RIVALRY BUILDING BETWEEN 7A-WEST POWERS BENTONVILLE, HAR-BER

By Ryan Malashock

Posted: November 6, 2009 at 5:14 a.m.

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SPRINGDALE — Rivalries usually exist for reasons outside of the actual sports, like school proximity or historical hatred. But sometimes, constant competition forces a rivalry upon two unsuspecting schools.

And that’s where the Bentonville Tigers and Springdale Har-Ber Wildcats find themselves entering tonight’s 7A-West Conference showdown at Tiger Stadium.

They’re caught up in possibly the state’s fastest-growing rivalry, simply because of the schools’ recent success on the football field.

Bentonville and Har-Ber shared the 7A-West title in 2007. The Tigers won it outright in 2008, but the Wildcats handed them their only defeat of the season.

And this year, the teams enter tonight’s conference title-deciding contest ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the state.

Also consider that Bentonville will be trying to avenge back-to-back losses to Har-Ber, and the makings of a budding rivalry are complete.

“If you’re playing for something, there’s a rivalry,” Bentonville coach Barry Lunney said. “A lot of rivalries, I think, really begin to take place if you’re playing someoneconsistently for a championship. In Oklahoma, it’s Jenks and (Tulsa) Union.

“So when you look at it in that light, and think about who’s been at the top of the conference, it’s certainly been Bentonville and Har-Ber now for three years.”

Both teams’ coaches and players downplayed the mounting rivalry as the sole motivation for tonight’s game, and that’s understandable considering the conference championship is at stake.

Bentonville could earn its first string of shared or outright conference titles since 1961-63 and also could produce the fi rst large-class conference three-peat since Lunney did it at Southside in the early 1990s. Har-Ber’s striving for its fi rst outright conference title in the school’s brief history, as well.

“I think conference implications are the most important thing to think about with this game,” Har-Ber coach Chris Wood said. “We want to play well against Bentonville because it’s a measuring stick for us. That’s who you gauge yourself against these days.

“This is about us trying to win the conference title, though.”

Still, intense feelings have emerged this week from players at both schools, despite most of the them not knowing their opponents personally. Har-Ber undoubtedly considers cross-town Springdale High its main rival, and Bentonville has been without a defined rival since the Rogers split.

But the teams’ heated, physical games the past two seasons have the players fired up. Bentonville senior running back Shane Boedeker said he has looked forward to the Har-Ber game all season. The Tigers’ recent struggles against the Wildcats surely play into Boedeker’s eagerness to face the Wildcats.

Har-Ber has hosted Bentonville the past two seasons because of a quirk in the conference’s scheduling, defeating the Tigers 24-21 in 2007 and 20-6 last year.

“I don’t know if ‘revenge’ is a good word because those were two di◊erent teams that lost those games,” Boedeker said. “But it would be nice to beat Har-Ber and get back at them a little bit.”

Over at Har-Ber, seniors Eric Pearce and Houston Pruitt both said they possessed plenty of motivation to beat Bentonville - even beyond winning the 7A-West. Pearce said the Wildcats didn’t want to see their undefeated record blemished - like when Har-Ber “ruined Bentonville’s season” last year, he said.

Pruitt said the Wildcatswanted to clear up an unfair perception.

Despite downing the Tigers two straight seasons, the Wildcats had to listen and watch as many preaseason publications picked Bentonville to repeat as state champions. Even the 7A-West’s coaches tabbed the Tigers as their preseason favorite.

“The hype this summer was that Bentonville was just going to truck everybody this year,” said Pruitt, a senior running back/safety. “But we’re excited to prove that’s wrong. We’ll need to play physical and hit them in the mouth to get that done.”

Bentonville senior lineman Jon-Mark Holden echoed Pruitt’s comments about physicality. In fact, Holden said he thought the play in the Tigers’ two losses to Har-Ber was more hard-hitting than any other games during his entire career.

“Those games were so physical,” Holden said. “I can say playing against their defensive line that it’s really tough. It was straining on thewhole team, and it will be again (tonight). But it’s going to be so exciting since our big strength is our offense and their big strength is their defense.”

While the teams realize the importance of tonight’s battle, the coaches and players also understand that its outcome likely won’t settle any scores. No matter tonight’s final, Bentonville and Har-Ber will take next Friday o◊and enter the 7A playoffs favored to meet one another again next month in Little Rock.

That reality won’t ease the tensions tonight, however, between these budding rivals.

“The past few years, it’s been the biggest game for us and them,” Pruitt said. “I don’t think that’ll change for a while. It’s a big rivalry now.”

Sports, Pages 9 on 11/06/2009

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