BENTONVILLE -- Jody Grant pulled his headset off and focused his glare on the middle of the field as the first-half clock ticked down to its final seconds.
Bentonville was in position to pick up key points in a close game, and a 17-yard sack of his quarterback was not the ideal situation to put his kicker in.
Bentonville High 31, Bentonville West 7
West 0 7 0 0 — 7
Bentonville 7 10 0 14 — 31
First Quarter
Bent — Beeler 3 pass from Hughes (Younger kick), 4:15.
Second Quarter
Bent — Campbell 52 pass from Hughes (Younger kick), 10:29.
West — Higson 3 pass from Jarrett (McDoulett kick), 3:02.
Bent — FG Younger 43, :00
Fourth Quarter
Bent — Hughes 1 run (Younger kick), 7:44.
Bent — Fetherolf 2 run (Younger kick), 2:37.
Actually it still worked out OK for Grant and the Tigers as Sam Younger crushed the 43-yard kick through the uprights, giving Bentonville a 10-point lead and all the momentum heading into halftime in what ultimately resulted in a 31-7 win against Bentonville West in the regular-season finale at Tiger Stadium.
"I think any time you get a two-score lead, especially right at the half, it's big," Grant said. "So that was big. It was a big kick by Sam."
Bentonville (7-3, 7-0 7A-West) used the momentum to win its seventh straight game, but more importantly, its third consecutive 7A-West title. The Tigers earned the No. 1 seed from the conference and a bye in next week's first round of the Class 7A playoffs. West also secured a first-round bye by finishing as the No. 2 seed.
"Offensively, we just didn't play very well," West Coach Bryan Pratt said. "We have to regroup. It's not the end of the season. We'll be fine. They have a really good football team, but we're a better football team than what we showed tonight."
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Bentonville grabbed the early lead, driving 61 yards on its second possession and getting help from a 15-yard pass interference penalty. Tigers' quarterback Easton Hughes hit Preston Crawford for 18 yards on fourth down, then found Landon Beeler for the touchdown with 4:15 left in the first quarter.
The Tigers went up 14-0 in the second quarter when Hughes hit Harrison Campbell down the middle of the field for a 52-yard touchdown. Even when things went bad for Bentonville, it turned out fine. Two plays before the scoring strike, Crawford fumbled after a big gain, but teammate Zach Lee recovered the ball to keep the drive alive.
West (6-4, 6-1) scored its only points late in the second quarter when Will Jarrett hit four consecutive completions, the last a 3-yard toss to Jonas Higson for the score that trimmed Bentonville's lead to 14-7.
The Tigers drove 66 yards in 13 plays to take a 17-7 lead when Younger booted the 43-yarder at the halftime horn.
Sports on 11/03/2018