Football Tigers Treated to 3A-1 Conference Title

Posted Date: 11/04/2025

The Mansfield football class of 2025 stuffed their trick or treat sack with a second consecutive conference championship on Halloween Night inside Tiger Stadium. A 54-6 drubbing of the visiting Greenland Pirates on a night that also celebrated the Mansfield seniors was a special treat for the winningest group in Mansfield history.

“You know, it’s always a great feeling to go - thirty - I think this was our thirty-first win against only six losses in three years,” shared Mansfield senior Ethan Martin as he allowed himself to reflect on another impressive win for this MHS senior class. “It’s something I never dreamed of when I was in the ninth grade. 

“Whenever Coach (Whit) Overton came my sophomore year,” continued Mansfield’s starting center and defensive end. “The reason my favorite memory was Waldron in the halftime locker room that sophomore year,” Martin started again, “that’s when he showed us what we needed to be. That’s whenever we really clicked. After that halftime, we just took off like a rocket.”

That rocket ride Martin and his nine football playing senior teammates have been on these past three seasons has reached unprecedented heights beyond anything previous Tiger football team have boarded. The good news - it’s still climbing. 

Back to back 3A-1 Conference titles is part of the story. That’s on top of state semi-final playoff appearances in 2023 and 2024. All that with more to come in 2025, has this squad still soaring.

Friday’s wrecking of the Greenland Pirate ship confirmed Mansfield’s top spot as the 2025 league champion. It also secured a number one seed for the Tigers into this season’s class 3A state playoffs with guaranteed home field advantage throughout the tournament. 

This team, built for the long haul with 10 motivated seniors, 4 contributing juniors,10 dynamic sophomores and a handful of rising freshmen, wants more. This unit has been adamant all season long, the ride must continue all the way to Little Rock for the state finals on December 13.

“These guys all bought into the vision I brought in three years ago,” explained Tiger head coach Whit Overton. “We try to work hard and do things the right way. We’ve got some talented kids. They bought in and they want to win.

“I think I touched a heart string with them,” reflected Overton when asked about Martin's take of that impressionable mid-September game against Waldron in 2023. “The message was, we are going to be held to a higher standard, and things are going to be different. We’re gonna give our best effort every single time, and we’re not gonna settle for less than that.”

That message learned then by these seniors obviously still resonated this past Friday versus Greenland. 

Mansfield had every reason to set the throttle on cruise control against the Pirates. The TIgers just came off a heavyweight battle against perennial conference front runner Booneville in a torrential rainstorm for a 16-14 win. Greenland was foundering in high tide with a miserable 2-6 overall record. Yet, Mansfield held firm to its oath to high standards regardless of opponent. They hammered down against the visiting Pirates, demanding of themselves the same fervor it took to dismiss the previous 8 victims off the 2025 schedule to remain unblemished at 9-0.

Mansfield took 54 seconds to physically persuade the Pirates this would be no moonlight sail. Senior TIger Andrew Burton took the first two carries of the game. The first went for four yards up the middle. The next went for 51 yards and the game’s first score. With 11:06 still to play in the opening quarter, MHS was on top 8-0 when Silas Burton converted a 2-point conversion off the right side.

Minutes later, Mansfield senior cornerback Joseph Carter showed off his athleticism. The rangy ballhawk snared an offtarget Pirate pass at the 4:03 mark of the first period. Carter flipped awkwardly full body spin in the air to land securely with the extra possession.

Tiger sophomore quarterback Jubal Parks cashed the turnover in for a 30 yard option read to the right for another six points. Silas Burton once again “cake walked” the 2-pointer past the goal line for a roaring 16-0 start with 11:24 to play in the second period.

Parks was prominent in the Tiger’s next three possessions as well. His running legs and throwing arm went wild for three more scores. 

Three plays deep into the Tigers’ fourth possession, the tenth grade signal caller again kept option right for a 63-yard TD scamper. A fifth Tiger possession went even quicker as Parks hit Carter, now playing wide receiver, in stride for a 49-yard post pattern. That  one play series went paydirt for another six points. Then on Mansfield’s sixth series of the first half, Parks pulled the trigger on a complementary pass to Treven Hattabaugh. Playing off Carter’s post pattern distraction, Hattabaugh spun a wheel route up the right sideline for another one play touchdown strike. This one was good for 46 yards.

In order, Andrew Burton, Jubal Parks and Silas Burton punctuated these three consecutive scores with the PAT runs. With all three conversions successful, Mansfield sat solid with a 40-6 lead with 2:28 to go before half.

Greenland did score amongst the three Tiger volleys. The Pirates connected on a long pass against some MHS reserve secondary defenders to get the ball to the one yard line. GHS’s Jonathan Coffee plunged past the goal line for Greenland’s only six points. 

MHS senior linebacker Zander Walters lashed back by blocking the follow-up PAT kick. Mansfield would not allow another Pirate score.

Andrew Burton came out of the halftime intermission with much the same determination as his first half heroics. The Tiger’s leading rusher with 1,382 yards through 9 games ripped off a 70 yard touchdown in Mansfield’s only first team offensive drive of the second half. 

Remarkably, this was a carbon copy of a touchdown run that was called back one play early. A holding call nullified Burton's untouched off tackle sprint for a 60-yard touchdown burner. Unfazed, Overton dialed up the same exact play on the next snap. This duplicate run worked even better with Burton following the same untouched track for a now 70-yard scoring scoot. 

Tiger senior Cooper Edwards took over as quarterback on Mansfield's next offensive possession now firmly into the third period. He summarily launched a deep, down the middle, post pattern pass that landed softly into Caiden Whittaker’s hands. Whittaker did the rest for a 44-yard catch and run for six more points. Dalton Knowles added Mansfield’s final 2-point play to end all scoring.

Caiden Ore, a senior two-way starter on the Mansfield offensive and defensive lines, had a tempered smile after his team won their second consecutive conference championship on senior night.

“It’s all passed by pretty fast,” offered Ore as he reflected back through the 37 varsity games this group of seniors has already played. “We’re enjoying having all this fun winning all these games and making history for the town of Mansfield. Honestly, I can’t believe it’s our last conference home game. I’m very happy that we could get three more home games in the playoffs though.

“It just means that the family that we have with football is much bigger than we think.” Ore shifted his thoughts to the fans and the little kids that now recognize him away from the football field. “It’s the whole town of Mansfield. Anywhere I go, it’s ‘Great game Friday’ or ‘Great job’ and ‘I see you out there’. 

“The little kids even look up to us,” continued the senior three year starter. “It’s been pretty amazing. Having somebody look up to me is something that I thought I would never have.”

Martin had similar thoughts as his teammate from the trenches. He also applauded the fans that made his on field job easier, and opined about the upcoming playoffs.

“”It’s amazing,” Martin exclaimed, “because the fans here play a really big role in our games. They’ll put pressure on the other teams and they’ll be, like, super loud. Travis (Pettus, Mansfield’s public address announcer) does an amazing job in the press box playing sounds. It all just plays a big factor in our game plan.”

Martin then shifted his tone towards an upcoming playoff push after inhaling this Halloween treat against Greenland.

“In the playoffs, it’s a different story than in conference,” he explained. “In the playoffs, you play different teams you’ve never played before. So, you gotta prepare differently, practice differently - you just have to have a different mind set for every game.” 

Don't believe for a second the Mansfield seniors aren't keenly aware of their upcoming date in West Fork this week. This bunch has been ingrained with a mentality to keep high standards and take care of the business at hand. No doubt they want to finish off an undefeated regular season the right way before focusing on an anticipated playoff push.