Alma Sports Notebook 

Sturdivant, Alma boys show big improvement

By Kevin Taylor

Alma Schools 

Alma soccer coach Cory Sturdivant is excited about the upcoming season.

The Airedales will scrimmage Huntsville on Monday at 7 p.m. at Airedale Stadium at Citizens Bank Field. 

Alma opens the 2025 season on March 3 at Clarksville. The Airedales will begin 5A-West play on March 11 against defending state champion Russellville. 

“I’m excited about the upcoming season,” Sturdivant said. “Every year we have found a way to improve, while it may not be shown in the win-loss column, each group of boys has been better prepared with more fundamental skills as well as some with advanced skills.”

The Airedales have a ‘talented’ group of homegrown players that have come through the Alma Soccer Club program, Sturdivant said. Some players are playing out of Tulsa and Northwest Arkansas as well. 

“That should help give us a chance to be competitive in a very tough 5A-West conference,” Sturdivant said. 

This year’s squad includes a handful of seniors but is also very freshmen-oriented, led by starters Hamar Thibodeaux and Isaac Wald. 

“Both of these young men, along with our returners, should give us one of the best lineups we’ve had at Alma,” Sturdivant said. “We are at a plus-30 player roster this season, which is the first time since the first year of soccer here in Alma.”

The Airedales dropped their final 17 matches last season while managing just 11 goals. Sturdivant believes this year’s team has more firepower. 

“We are returning nine starters from last year,” Sturdivant said. We return our entire starting four in the back, along with two goalkeepers (Lukas Todd and Edward Tate) from last season.”

In all, the Airedales have nine returning starters, including sophomore defenders Daniel Rodriguez and Oscar Ventura, junior midfielder Lukas Wald, and seniors Seth Canales, Elliot Resinos, Dawson Oliver, and Miguel Garcia. Tate will take over as keeper following the end of the Airedales’ basketball season. 

Coach Macy Ayula’s Lady Airedales scrimmage Huntsville on Monday at 6 p.m. Senior Yoseline Garcia headlines a mostly underclassmen roster. 

Alma finished 4-14, 1-12-1 last season. 

Basketball 

The Alma Airedales travel to Mountain Home on Saturday to play the Bombers. The girls' game will tip at noon, with the boys' game to follow. 

The Lady Airedales (13-14, 1-10) are led by senior Jordan Gramlich, who has scored 1,435 career points, which is second all-time in school history. 

The Airedales (16-11, 6-5) are currently battling for a playoff berth in the 5A-West. Alma is currently one game behind Russellville for the No. 3 seed and one full game ahead of Van Buren for the final playoff berth. 

Russellville will host Farmington on Monday in 5A-West play. The Airedales return home Tuesday to play their final two home games against Van Buren and Siloam Springs. 

Cold weather forced all four conference games to be moved this week. In addition to Alma and Mountain Home, Van Buren will travel to Harrison on Saturday. 

Both Farmington and Russellville and Greenwood and Siloam Springs will make up their games on Monday. 

On the diamond

Alma’s softball and baseball squads will host Benefit games this coming week. 

The Lady Airedales face Springdale at 5 p.m. on Feb. 27. The Airedales’ baseball team will Prairie Grove at 5 p.m. 

The Lady Airedales open the season on March 3 at Booneville but return home for three games March 4-7 against Dardanelle, Clarksville, and Paris. 

Alma opens 5A-West play on March 11 against Russellville. 

The baseball squad opens the season with 10 straight road games, beginning with a March 4 game at Pea Ridge. 

Alma will open its home slate on March 18 against Greenwood. 

Airedale Reunion

Former Alma football standout Jeremie Burns was hired last week to replace the recently departed Keith Schultz.

Schultz, an assistant football coach and cross country coach, was appointed to the Navy on Jan. 17. 

Burns spent the previous 14 seasons as the head coach for the Ozark Hillbillies, compiling a 103-63 record. He is the all-time winningest coach in the school’s history. 

A 1998 graduate of Arkansas State, Burns spent three seasons (1998-2000) coaching under Mark Ford at Ozark before returning to Alma (2001-04). Burns went back to Ozark in 2005, where he was an assistant coach before taking the head coaching position in 2011. 

This Day In History

Tanner Shelton scored 23 points and Cejay Mann and Nathan Whalen added 14 and 12 as the Airedales throttled Beebe, 69-31, in the 2018-19 season finale.