Football: Undersized Bartgis plays big for Bentonville

BENTONVILLE -- Andrew Bartgis spent most of his time on the sideline last Friday night, and it almost drove him crazy.

The junior outside linebacker could only see limited action in Bentonville High's 31-6 victory over Cabot during a Class 7A state quarterfinal game at Tiger Stadium. Bartgis came down with pneumonia during the Tigers' bye week and -- even though he was still recuperating from the illness -- still wanted to go out and perform.

"When coach (Jody) Grant asked if I was good enough to play, I told him I'll do anything," Bartgis said. "I'll learn to play cornerback or safety. I'll hold the ball, snap, kick -- who cares? I'll do anything to help this team win.

"Sitting on the sideline? I hate that. I was sitting there, shaking. I was about to have an anxiety attack. I hate not being able to help out my team."

This comes from a player who thought he would be on the bench when the season started and would spend most of his time on special teams. Bartgis, however, has emerged as the latest in a series of Bentonville outside linebackers that often play much bigger than their lack of size would dictate.

Bartgis (5-foot-11, 170 pounds) admitted he had been "punched in the mouth several times" during Bentonville's season opener against Kansas City (Mo.) Rockhurst, but he still had a team-high 11 tackles. Grant said he and his coaching staff even wondered at that time if they had put Bartgis in a difficult situation because of his size, but Bartgis wound up leading the Tigers with 91 tackles through the regular season.

"The statistics show that he's one of the top outside linebackers in our conference," Grant said. "And he had to earn that spot. It wasn't given to him by any means, and we've been excited about the way he plays.

"Pound for pound, Andrew Bartgis is probably one of our strongest kids, and that's what gives him success and allows him to make the type of plays he makes. We sometimes put him in situations when he's going against a big tight end and has to do some stuff, and he handles it real well."

Bartgis had a game to remember during Bentonville's 37-28 victory over Bentonville West, which gave the Tigers the 7A-West Conference championship. He finished with a team-high 14 tackles and also had a quarterback sack.

He even sealed his performance and Bentonville's victory when he recovered Will Jarrett's fumble late in the game. Jack Boettcher had stripped the ball while sacking the Wolverines' quarterback, and Bartgis was right there to pick up the fumble.

"I saw Jack starting to tackle the quarterback, and I was running right at them," Bartgis said. "All I see is the ball on the ground, and I said 'Oh, my gosh. This is crazy.' I picked it up, and I actually thought I was going to score a touchdown.

"I guess my legs got clipped or something because I fell down. I looked at the refs, and they were talking. I was thinking 'Did we get the ball?' When the refs pointed that we had the ball, I just remember screaming and running to the sidelines, celebrating with everybody."

Bartgis doesn't expect to spend as much time on the sideline tonight when Bentonville hosts Bryant in a Class 7A state semifinal showdown, scheduled for 7 p.m. in Tiger Stadium. He's back to full strength and ready to assume his outside linebacker spot, and Grant is ready to have him back on the field.

"Andrew is such an unselfish kid and a hard worker," Grant said. "This is important to him. You can tell he grew up dreaming of being a part of this program, and he's enjoying every minute of it. He plays his tail off for us."

Sports on 11/24/2017