SPRINGDALE — Bentonville Coach Barry Lunney didn’t want to wear out his players this summer, so he has stayed away from a busy schedule of 7-on-7 football tournaments.
The Tigers, runners-up in Class 7A last season, play in a regular five-team Monday league, but Lunney has kept Bentonville out of the major 7-on-7 tournaments, including the Southwest Showcase Elite that Shiloh Christian held a week ago. Bentonville will dip its toe into tournaments when it hosts the 12-team Vype Select tournament, which begins today.
“We chose not to do a lot,” Lunney said. “It’s always good to throw and catch. We got a lot of good work running routes, throwing routes. We didn’t want to burn them all out.”
The tournament is being held for the fourth year, but Lunney said tournament organizers have revamped it so much it feels like a debut. One strong selling point, especially for Lunney, was limiting the field to 12 teams so it will have a tight schedule that’s not overly taxing in 100-degree summer heat.
Bentonville skipped the Shiloh Christian tournament, which had a field of 32 teams, to play in the Vype, and Lunney said he knows the Vype field may have suffered a bit because many teams that played in the Southwest Showcase didn’t want to play in back-to-back tournaments.
“We knew we wouldn’t have the pick of the big schools,” Lunney said. “I think it’s going to be good. There is going to be some quality competition.”
In addition to Bentonville’s two teams, also entered are Lake Hamilton and Russellville, two programs with a history of strong passing games.
Lunney said he was satisfied with the amount of work the Tigers accomplished in spring practice. Bentonville will have to replace Dallas Hardison at quarterback, but Lunney is confident in projected starter Reece Dollins, who got significant game experience as a junior.
“We’re starting over, but that’s part of the deal in coaching,” Lunney said. “Reece was behind as good a quarterback as there was in the state. I firmly believe Reece could have played at a lot of 7A schools across the state. Reece just has to be Reece and not put any pressure on himself.”
As for the team, Lunney said he has the same confidence that the Tigers are doing enough work to be ready when the season rolls around. Bentonville has challenging non-conference games against Kansas City Rockhurst, Broken Arrow, Okla., and Batesville (Miss.) South Panola this year.
“We feel strong enough about what we’re doing,” Lunney said. “We’re going to be OK.”
At a glance VYPE SELECT 7-ON-7 TOURNAMENT
WHEN Today-Saturday WHERE Bentonville High School SCHEDULE Pool play begins at 4 p.m., and continues Saturday; Championship game is scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday TEAMS Bentonville (two teams), Clarksville, Gentry, Gravette, Harrison, Lake Hamilton, Lincoln, Mountain Home, Rogers Heritage, Russellville, Siloam Springs
Sports, Pages 21 on 07/20/2012