Bentonville takes down undefeated West, 37-28

Bentonville’s Dylan Smith (left) celebrates  with  teammate Landon Beeler after scoring a touchdown Friday during  the Tigers’ 37-28 victory over Bentonville West at Tiger Stadium in Bentonville.
Bentonville’s Dylan Smith (left) celebrates with teammate Landon Beeler after scoring a touchdown Friday during the Tigers’ 37-28 victory over Bentonville West at Tiger Stadium in Bentonville.

BENTONVILLE -- Bentonville High defenders pressured Bentonville West quarterback Will Jarrett into an intentional-grounding penalty in the end zone for a safety, and the Tigers added a touchdown on their ensuing possession, to down the previously undefeated Wolverines 37-28 Friday at Tiger Stadium.

Bentonville (8-2, 7-0 7A-West) won its seventh consecutive game by leaning on its defense in the second half. The Tigers shut out West (9-1, 6-1) in the second half after allowing 28 first-half points.

"This was a team effort as a whole, it wasn't just one person," said Bentonville linebacker Jared Richey, who led the charge on the safety. "In the locker room at halftime we came up with a good game plan and we just executed it. We switched things up a little bit to catch them off-guard and it seemed to work for us the rest of the game."

The top two teams in the 7A-West played like it. In the first half it was the offenses making the noise, and in the second half the defenses dominated.

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Special teams also were a factor as Bentonville got a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Kam'ron Mays-Hunt, and Tigers' quarterback-punter Nathan Lyons kept the Wolverines pinned back most of the second half with three punts inside the 20.

"If you're asking me what the keys to the game were, I thought it was turnovers and special teams," West Coach Bryan Pratt said.

Bentonville scored touchdowns on its first four possessions. West was almost as good, scoring four times on five possessions in the opening half.

Mays-Hunt scored two of Bentonville's touchdowns, grabbing an 18-yard scoring pass from Lyons to put the Tigers on top 21-14 with 10 minutes, 44 seconds left in the second quarter, then answering a West touchdown with a 98-yard return of the ensuing kickoff to put the Tigers back up 28-21.

After falling behind 7-0 and 13-7, West used a receiver pass from Jaden Jackson to Nick Whitlatch for 48 yards to give the Wolverines their first lead of the game at 14-13.

Jackson also was on the receiving end of a 34-yard touchdown pass from Jarrett with 1:37 left in the first half that evened the score at 28-28.

"Listen, this is two really good football teams battling it out tonight," Bentonville Coach Jody Grant said. "Both teams laid it on the line. This was a lot of fun tonight."

Both teams will get first-round byes next week before hosting second-round games in the Class 7A playoffs.

Sports on 11/04/2017

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