A new state champion will be crowned Saturday in Class 7A football after Bentonville went to Bryant and dethroned the five-time defending champs 52-35.
Now, all Bentonville (9-3) has to do is take down Fayetteville (12-0), which beat the Tigers in October on the way to winning the 7A-West. The rematch begins at noon Saturday at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
There are too many examples to list here of teams that lost in the regular season beating that same team in the playoffs. Two of the best examples occurred in the 1980s when rivals Fort Smith Southside and Fort Smith Northside met a second time in consecutive years to decide the state championship in Arkansas' largest classification.
Northside beat Southside 27-7 in 1987 after losing 23-8 to Southside during the regular season. In 1988, the outcome was reversed with Southside winning the state championship 7-6 after losing 30-3 to Northside in conference play.
Fayetteville knows it will have to play its best football against Bentonville, which has won five consecutive games since losing 42-21 on Oct. 13 at Harmon Field. The final score is misleading because Bentonville played most of the second half with a backup at quarterback after Carter Nye was injured while being pursued by Fayetteville defenders. Nye is healthy again and he's been on fire, connecting with top receivers like Arkansas commit C.J. Brown and Luke Coon, who's caught 16 passes for 266 yards and 4 touchdowns in the last two weeks.
Fayetteville will counter with a phenomenal passing game headed by Drake Lindsey and a defense that's been largely responsible for the team winning close playoff games against Fort Smith Southside and Conway.
So, who to choose?
The only certainty is the 7A-West Conference will reign again after six straight years of 7A-Central dominance. The nod here goes to Fayetteville, which has turned away every challenge and is certainly capable of beating a really good Bentonville team twice.
RICK'S PICK Fayetteville
(Other games involving teams from our coverage area. The picks are capitalized).
CLASS 6A
GREENWOOD vs. Little Rock Christian
CLASS 5A
Shiloh Christian vs. LITTLE ROCK PARKVIEW
CLASS 4A
Harding Academy at ELKINS
CLASS 3A
Glenn Rose at BOONEVILLE
Mansfield at PRESCOTT
LAST WEEK 6-1 (86%)
OVERALL 324-49 (87%)