BROKEN ARROW, Okla. -- Kasey Ford stretched toward the goal line on a fourth-down quarterback keeper, and he appeared to have enough yardage for a first down and keep Bentonville's most serious scoring threat alive.
The next thing Coach Barry Lunney knew, Broken Arrow defensive lineman Eric Clark had the ball and was running 97 yards in the opposite direction for a touchdown.
The play summed up a disastrous night for Bentonville, which wound up losing 34-0 to Broken Arrow on Friday night. It was the first time the Tigers (0-2) had been shut out since a 34-0 loss at Russellville in 2004, and it was Broken Arrow's first shutout victory since 2011.
"I don't know," Lunney said of the play. "I couldn't see what happened. I think somebody just pulled it out of his hands.
"We never got into a rhythm, and certainly they had a lot to do with it. I think it was a pretty good butt-kicking."
Bentonville started the drive on the Broken Arrow 25, thanks to Derek Hembry's 9-yard punt return and a personal foul penalty called against Broken Arrow (1-1). The Tigers used four consecutive runs by Kahlil Gunn to move the ball to the Broken Arrow 4 before Broken Arrow stuffed Dylan Smith for no gain on third down.
That's when Ford went over left guard, trying to use his 6-5 frame to get enough of a push for the first down. Ford thought he had it, but Clark suddenly came out with the ball and outran all of the Tigers for a touchdown.
The only thing that kept Broken Arrow from invoking the sportsmanship rule was a player who ran onto the field late during an extra-point attempt. The penalty pushed the ball back and Broken Arrow missed the extra-point attempt.
It was one of the few errors Broken Arrow made.
"We didn't play like puppies," Broken Arrow Coach David Alexander said. "We didn't make young team mistakes."
Bentonville drove inside the Broken Arrow 10 again with time winding down, but Gunn -- Bentonville's leading rusher with 66 yards on 13 carries -- was stopped for no gain on two consecutive plays before time expired.
Jamall Shaw had 27 carries for 145 yards for Broken Arrow, including touchdown runs of 1 and 9 yards. Teammate Warren Leak scored on runs of 23 and 2 yards and finished with 92 yards on 10 carries.
Sports on 09/13/2014