While Bentonville and Fayetteville don’t have the lengthy history of other high school football rivalries in the state, they make up for it with intrigue.

The two teams have played 25 times since 1991, when Bentonville joined what was known then as the AAAA-West Conference. They played in nonconference games before that time, but the series took a two-year hiatus in 1989-90 when Bentonville chose to play an independent schedule instead of competing in the AAAA-West.

Fayetteville has a 13-12 lead since the series resumed, which includes a slight 2-1 edge in playoff games. The total points scored in those 25 games are just as close, with Bentonville owning a slim 572-570 cushion.

“That’s just eerie — how close it is,” Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton said. “But it doesn’t surprise me. That’s impressive.

“You have two evenly matched teams, and both of them have equal talent and support from the community because they are one-school towns. The bottom line is neither team is going to run away and dominate the series.”

While the series is a tight one, the games haven’t been as close until recently. The margin of victory has been fewer than 10 points on only six occasions, but five of the closer calls have come in the last nine meetings, dating back to the 2007 regular-season game.

Two of those games have gone into overtime, with each team winning one. Fayetteville won 29-28 in last year’s state championship game, while Bentonville took a 38-34 victory in the 2010 regular-season meeting in Tiger Stadium.

“It proves that we’ve been very competitive with each other, without a doubt,” Bentonville coach Barry Lunney said. “I think sometimes people use the rivalry loosely because they play somebody every year.

“To really heighten a rivalry or make it more significant, I think it’s when it means something, like a conference championship or a state championship — when the stakes are important. Ours has been a conference rivalry, and for the last three years we’ve played in Little Rock, which has heightened it.”

The Purple’Dogs have the longest streak during that time, winning six straight times between 1995 and 2000. The Tigers’ longest win streak was five games, but that ended with Fayetteville’s overtime victory in last year’s title game.

Lunney has an 8-3 record in the series since he became the Tigers’ coach prior to the 2005 season. He also had an 11-5 advantage against Fayetteville when he was Fort Smith Southside’s coach from 1989 to 2004.

Patton is 4-9 against Bentonville since he joined the Purple’Dogs prior to the 2003 season. He never coached a game against the Tigers before that.

Lunney has an 10-5 overall advantage in games he has coached against Patton. Lunney picked up two wins in 1996-97 when his Southside teams defeated Patton’s teams at Bryant. Patton then turned the tables when his Fayetteville teams were victorious during Lunney’s last two years at Southside in 2003-04.

The most points scored in a game between the two teams is 79 (Fayetteville 49, Bentonville 30) in 2005, which was Lunney’s first year at Bentonville. They have scored a combined 77 points on two other occasions (Bentonville 42, Fayetteville 35 in 2007 and Bentonville 49, Fayetteville 28 in the 2010 Class 7A State Championship game).

The fewest amount of points scored was a 12-0 Fayetteville victory in 1996. It’s one of two shutouts since the series resumed, with the other being a 33-0 Bentonville win in 2003.

Bentonville vs. Fayetteville — A Look Back

2012 — Bentonville 24, Fayetteville 17

2011* — Fayetteville 29, Bentonville 28 (OT)

2011 — Bentonville 41, Fayetteville 6

2010* — Bentonville 49, Fayetteville 28

2010 — Bentonville 38, Fayetteville 34 (OT)

2009 — Bentonville 45, Fayetteville 10

2008 — Bentonville 31, Fayetteville 3

2007* — Fayetteville 24, Bentonville 17

2007 — Bentonville 42, Fayetteville 35

2006 — Bentonville 28, Fayetteville 17

2005 — Fayetteville 49, Bentonville 30

2004 — Fayetteville 36, Bentonville 10

2003 — Bentonville 33, Fayetteville 0

2002 — Fayetteville 36, Bentonville 22

2001 — Bentonville 14, Fayetteville 7

2000 — Fayetteville 34, Bentonville 22

1999 — Fayetteville 28, Bentonville 12

1998 — Fayetteville 18, Bentonville 7

1997 — Fayetteville 41, Bentonville 7

1996 — Fayetteville 12, Bentonville 0

1995 — Fayetteville 24, Bentonville 3

1994 — Bentonville 19, Fayetteville 7

1993 — Fayetteville 28, Bentonville 6

1992 — Bentonville 26, Fayetteville 9

1991 — Fayetteville 38, Bentonville 18

• — denotes playoff games

NOTE: The two teams played before 1991, but in nonconference games. They became conference rivals in 1991, when Bentonville joined the AAAA-West Conference.