Perfection denied, title claimed Despite loss, Tigers win West outright
Posted on Saturday, November 8, 2008
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette photograph by William Moore Har-Ber’s Kaleb Vaughn gave a stiff-arm to Bentonville’s Tyler Jones during Friday night’s game in Springdale. The Tigers dropped their first game of the season but still claimed an outright conference championship with Fort Smith Northside’s loss to Fort Smith Southside.
SPRINGDALE — The rugged 7 AWest finally got to the Bentonville Tigers.
Top-ranked Bentonville saw its undefeated run end here Friday in a 20-6 loss to Springdale Har-Ber on Senior Night at Jarrell Williams Bulldog Stadium.
And the Wildcats did it by giving the Tigers a taste of their own medicine. Har-Ber forced four Tiger turnovers, including one returned for a touchdown, and rushed for 189 yards.
“ Very easy to see, ” Bentonville head coach Barry Lunney said. “ When you lose the turnover battle against good football teams most of the time you lose the ballgame. ”
The news wasn’t all bad for the Tigers (9-1, 6-1 ). Bentonville clinched the 7 A-West Conference championship outright with Fort Smith Southside’s 27-24 win against Fort Smith Northside. The Tigers had already clinched the No. 1 seed from the conference and will have a bye week before playing at home in the Class 7 A quarterfinals on Nov. 21.
The Tigers had pulled out close wins this season against Fort Zumwalt (Mo. ) West (28-21 ), Fort Smith Southside (14-7 ), Rogers (17-15 ) and Springdale (21-14 ) to remain unbeaten going into Friday’s game. Lunney, the fourth-year Tigers coach, gave the credit to the Wildcats (8-2, 5-2 ) for finding a way to win the game.
“ They’re a good football team, ” Lunney said. “ They played well at home. They were jacked up. We didn’t play particularly well and they had a lot to do with that. ”
Bentonville came into the game with a plus-20 margin in turnovers but the Tigers only forced one on Friday — an interception in the end zone by Tyler Jones with 10 seconds left before halftime.
Har-Ber controlled the game from the opening possession, marching 67 yards for a score on 14 plays while taking 6: 19 off the clock. The Wildcats’ ran it 11 times on the drive, which was capped by a 4-yard end around run by Kaleb Vaughn for a 7-0 lead. It was the first time the Tigers have trailed all season.
“ We wanted to see if long possessions would work for us, ” Har-Ber coach Chris Wood said. “ Our offense did a good job of consistently running the ball. Typically I like chunking it all over the place but when you play one of the best defenses in the state of Arkansas you’ve got to be smart to give your guys a chance to be successful. ”
Bentonville sputtered on its first offensive possession but took over on the Har-Ber 36 on its second possession after a 40-yard punt return from Chase Baggett.
The Wildcats forced their first turnover two plays later when J. C. King was intercepted by Russ Reynerson.
Bentonville threw another costly interception to open the second half trailing 7-0. The Tigers got the ball to open the second half and on third down Pearson Gean was picked off in the flat by Zach Smith, who returned the interception 31 yards for a touchdown. The Tigers blocked the extra point.
Bentonville didn’t answer the score until 2: 20 left in third. King hit Sheldon Vanderpool on a slant and when two Har-Ber defenders missed the tackle Vanderpool went 48 yards for a touchdown. Ryan Adams’ extra point sailed wide right.
Har-Ber took advantage of another Bentonville turnover in the fourth quarter to get its final score.
Shane Boedeker, who lost a fumble in the first half, fumbled again after taking a shot from Har-Ber’s Stephen Needham and the Wildcats’ recovered at the 36. Boedeker would leave the sideline and not return to the game.
Har-Ber quarterback Zach Faust then hit Vaughn for a 15-yard gain to the 21 and Derek Brinker rushed 17 yards to the 4. Brinker carried the final four yards for the touchdown to cap his 26-carry, 108-yard performance.
“ Derek ran real hard, ” Wood said. “ I think the longer the game went the stronger he got. ”
Faust finished 9 of 15 for 115 yards.
King, who played most of the fourth quarter with the Tigers down two touchdowns, went 6 of 14 for 93 yards. Bentonville’s running attack was held to 99 yards on 34 carries.
Boedeker had 15 carries for 68 yards while Erik Ragsdale had five rushes for 12 yards and never really was a factor offensively.
The Wildcats outgained Bentonville 304-208.
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