SPRINGDALE -- Bentonville took advantage of five Springdale Har-Ber turnovers and made an early statement that the road to the 7A-West Conference title does still go through the Tigers.
The Tigers dominated the second half and ran to their fourth consecutive victory 35-21 at Wildcat Stadium in the league opener for both teams.
Bentonville High 35, Springdale Har-Ber 21
Bentonville^7^10^9^9^—^35
Har-Ber^7^7^7^0^—^21
First Quarter
Bent — P. Crawford 2 run (Turner kick), 4:00.
Har — Burns 5 run (Pena kick), :17.
Second Quarter
Bent — FG Turner 29, 9:49.
Bent — P. Crawford 21 run (Turner kick), 7:58.
Har — Burns 1 run (Pena kick), 1:19.
Third Quarter
Bent — Crawford 14 run (Turner kick), 9:02.
Har — Wood 17 pass from Wittschen (Pena kick), 4:57.
Bent — Safety, 1:47.
Fourth Quarter
Bent — FG Turner 40, 12:00.
Bent — FG Turner 31, 10:59.
Bent — FG Turner 25, 4:38.
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Bentonville (4-0, 1-0 7A-West) intercepted three Har-Ber passes and recovered two fumbles that were all key plays. Add to that a blocked punt and that was more than enough to help the Tigers roll to the win.
"Our defense got five turnovers, but we were still in a dogfight, so that tells you what kind of team we were up against tonight," Bentonville Coach Jody Grant said. "I'm proud of our guys because that is a very dynamic offense over there."
Har-Ber (2-2, 0-1) was able to stay within striking distance for most of the game despite the myriad of mistakes that also included a punt that hit a Wildcat player inside his own 10-yard line. Har-Ber's defense played exceptionally well to keep the game close, Wildcats Coach Chris Wood said.
"You look at the score. We turned the ball over five times, we had a safety, we had a punt blocked, we had a fake punt. Bottom line is we had too many mistakes tonight," Wood said. "But the kids played hard and they played hard all the way to the end. When you get a heavyweight matchup like this, it comes down to details and we just weren't clean enough offensively or on special teams, but our defense did a great job."
The unsuccessful fake punt on Har-Ber's opening possession at its own 34 led to Bentonville's first touchdown. The Tigers capitalized as Ben Pankau hit Chaz Nimrod for 21 yards, setting up Preston Crawford's 2-yard run with 4 minutes left in the opening quarter.
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Har-Ber bounced back to tie the game at 7-7, marching 58 yards in 10 plays on Jay Burns' touchdown run.
Bentonville scored the next 10 points. The Tigers capped an 80-yard drive with the first of four Logan Turner field goals for a 10-7 lead, then Keegan Stinespring blocked a Har-Ber punt and Crawford scored on the next play on a 21-yard burst.
Har-Ber battled back to cut the margin to 17-14 at halftime by driving 71 yards in 6 plays. The Wildcats picked up a gutsy first down on fourth and 6 at its own 31 to keep the drive alive, then Har-Ber quarterback Blaise Wittschen hit Hunter Wood for 37 yards to set up another short Burns scoring run with 1:17 left before halftime.
BENTONVILLE WEST 35, FAYETTEVILLE 17
BENTONVILLE -- Bentonville West (2-2, 1-0 7A-West) handed Fayetteville (1-3, 0-1) its third consecutive loss.
Dalton McDonald finished 18-of-24 passing for 254 yards and 3 touchdowns, while Nick Whitlatch had 146 yards on 25 carries for the Wolverines.
Hank Gibbs led the Bulldogs with 219 yards passing and two touchdowns, but also had two interceptions. Isaiah Sategna caught five passes for 146 yards, while Luke Charboneau had 11 catches for 95 yards.
Bentonville West led 21-7 at halftime and extended its lead to 28-10 in the third quarter on McDonald's 70-yard touchdown pass to Jonas Higson.
VAN BUREN 52, ROGERS 13
VAN BUREN -- Gary Phillips passed for 222 yards and three touchdowns to lead Van Buren (3-1, 1-0 7A-West) to a victory over Rogers (0-4, 0-1) at Blakemore Field.
Phillips added 109 rushing yards and two scores for the Pointers, who scored on their first five drives to take a 35-7 lead and led 42-7 at halftime.
Also for Van Buren, Maury Newton had 2 catches for 101 yards and 2 touchdowns. Issac Nason also had a touchdown with 4 catches for 66 yards.
SPRINGDALE 49, ROGERS HERITAGE 20
ROGERS -- Ladarious Wonsley caught 8 passes for 222 yards and 4 touchdowns as Springdale (3-1, 1-0 7A-West) routed Rogers Heritage (0-4, 0-1) at Gates Stadium.
Conner Hutchins completed 14 of 23 passes for 275 yards and 5 touchdowns. He also ran for another score in just two quarters of action for the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs led 49-14 at halftime and cruised to their third consecutive victory.
Sports on 09/28/2019