FAYETTEVILLE — Fayetteville didn't have an answer for Bentonville tailback Courtney Haskell. The senior accumulated 269 yards of total offense and scored three of Bentonville's six touchdowns in a 45-10, mercy-rule rout of Fayetteville Friday night at Harmon Field in both teams' 7A-West Conference opener.
Haskell rushed for 150 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries and snared three receptions for 119 yards and another score. Haskell caught a 95-yard touchdown pass and registered a 73-yard touchdownrun in the Tigers' romp.
"He's pretty fast," Bentonville coach Barry Lunney Sr. said. "You can't coach that. You get the ball in his hands and good things happen.He's a very gifted young man."
The Tigers (4-0, 1-0) maintained a balanced approach and kept the Fayetteville defense on its heels with 553 yards of total offense. Bentonville rushed for 293 yards. Tiger quarterback Pearson Gean completed 9-of-12 passes for 260 yards with two touchdown tosses and no interceptions.
"We feel good about our passing game," Lunney said. "Fayetteville was throwing eight up in the box, and that's what we were ineffective at last year. But I think we're pretty good at it this year. We're throwingand catching and we've got good receivers. It makes the running game so much better when you can do that."
Defensively, Bentonville held Fayetteville to its lowest offensive output of the year. The Purple Dogs managed just 248 yards of total offense.
"Defensively, they're going to play not to give up the big play, and that's what they did," Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton said. "They know with their offense if they don't give up the big play and they make teams have to work from behind, they're in good shape. On defense we had to sell out and put eight men in the box, and that opened up the passing game for them."
Purple Dog quarterback Brandon Allen completed 18-of-37 passes for 176 yards with no touchdowns and no picks. He was averaging 304.5 yards passing entering the contest. Fayetteville's leading receiver Michael Heintzman, who had averaged 134.7 yards receiving and six catches per game, didn't make a reception until the 3:34 mark of the third quarter and finished with just two grabs for 8 yards.
"We knew we were going to have to play perfect to win," Patton said. "We needed some breaks and didn't get them. Offensively we moved the ball, but when you get in the red zone you have to punch it in, and we didn't do that."
Fayetteville (1-2-1, 0-1) won the toss but it all went downhill after that.
Bentonville's Dakota Baggett returned the opening kickoff 57 yards to the Fayetteville 34.The Purple Dogs caught a break when a secondand-6 shotgun snap sailed over Gean's head to force a third and 19.
Gean promptly found Haskell for 16 yards on a screen pass to set up a fourth-and-3 play from the Purple Dog 27. Gean rolled right and lobbed a 27-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Austin Griffith.
Fayetteville answered with an 11-play, 74-yard drive capped by a 3-yard touchdown run by Heintzman on a direct snap. Allen completed 5-of-7 passes on the drive for 70 yards. A 35-yard tunnel screen to Dylan Hale fueled the march.
The momentum shifted, though, after a Fayetteville drive stalled at the Bentonville 39. A 34-yard punt by Allen pinned the Tigers in at their own 5. But on the first play, Gean heaved a 95-yard touchdown pass to a wide-openHaskell, who hauled in the reception at the Tiger 35 and meandered past the Purple Dog pursuit to paydirt.
Bentonville continued to test Fayetteville's secondary early in the second quarter. Gean chucked a 61-yard pass to a wideopen Sheldon Vanderpool to set up first and goal from the 1. Haskell scurried outside and darted in for the score to give the Tigers a 21-7 cushion.
The Tigers added a 36-yard field goal by Chad Levin with 5:03 left in the second quarter and took a 24-7 pad to the break.
Bentonville's defense applied the clamps following the Purple Dogs' first scoring march. Fayetteville went three and out on its final three drives of the first half.
Another Fayetteville drive stalled near midfield, and the Tigers answered with a 73-yard touchdown run by Haskell with 6:06left in the third quarter.
Bentonville tacked on an 8-yard touchdown run by Shane Boedeker to shove the margin to 38-7.
Fayetteville's Drew Patton kicked a 33-yard field goal with 9:09 left in regulation following a 63-yard kickoff return by Dylan Hale. But the Tigers retorted with a 24-yard touchdown run by Boedeker at the 5:33 mark to invoke the mercy rule.
Sports, Pages 8, 10 on 09/26/2009