ADs, give us a call at the DAR at 785-1414 or e-mail me at rtate@darnews.com if you have any postponements or makeup games so we can update our schedules. We will post the postponed games on our Facebook page ( http://www.facebook.com/pages/DAR-Sports/130404650315731) as well.