BENTONVILLE — Through eight games spanning five seasons, Bentonville’s Black and Gold junior high football teams have played to a virtual tie. They’ve both won four times.
They even played to a 7-7 weather-canceled stalemate in this season’s opener.
And all that changes tonight when surging Black hosts Northwest Arkansas Conference title-minded Gold in the ninth renewal of the series.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 in Tiger Stadium.
“That’s been a tough game year-in, year-out,” Gold coach Toma Whorton said.
Black clipped Gold the first two years and Gold has had the upper hand the past two seasons. Black rocked the league standings a week ago with an 8-7 victory over Springdale Central, then in second place.
“I was happy for our kids,” Black coach Chris Hutchens said. “If you look back at the conference in time, it’s not very often that a team with one loss gets knocked off by a team that has just two wins. That rarely happens.”
Black (3-4, 3-4) converted two fourth downs on its final drive. Quarterback Jake Sisson completed three passes for 37 yards in the drive and scored the two-point conversion following a six-yard touchdown run by Clay Wallace in the final minute of play.
Meanwhile, Gold has been piling up points and is one victory away from playing for a share of the league title next week against Rogers Heritage.
“I’d say we have our hands full for sure,” Hutchens said. His plan for slowing down Gold is simple, too.
“We’re going to play good fundamental defense, be physical and tackle,” he said. “We’ll see what happens.”
Black has relied on Wallace for consistent production. He’s averaged about 25 carries a game and rushes for around 100 yards a night.
“I would expect that they would key on Clay,” Hutchens said. “Anybody we play’s going to take the first option out.
“But I think the past two weeks we’ve developed some other weapons. Some of the other kids have stepped up, especially on the last couple of drives.”
He said Sisson did a good job at quarterback last week, “and we had some kids step up and make some catches. The offensive line worked well the second half.”
Whorton said he was not surprised that Black toppled Central.
“They are a solid team,” he said. “They played us tough that half game. They have the potential to beat anybody in the conference.”
Whorton said Gold won’t overlook Wallace.
“He’s a guy they go to each week,” Whorton said. “He’s an asset to the Bentonville Black team.”
Gold (6-1, 6-1) capitalized on three of Springdale George’s five turnovers for a 26-7 victory.
“I felt like our defense put itself in good positions to make plays when we needed them to make plays,” Whorton said. “Now, we have to take care of business. We just hope we can finish up these next eight days the right way.”