BENTONVILLE -- Bentonville unleashed "The Barge" against Fayetteville on Friday night.
Bentonville scored on all seven of its possessions in the first half and crushed Fayetteville 59-14 in 7A-West Conference action at Tiger Stadium. It was the fourth consecutive blowout victory for undefeated Bentonville (7-0, 4-0), which has outscored its league opponents 182-27.
Bentonville led 28-0 in the first quarter and 49-7 at halftime over Fayetteville (1-5, 1-1). Linebackers Cole Joyce and Keegan Stinespring each got in on the scoring fun when they moved into the backfield on short-yardage situations for the Tigers. Joyce scored on a 4-yard run before Stinespring barreled in from 2 yards out.
"That's our 'Barge' formation,'" Bentonville Coach Jody Grant said. "They've been begging for the football, and they're both good with it in their hands. It was fun to get to see them do that tonight."
About everyone who touched the ball had fun for Bentonville against Fayetteville, which trailed 28-0 before the Bulldogs crossed midfield. Bentonville dominated while extending its conference winning streak to 29 consecutive games.
"Our offense came out and just rolled," Grant said. "We threw a flea-flicker for a touchdown, and the next time we got the ball, we put it in again.
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"We started fast and played fast. When you get a lead like that, it's just about playing good football from then on and keeping it."
Quarterback Andrew Edwards threw four touchdowns passes, while Cade Foster caught and threw a touchdown pass for Bentonville.
The Tigers scored on the first play from scrimmage on a 48-yard touchdown pass from Edwards to Cooper Smith. Joyce then scored easily on a 4-yard run before Foster threw to Smith for a 33-yard touchdown pass to increase the Bentonville lead to 21-0.
Stinespring, Joyce's partner at linebacker, made the score 28-0 on a 2-yard run before Fayetteville finally crossed midfield late in the first quarter. Tyler Reed scored on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Bladen Fike for Fayetteville, which rallied to beat Fort Smith Southside 46-42 last week.
Bentonville was finally stopped to begin the third quarter with reserves in the game, but the Tigers later added more points on a 39-yard field goal by Logan Turner.
Sophomore Luke Buchanan played mostly at quarterback for Fayetteville after Fike went out after a hard hit in the first half. Drew Wright came in and played extensively at quarterback in the second half for Bentonville.
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Bentonville 59, Fayetteville 14
Fay^7^0^0^7—^14
Bent^28^21^3^7^—59
First Quarter
BENT — Smith 48 pass from Edwards (Turner kick), 11:43
BENT — Joyce 4 run (Turner kick), 8:27
BENT — Smith 33 pass from Foster (Turner kick), 8:12
BENT — Stinespring 2 run (Turner kick), 3:25
FAY — Reed 7 pass from Fike (Needy kick), 0:32
Second Quarter
BENT — Foster 41 pass from Edwards (Turner kick), 10:53
BENT — Nimrod 83 pass from Edwards (Turner kick), 6:52
BENT — Smith 15 pass from Edwards (Turner kick), 1:21
Third Quarter
BENT – FG, Turner 39, 10:40
FAY — Hudson 4 run (Needy kick), 0:57
Fourth Quarter
BENT — Collier-Surly 65 run (Turner kick), 8:37