BENTONVILLE — The most significant part of Friday night’s game between Bentonville and Fort Smith Northside may have been the opening coin toss.
Bentonville won the toss and deferred until the second half. So when the Tigers threw the final punch in a first-half slugfest and took a 40-34 lead into the locker room, they knew they had a chance to seize momentum once play resumed.
Bentonville did just that.
The Tigers ran off 29 unanswered points and forced the mercy rule to be invoked for the final eight minutes andsettled for a 69-41 7A-West Conference victory over the Grizzlies in Tiger Stadium.
“You like to have that choice on the coin toss,” Bentonville Coach Barry Lunney said. “That way, you can make some adjustments and corrections. To score near the end of the first half, then come back with a touchdown to start the second half, that proved to be a big series.”
Bentonville (8-0, 5-0) needed only six plays to put Northside on the ropes. Sophomore Garrett Kaufman - who sat out last week’s game against Rogers and saw limited action in the previous two games - scored the second of his three touchdowns on a 5-yard run, and Dallas Hardison’s two-point conversion pass to Drew Edwards made it a 46-34 game with 9:51 left in the third quarter.
Northside (1-7, 0-5) didn’t help its cause as its quick-play offense came to a halt. The Grizzlies turned the ball over twice on their next four possessions and turned over the ball on downs on a third after Bentonville defensive end Sean Miller sacked Tanner Knight for a 3-yard loss on a fourthand-1 play at the Tigers 44.
“When we started having those turnovers, we just lostmomentum,” Northside Coach Darrell Henry said. “I was proud of our kids. We went out there and played hard against an undefeated team.
“We just need to get over things when something bad happens instead of waiting for something else bad to happen.”
Knight completed 32 of 49 passes for 448 yards in the game and added 57 yards on the ground, but Bentonville was able to capitalize on his few mistakes. After Miller’s sack gave Bentonville the ball, the Tigers scored nine plays later, with Kaufman running the final 6 yards for the touchdown.
Three plays later, Chris Scroggins made his second interception in as many plays, picking off Knight and giving Bentonville the ball on theNorthside 27. It resulted in Hardison’s 16-yard touchdown pass to Austin Molitor, and Chad Levin’s extra-point kick made it 62-34 with 58 seconds left in the third.
“I thought our kids played with a lot more resolve in the second half defensively,” Lunney said. “Knight is a fine quarterback, and Coach Henry is doing a great job with that offense over there.”
Demarcus Murphy’s 18-yard touchdown run forced the mercy rule for the final 8:03.
Hardison finished 14 of 20 for 331 yards, including his 12-yard touchdown pass to Bo Weber to give Bentonville its 40-34 lead with 50 seconds left in the first half. Kaufman and Tearris Wallace added to the Tigers’ offensive attack with 114 and 110 yards rushing, respectively.
Sports, Pages 22 on 10/23/2010