Rudy Tomjanovich, former coach of the Houston Rockets, famously said, “Never underestimate the heart of a champion.” This statement came soon after his team hoisted up the 1995 Larry O’Brien Trophy as NBA World Champions.
The quote has often been associated with this Tomjanovich lead team shaped in an unimaginable combination of courage, resilience, and unwavering competitive spirit. Cue Mansfield football, 28 years later. MHS administrators were in search of a new football coach, one that could inspire courage, resilience and have an unwavering competitive spirit. In walked Mansfield native son, Whit Overton, as the man for the job.
Of course, questions concerning Overton’s lack of head coaching experience and his proclamation, “We will run the ball", put some people on the fence as to whether his brand could build a championship caliber team. Pundits wondered, sometimes out loud, whether the direction of Mansfield football shouldn’t be chasing a coach tied to the “flavor of the month” spread offenses sweeping Arkansas high school programs.
Overton was resolute in his beliefs, upfront with his plans, and determined to make a difference in his hometown Tigers. Starting in his first season in 2023 and continuing through this 2025 calendar year, the MHS coach has been straightforward in building up believers to share his vision of a nearby state championship.
From day one, the new coach vowed to make his players physically stronger and mentally tough. He installed a dominant running game on offense and an attacking style on defense. His mission was to create a culture of Tiger Pride never before seen in a community starving for a consistent and relevant football winner. Had Overton been born of an earlier generation, he may have rolled up his sleeves and sang a line from a 1974 Charlie Daniels song that bellowed, “You just leave this long haired country boy alone”.
For all of Overton’s efforts and the players that stuck to the plan, now in its third season, Friday night’s 80-8 shellacking of woebegone West Fork was an exclamation point to a perfect 10 and 0 regular season. Adding to that excellence, was the fact Mansfield just finished the second leg of back to back undefeated 3A-1 Conference Championships. All of which begs the reminder to “Never underestimate the heart of a champion!”
Overton has been mapping out his vision to make Mansfield football a champion ever since he was a kid. In the 2003 MHS football season, this average (his words), but spirited former Tiger walked off the football field for the last time as a player - a winner player.
His senior class closed down the old Tiger Stadium in the very last varsity game ever played there with an improbable 15-14 victory over then 4AAA Conference Champion Waldron. Yet, his high school teams never made the playoffs, never won a championship, never played more than 10 games in any particular year.
Overton had an epiphany as he cried his way off the field for the last time as a player. He wanted to bring a championship to the town of Mansfield. Twenty years later in 2023, he got the opportunity to put his eureka moment into action as the Mansfield Tigers’ head football coach.
Since that day, the motivated mentor has won 32 games against only 6 losses. He’s reached the playoffs in all three seasons at the helm. And, for the first time in school history has won back to back conference championships with this newest league title perched on top a perfect 10-0 regular season record.
“As far as I know, that’s the first one (undefeated 10-0 team) ever in Mansfield history,” the excited, water jug soaked, championship coach exclaimed. “Third conference championship ever (2010, 2024 and 2025) - two in a row! Pretty cool deal there.
“Putting up 80 points is crazy. We played everybody - all the ninth graders. Everybody got in the game. We executed at a high level - did a lot of great things tonight.”
Logan Ore, a senior starting linebacker and offensive tackle, was one of the Mansfield players comfortable enough with his coach to dump a jug of water on his beloved leader. Logan and his twin brother Cadien found a full cooler on the sideline. Together they celebrated their most recent win with a cold water splash on their coach at West Fork’s Tiger Stadium.
This celebratory moment was a testament to the chemistry of the team and the relationship the entire roster has developed with their hard-nosed and demanding head coach.
When Logan Ore was asked about a second district title and one with a perfect 10 win regular season attached to it, he said, “It feels great honestly! The fact that it’s my senior year makes it even better.
“Seeing the ninth graders we moved up,“ shifted the two way player's thoughts as he spoke to include others on the team, “seeing the potential that they have, it makes me really excited how far this Mansfield tradition will go.
“Being able to coach all the younger guys up,” continued Logan, “is an honor for the seniors. The fact that we’ll know once they get better and we’ll watch them on the screens or at the games, knowing that we had a role in their football careers is an awesome feeling.”
The ninth graders to which Logan spoke actually joined the high school team one night after finishing their own undisputed, 10 and 0 junior high 3A-1 Conference Championship. They joined the seniors, a talented group of sophomores and a thriving sum of juniors to systematically dismantle the West Fork Tigers on their Senior Night.
Mansfield sophomore Silas Burton typically joins Jubal Parks and Jeremiah Burton in the backfield. The tenth grade trio respectively line up as the right slotback, quarterback, and left slotback. Their alignment puts them behind a senior laden line and blocking flexed ends.
It was Silas that said, “You know it feels good, just being a sophomore, to move up and to be able to play with seniors that have experience, that lead the way - it just feels really good.
“Like we hit 80!” Silias smiled after the game as he looked up at the scoreboard that West Fork was so quick to turn off. “Those that got to move up and play tonight, it was good experience for the next years to come.”
Silas went on to explain what it meant to play alongside a group of seniors that have won 32 games and two consecutive conference championships.
“Two of the seniors are my brothers,” he pointed out, speaking about older brothers, Andrew and Matthew. “They really give me confidence throughout the day, telling me that ‘you're doing good’, ‘keep it up’ and stuff like that. The other guys are talking to me more and saying, ‘I’ll help you on this and if you need me to block, just tell me to do something’. So, I really look up to them guys.”
Asked if it was “team chemistry and coaching” that made this team click, the younger Burton brother replied, “Yes. It's that and Jesus Christ."
No one was more dominant on Friday night in West Fork than Silas’s senior brother Andrew Burton. Andrew carried the football 7 times for 211 yards and 4 touchdowns in only the first half of play. Overton took out most of the starters including his All-State fullback as Mansfield reached the mercy rule threshold with 9:44 to go in the second quarter.
Andrew scored on four of the visiting Tigers’s first five possessions. His payoffs were all chunk style plays with endzone reaching carries of 36, 37, 32 and 96 yards in length.
“I knew I wasn’t going to get the ball a lot,” offered the 3A-1 conference’s leading rusher with nearly 1,600 yards and 24 touchdowns through the first 10 games of the season. In the aftermath of helping the team set school record 80 points against the dismal 1-9 West Fork Tigers, he added, “No need to hurt anybody. Their team was not the best.
“We were trying out the I-formation with Colton (Moore, one of the rising freshmen) at fullback,” said Andrew, “and we were pitching to me. That was working really well. I’m glad we got to do that.
“We wanted to use it (I-formation) to where we get it on film to where other teams have to prepare for it. I think we will use it in the playoffs and it will be pretty good.”
Colton Moore added three 2-point conversions in his senior high debut. He saw significant action as part of the Red Tiger game plan after moving up from a highly successful junior high campaign.
Freshman Isaac Carson got in on the scoring as well. At the 10:02 mark of the second quarter, the speedy slotback, moving left to right, took an option pitch from 11 yards out for the untouched touchdown.
Mansfield was ultra-efficient on offense scoring 9 touchdowns on 10 possessions. Their only thwarted attempt failed by way of a lost fumble with two minutes to play in the third period. Mansfield, by this point up 72-0, was rotating in younger players which may have caused the miscue.
Even before this point, the Tiger coaching staff began handing out scoring opportunities to well deserving linemen. Include the Ore twins, 3-year starters from the trenches, as one successful lineman pair to benefit from the fun time generosity.
Cadien Ore went to the backfield as a running back in the Tigers hurry up “Tank 22” goal line offense. The senior blocker responded with a 3-yard power score with 0:07 to go before the halftime break. Identical twin, Logan Ore, rotated to the featured back position for the successful followup 2-point try with “Tank 23”.
Blocking receiver Matthew Burton got his opportunity just prior to the Ore scores. Matthew slipped out of the backfield into the left flat to catch Parks' play action pass. The catch and subsequent TD run went for 16 yards. Matthew, known for seeking contact, ran over the last defender at the goal line.
Second team running backs Chandler Whisman and Dalton Knowles added to the scoring frenzy. Whisman went on a 45 yard sprint on the first play of the third quarter as the AAA sportsmanship rule kept the clock continuously moving. Knowles found the edge on a counter hand sweep to the right pylon. His was a 10-yard scoring scamper with the fourth quarter clock ticking past 3:40.
West Fork put together two decent drives for the entire night. Their opening series looked promising. A near 50/50 mix of run and pass went 11 plays and advanced the ball 44 yards to the Mansfield 16 yard line.
However, disaster struck the home team as MHS defenders Ethan Martin and Matthew Burton shared a strip sack of the West Fork quarterback. Mansfield linebacker Zander Walters swooped in behind the mess for a 75-yard scoop and score. Silas Burton tacked on the first of his two PAT runs after Walter’s scoring strike to start the avalanche.
West Fork's next best series came after the Mansfield fumble. Senior fullback Todd Bowen completed a 6-play, 32-yard series with a 7-yard scramble off the “Wildcat” direct snap. Senior outside linebacker Colby Reed moved to offense for a successful 2-point followup run. His too was a senior gift from the West Fork coaching staff.
Mansfield’s Treven Hattabaugh succeeded on a 2-point play during the night. The tenth grade backup got the start as Jeremiah Burton, the normal starter, was sidelined for precautionary reasons. Hattabaugh cashed in his running PAT with an off-tackle toss to the left following Andrew Burton’s 96-yard heater up the left sideline.
“It feels good,” reflected Andrew Burton on the varsity’s 10-0 record along with the junior high’s duplicate undefeated final record. “Once Coach Overton came, he changed a lot of things. We’ve been in the weight room a lot - junior high too. It really shows off when both teams go undefeated, but we’re looking to do a lot more in the playoffs. So, our season is far from being over.”
Coach Overton summed it up with this. “We preach team chemistry all the time. All these guys will agree, not one guy is above the team. It takes all of us to win and be successful.
“We’ve had guys sacrifice positions and stats and things like that for the betterment of the team. These guys just want to win. It’s not always the fun or cool or sexy thing to do, but it’s what makes us different from everybody else.”
The point being made - “Never underestimate the heart of a champion!”
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