BENTONVILLE — There was already a “14” on Bentonville’s side of the scoreboard by the time Andrew Edwards led the offense onto the Tiger Stadium field Friday night.
The senior quarterback then went to work and had a hand in six touchdowns as the Tigers broke a school single-game scoring record and celebrated Homecoming with a 74-21 blowout over Rogers during 7A-West Conference action.
Josh Ficklin returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for a score, and Ethan Estes returned an interception 25 yards for a touchdown on Rogers’ first offensive play to give Bentonville (8-0, 5-0) a 14-0 cushion with only 21 seconds off the clock.
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“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a game where we’ve scored 14 points in 21 seconds,” Edwards said. “It’s crazy.
“When I did get on the field, I thought we would put more points on the scoreboard, and that’s what we did.”
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Bentonville appeared to needed every point it could muster after the two teams combined for 49 points in just the first 11 minutes. Rogers quarterback Christian Francisco bounced back from that interception to throw two touchdown passes, and his 13-yard touchdown run with 1 minute, 26 seconds left in the first quarter pulled the Mounties (4-2, 1-2) within 28-21.
Rogers, however, never scored again, and its special teams made a pair of critical mistakes, which helped Bentonville break its previous high of 70 points in a 2017 game against Rogers Heritage. The Tigers partially blocked one punt, then Estes picked up another short punt and returned it 18 yards to set up another score.
“Listen, we knew going in that Rogers — with that quarterback triggering their offense — is dangerous,” Bentonville coach Jody Grant said. “They’re good, and we knew that going in. They’ve been effective offensively. They scored 35 points on us last year, so our kids knew it and were aware of it. It looked like we were in for a shootout.
“We just got to the point where we were covering better. It wasn’t a whole lot of an adjustment thing. There were some tweaks, but for the most part our kids got in better position and played.”
Edwards accounted for three touchdowns in the first quarter, including a 63-yard run with 42 seconds left that allowed Bentonville to begin pulling away. He then threw touchdown passes of 10 yards to Jackson Gilbreth and 51 yards to Cooper Smith in the second quarter to give the Tigers a 53-21 halftime cushion.
His only offensive play in the second half was a 19-yard touchdown pass to Cooper after Ty Riley picked up Bentonville’s second interception and caused the running clock to go into effect.
“I was actually suggesting some new plays,” said Edwards, who completed 9 of 12 passes for 163 yards and added 91 yards on just six carries. “I never really do that, but I saw how the defense was lining up, so I suggested them. We did try some new ones.”
FOUR DOWNS
• The inaugural induction ceremony of the Bentonville High School Athletics Hall of Honor was held before Friday’s game. Those who were inducted included John Clinton “Clint” Black, Class of 1916; Rick Waddell, Class of 1978; Scott Hickox, Class of 1983; Amber Swanson Morey and Bob Morey, Class of 1988; Cory Rodney, Class of 1993; Martha Hancock Cowgur, Class of 1997; Kelly O’Connor, Class of 2007; and Tearris Wallace, Class of 2013.
• Chris Collier Surly was Bentonville’s leading rusher with 105 yards on seven carries and had the 35-yard touchdown run with 2:43 remaining to help the Tigers break their school record.
• Gabby Allison was named Bentonville’s homecoming queen during pregame festivities.
• Both teams are scheduled to return to 7A-West play next week as Rogers hosts Spring-dale Har-Ber while Benton-ville travels to Springdale High.
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First Quarter
Bent — Ficklin 95 kickoff return (Turner kick), 11:46.
Bent — Estes 25 interception return (Turner kick), 11:39.
Rog — Goodshield 29 pass from Francisco (Munoz kick), 9:40.
Bent — Edwards 2 run (Turner kick), 6:41.
Rog — Bunch 15 pass from Francisco (Munoz kick), 4:33.
Bent — Nimrod 29 pass from Edwards (Turner kick), 4:18.
Rog — Francisco 13 run (Munoz kick), 1:26.
Bent — Edwards 63 run (Ficklin run) :42.
Second Quarter
Bent — Gilbreth 10 pass from Edwards (Turner kick), 8:59.
Bent — FG Turner 45, 3:50
Bent — Smith 51 pass from Edwards (Turner kick), 2:27.
Third Quarter
Bent — Smith 19 pass from Edwards (Turner kick), 9:45.
Bent — Collier-Surly 25 run (Tymeson kick), 5:17.
Fourth Quarter
Bent — Collier-Surly 35 run (Tymeson kick), 2:43.