Tigers get big win on big stage Friday's victory over Southside was the 175th win of Lunney's career
Posted on Sunday, October 5, 2008
Sunday photograph by Sarah Nader Bentonville cornerback Chase Baggett, left, returned one of his three interceptions up the home sidelines during the Tigers’ 14-7 upset of top-ranked Fort Smith Southside. The Tigers now have 14 interceptions this season.
BENTONVILLE — Barry Lunney’s three and a half seasons as head coach at Bentonville High School is a small portion of his long and storied career coaching football in the state of Arkansas.
For 16 seasons, Lunney led the Fort Smith Southside Rebels and accumulated 135 wins, eight conference championships and four state titles. Before that, Lunney was the head coach at Beebe and his Badgers teams won 15 games there.
After the Lunney-led Tigers beat No. 1-ranked Fort Smith Southside 14-7 on Friday at Tiger Stadium, Bentonville briefly recognized Lunney for his 175 th career win as a head coach and his 25 th at Bentonville. It all came as a surprise to Lunney, who had no clue he was even close to reaching such a milestone. When the Tigers “ called ‘ em
up” in the Tiger Athletic
Center after the game, they hollered in unison the name of their leader “ Coach Lunney, ” and the Tigers fourth-year coach was clearly moved. “ As I told them, (it’s been ) a lot of great players, great coaches, ” he said. “ I’ve been blessed to be the guy at the top. I don’t know. That’s pretty overwhelming for me to think of. I didn’t know how many (wins ) I had to be honest with you. ”
The Tigers (5-0, 2-0 in 7 A-West ) are off to only their second 5-0 start since the 1968 season, with the other coming in the 2001 state championship year. Bentonville won all three of its nonconference games for the first time since Lunney became head coach and have beaten two top 5 teams in the last two weeks in Fayetteville and Southside.
“ The thing that’s good and I am so proud of is our program’s at the point where we’re playing in big games now, ” Lunney said.
Not that the Tigers haven’t played in big games before with Lunney at the helm. He referenced the 2006 game against Rogers at Gates Stadium with more than 10, 000 in attendance and a share of the 7 AWest Conference championship on the line. But now all the games are starting to have that kind of a feel to them, he said.
“ Every Friday night we get a chance to go out and play in a situation where it’s jammed packed, it’s the place to be, and that’s what’s fun about high school ball, ” he said. “ We’ve got a big one next week (against Rogers Heritage ). ”
The Tigers are likely to be ranked No. 1 in the state by several publications after their win against Southside. Lunney, as always, was indifferent about the rankings. “ Somebody’s going to be No. 1. You (media ) guys do that. You’ve got to label somebody, ” he said. “ That’s fine. (Southside is ) deserving as good of a ranking as there is, I promise you that. ”
• • • Before the season started, Lunney said there would come a time when the Tigers’ senior-laden defense would be tested in a way that was almost impossible to prepare for. It happened Friday night.
The Tigers sputtered on offense for the first time all season and consequently the Bentonville defense spent a lot of time on the field, especially in the second half when BHS only totaled 45 yards of offense.
But yet again, the Tigers’ D rose to the occasion.
Cornerback Chase Baggett picked off three passes, Zac Barczewski added another interception and Bentonville passed the test.
“ It was definitely wearing down on us, ” said Baggett, who now has five interceptions. “ Every time we came off the field we’d be yelling at each other making sure we weren’t getting tired or showing them our tiredness, making sure we were keeping each other up. ”
Lunney said he’s sure opposing teams take a look at the 5-foot-8 Baggett at corner and think they’ve got a mismatch with tall wide receivers.
What they don’t know is that Baggett is one of the best athletes on the team and he also runs the 300-meter hurdles for the BHS track team.
“ Those (hurdles ) guys know how to finish, ” Lunney said. “ That’s a tough race. He’s really got what I call good hips. He can run good turned with his back to the receiver. He’s just a very good football player. He’s a senior football player that made a lot of plays last year and is continuing to do it this year. ”
Cornerbacks coach Jody Grant, who’s seen his group nab the majority of Bentonville’s 14 interceptions, praised his secondary after the game. “ I tribute a lot of that to the kids’ willingness to learn through watching film and asking questions and taking their coaching really well, ” Grant said. “ Chase has really started to figure it out. He’s got a lot of experience back there. He’s starting to figure it out and do some things and going out and making plays. We’re real pleased with his play and all of them to be honest with you. Zac there at the end went up and made a good play for us. Our safeties play good. We’ve just got to keep going with that. ”
• • • Part of the reason the Tigers struggled on offense may have been because they were without one of their key weapons. Senior quarterback J. C. King, who has shared playing time with sophomore Pearson Gean, did not dress out Friday because of recurring back spasms. King also missed the second half of the Week 2 game against Fort Zumwalt (Mo. ) West because of back spasms.
“ We had planned on doing what we did last week — using them both in situations so it limited us a little bit, ” Lunney said. “ That’s ball. People get hurt and you’ve got to put somebody in there and play. ”
Gean attempted a seasonhigh of 17 passes and completed seven for 50 yards.
“ We planned on throwing the ball a little more, ” Lunney said, “ Again just a little off. We struggled in that area and we’ve got to go back and go to work on it. If we’re going to be a team that can contend for the title, we’ve got to get better in the passing game. ” Gean has completed 25 of 48 passes for 312 yards on the season with three touchdowns and an interception. He’s also rushed 61 times for 248 yards. King has hit 20 of 43 passes for 378 yards with a pair of touchdowns and interceptions.
• • • With three more receptions Friday, senior tight end Taylor Lyles added to his team-leading total on the season. Lyles has 13 receptions for 156 yards and two scores, including a 7-yard touchdown catch on Friday against the Rebels. “ I came into this season trying not to be complacent, ” said Lyles. “ You’ve got to work to get better. With better defenses like we played tonight, you’ve got to work hard at making your breaks, getting on people so you can get open. You have to do your best. You have to do an excellent job to get open, especially with a young quarterback. ” Lyles said for the Tigers to be off to a 5-0 start is exciting but nothing the team should be content with. “ To be 5-0 right now, it’s a great feeling. We can’t be satisfied with that, ” Lyles said. “ We can’t let being good get in the way of being great. All that really matters is what happens at the end of the season on that one Saturday. ”
• • • In the first four games combined of the 2008 season, Hayden Boydston punted nine times for a total of 299 yards. Boydston did four games worth of punting Friday against Fort Smith Southside. Boydston punted nine times for 300 yards Friday against the Rebels for an average of 33. 3 yards per kick.
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