Garrett Kaufman did a whole lot of everything last Friday night in Bentonville's 24-17 win against Fayetteville that decided the 7A/6A-West Conference championship.
Of offense, Kaufman ran for 40 yards and a touchdown and threw a 38-yard touchdown pass. On defense, he had nine solo tackles, including a sack, broke up a pass, forced the fumble that led to the go-ahead touchdown pass, and intercepted a pass.
“I told him this, that is one of the better performances I've seen in my coaching time that I've seen on both sides of the ball and the impact that he made,” Bentonville coach Barry Lunney said.
On Kaufman's pass completion, Bentonville tried a similar play against Rogers High in a 35-6 win, but it was incomplete.
At A Glance
THAT FIGURES
8 Sacks by Bentonville's defense on Friday night
6 Straight conference championships by Bentonville
5 Touchdowns scored by defenses or special teams on Friday night around the conference
1 Passing touchdown given up by Bentonville this season
“We actually tried it against Rogers, but it was out of the wildcat,” Lunney said. “He was a quarterback in junior high some, but he has a good arm. It's a play we like to use.”
On Friday, Bentonville trailed 17-14 entering the fourth quarter and the Bulldogs had the ball until Kaufman's forced fumble.
“The right opportunity presented itself,” Lunney said. “Safeties were flying down hard and the corners, they were making plays two and three yards off the line of scrimmage. It was the time to do, the position we were in. It was really well executed.”
Kaufman, a 4.0 student, has been known more for his defensive prowess the last couple of years as a linebacker for the Tigers.
In junior high, though, Kaufman was one of the top running backs in the league in leading Bentonville Gold to the Northwest Arkansas Conference title. As a sophomore on Bentonville's state championship team, Kaufman ran 109 times for 613 yards and 15 touchdowns. He suffered an ankle sprain midway of the season, and Tearris Wallace had the bulk of the carries the rest of the way.
“He never did really come back that year,” Lunney said. “He was having a very good year. He started the season at running back, but our coaches wanted him at linebacker. We were shy of running backs, and he and Tearris shared the load.”
Before his junior year, though, the decision had been made that his days on offense were mostly finished.
“There was no doubt he was going to play linebacker,” Lunney said. “Our coaches thought he could have started at linebacker as a sophomore. He is a very gifted young man.”
TIGERS' WIN HISTORIC
Bentonville's win on Friday clinched the Tigers' sixth straight conference title, which is the longest in conference history.
Springdale High previously held the record of five straight set from 1982-86.
“We always set our sights on winning the conference championship,” Lunney said. “I've been in this league four years as an assistant and 24 years as a head coach, it's arguably the best league in the state for a long time. It's a great accomplishment, especially in this league.”
Bentonville's title is its third straight outright conference championship, which also is a conference record. It has won 16 conference titles since the Arkansas Activities Association established official districts in 1946.
Friday's win also earned this senior class the distinction of being the winningest in school history with 35 victories as well as becoming the first in conference history to win three straight outright titles.
“They've got 35 wins right now,” Lunney said. “When last year's seniors had 34, I thought 'my gosh, how do you top that.' But they get to play another week. That's the good thing. It's been a very good class. You have to have a lot of good things happen for you.
“They've worked hard and accomplished a lot of things. They still some goals ahead of them that they want really bad."
Most importantly, however, is that Friday's win against Fayetteville earns Bentonville home-field advantage in the playoffs and a bye this week.
ALL FOUR GAMES
All four conference games on Friday had playoff significance.
Bentonville's win against Fayetteville decided the conference championship and the top two seeds in the playoffs.
Springdale Har-Ber's win against Springdale earned the Wildcats the third seed along with Bryant's loss to El Dorado, and a home playoff game for the Wildcats this week in Jarrell Williams Bulldog Stadium.
Rogers Heritage's win against Rogers High decided the fifth and sixth seeds.
Siloam Springs did not improve its seeding in the Class 6A playoffs with its 47-46 loss to Van Buren, but it should greatly help the Panthers' confidence after rolling up 586 yards and six touchdowns.
“It does,” Siloam Springs coach Bryan Ross said. “I've been proud of the kids all year because they knew what we were facing. They handled everything as well as a bunch if kids could have handled it.
“They knew the goal was to be playing their best football at the end of the year."
Siloam Springs quarterback Austin Van Poucke threw for 348 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 123 yards and three touchdowns. Scout Alexander ran for 113 yards and a touchdown and had 11 receptions for 156 yards and another touchdown.
Siloam Springs travels to Searcy to begin the Class 6A playoffs.
“It was tough playing Bentonville, Fayetteville and Har-Ber,” Ross said. “We just tried to use it as a tool to improve ourselves. The kids were pretty heart-broken the other night. That shows that they still care and want to be successful. I know they will respond.”
Siloam Springs led 46-40 before giving up a late touchdown.
HEATED RIVALRY
Springdale and crosstown rival Har-Ber has become a heated game in a short amount of time.
On Friday, the two teams combined for 28 penalties for 273 yards.
“There were a lot,” Har-Ber coach Chris Wood said. “There were procedure penalties, holding calls, and unsportsmanlike. It was a hard-fought game. Both kids on both sides of the ball went to the whistle, all the way to the whistle. A couple of the flags were celebration penalties after scores, which you can't leave the bench and run to the end zone. We had a kid do that. That's a 15-yard penalty.
“It was that kind of stuff. It was an emotional game. The kids were playing hard. We got after each other. There were a lot of flags.”
Springdale was flagged 18 times for 158 yards and Har-Ber 10 times for 115 yards.
“Both teams played really hard,” Wood said. “It was a physical game. Both teams represented Springdale really well. They battled hard.”
Last year, the two teams combined for 21 penalties for 158 yards.
“You take the history and tradition of Springdale football, even under Jarrell Williams, it's been physical football,” Wood said. “Now we have two high schools in one town and we both follow that trend of playing a physical brand of football. That's what we had Friday night.”
For Har-Ber, the 31-17 win meant even more. The Wildcats earned the third seed from the conference with the help of Bryant's 42-35 loss at El Dorado.
“We were actually anticipating Bryant winning that game at El Dorado because they had been playing well all year,” Wood said. “El Dorado is a tough place to play. We found that out last year. It bumped us up to three, which proximity-wise makes our trips closer if we take care of business each Friday night.”
With a win, Bryant would have earned the third seed above Har-Ber despite playing in a much weaker 7A/6A-South Conference due to the points rating system, which is used for the 16 Class 7A teams playing across four conferences.
“It's a messed up system,” Wood said. “The best thing, and we've tried to bring it forward before, is to have a power system like they have in Louisiana. You can't take teams in different leagues and insert them into somebody else's league. I don't see the equality in that.
“You play for conference titles, but for the playoffs it's a totally different deal. You need to go off power ratings and seed them 1 through 16 or 1 through, however many teams there are. The conferences shouldn't have anything to do with that.”
MARKS
Fayetteville quarterback Austin Allen reached the 7,000-yard passing mark in Friday's loss to Bentonville. Allen has thrown for 7,140 and 73 touchdowns.
Springdale Har-Ber running back Tucker Lee went over the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season in Friday's win against Springdale. He ran for 103 yards on 19 carries, earning him 1,026 yards for the season.
Last week, Brandon Gates of Rogers Heritage went over the 1,000-yard mark. He rushed for 113 yards and two touchdowns in Friday's win against Rogers.
Bentonville senior Tearris Wallace leads the conference in rushing with 1,440 yards and 21 touchdowns.
Springdale junior Deandre Murray rushed for 1,421 yards and 17 touchdowns.
Rogers' Nick Wary will go over the 1,000-yard mark in the first round of the playoffs when the Mountaineers play at Conway. Wary has 979 yards and 21 touchdowns.
Forrest Johnson of Rogers Heritage was the first receiver in the conference to reach the 1,000-yard plateau this season. Johnson has 54 catches for 1,109 yards and 14 touchdowns.
7A/6A-WEST CONFERENCE STATISTICAL LEADERS
TEAM OFFENSE
TEAM RUSH PASS TOTAL AVG/GM
Fayetteville 996 2919 3915 391.5
Rogers Heritage 1684 2011 3695 369.5
Bentonvillle 2076 1610 3686 368.6
Springdale Har-Ber 1900 1703 3603 360.3
Rogers High 3285 225 3510 351.0
Van Buren 1529 1903 3432 343.2
Springdale High 2238 945 3183 318.3
Siloam Springs 952 1908 2860 286.0
TEAM DEFENSE
TEAM RUSH PASS TOTAL AVG/GM
Bentonville 1070 821 1891 189.1
Fayetteville 1450 1296 2746 274.6
Springdale Har-Ber 1600 1323 2923 292.3
Springdale High 1589 1869 3458 345.8
Rogers High 1910 1716 3626 362.6
Rogers Heritage 1590 2104 3694 369.4
Siloam Springs 2113 1850 3963 396.3
Van Buren 2367 1820 4187 418.7
OFFENSIVE SCORING
TEAM RUSH PASS DEF SPEC TOTAL
Bentonville 34 17 2 1 54
Rogers Heritage 24 22 2 1 49
Fayetteville 19 25 3 0 47
Rogers High 43 2 0 1 46
Van Buren 18 19 2 0 39
Springdale Har-Ber 17 21 0 0 38
Springdale High 26 8 1 2 37
Siloam Springs 16 12 0 0 28
DEFENSIVE SCORING
TEAM RUSH PASS DEF SPEC TOTAL
Bentonville 5 1 2 1 9
Springdale Har-Ber 15 10 2 0 27
Fayetteville 14 11 1 2 28
Springdale High 20 21 0 0 41
Rogers High 22 20 1 1 44
Rogers Heritage 25 19 0 0 44
Van Buren 38 17 0 0 55
Siloam Springs 34 23 4 1 62
TURNOVER RATIO
TEAM TAKEAWAYS GIVEAWAYS TOTAL
Bentonville 31 6 +25
Fayetteville 27 13 +14
Rogers Heritage 26 20 +6
Rogers High 10 8 +2
Springdale High 16 21 -5
Van Buren 16 22 -6
Siloam Springs 13 24 -11
Springdale Har-Ber 8 22 -14
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
PASSING
PLAYER, SCHOOL PC PA INT YDS TD
Austin Allen, Fayetteville 177 272 3 2892 25
Josh Qualls, Rogers Heritage 134 252 10 1982 23
Jacob Eason, Van Buren 155 274 12 1712 15
Kyle Pianalto, Springdale Har-Ber 102 174 7 1581 19
Reese Dollins, Bentonville 108 150 5 1535 16
Austin Van Poucke, Siloam Springs 111 207 13 1534 10
Will Whatley, Springdale 75 145 10 945 8
Lampton, Siloam Springs 34 78 4 374 2
Nick Wary, Rogers High 8 20 1 209 2
Pierce Phillips, Springdale 10 17 2 122 2
RUSHING
PLAYER, SCHOOL ATT YDS TD
Tearris Wallace, Bentonville 222 1440 21
Deandre Murray, Springdale 189 1421 17
Brandon Gates, Rogers Heritage 194 1122 14
Tucker Lee, Springdale Har-Ber 180 1026 8
Nick Wary, Rogers High 117 979 21
Jacob Eason, Van Buren 178 816 11
Ty Galyean, Rogers High 88 746 8
Scout Alexander, Siloam Springs 147 645 8
Will Whatley, Springdale 115 490 3
Preston Young, Rogers High 74 400 5
Braydon Cook, Fayetteville 89 398 6
Dylan Smith, Bentonville 60 368 4
Deverick Fimple, Van Buren 84 358 2
Kyle Pianalto, Springdale Har-Ber 75 320 6
Jacquille Franklin, Van Buren 62 303 4
Austin Van Poucke, Siloam Springs 92 274 7
Brandon Workman, Rogers High 22 263 3
Stokes Wenzler, Rogers High 24 256 1
Forrest Johnson, Rogers Heritage 33 231 3
Brice Gahagans, Fayetteville 45 182 3
Austin Allen, Fayetteville 70 129 6
Garrett Kaufman, Bentonville 17 126 2
RECEIVING
PLAYER, SCHOOL NO YDS TD
Forrest Johnson, Rogers Heritage 54 1109 14
Jacob Harris, Fayetteville 52 998 3
Jordan Dennis, Fayetteville 51 828 9
Bradley Eversole, Van Buren 45 463 3
Nick Byrne, Springdale Har-Ber 38 639 8
Chandler Gregory, Siloam Springs 37 489 3
William Walton, Van Buren 34 382 5
Wayce Connor, Van Buren 32 530 4
Scout Alexander, Siloam Springs 30 551 2
Bronson Tucker, Siloam Springs 30 418 4
Wyatt Whatley, Springdale 24 309 2
Trey Perkins, Bentonville 23 431 5
Gus Vitt, Springdale Har-Ber 21 342 6
Carlos Hernandez, Rogers Heritage 21 330 1
Brice Gahagans, Fayetteville 18 237 1
Jeremy Spickes, Rogers Heritage 18 207 5
Cody Scroggins, Bentonville 18 207 1
Chadd Holmes, Fayetteville 16 245 3
Garrett Tallman, Springdale 16 236 3
Jacquille Franklin, Van Buren 16 169 2
Brandon Gates, Rogers Heritage 16 82 1
Jack Kraus, Bentonville 15 172 2
Jimmie Jackson, Bentonville 14 193 1
Matt Garrison, Springdale Har-Ber 14 185 1
Jordan Herring, Siloam Springs 14 169 0
Edwin Magana, Siloam Springs 14 124 1
Anthony Gibbons, Van Buren 14 85 1
Deandre Murray, Springdale 13 132 0