Special to NWA Media
Kyle Pianalto is one of just two returning starters in the 7A/6A-West, and it didn’t take long for the senior quarterback from Springdale Har-Ber to showcase that Friday night experience.
Pianalto accounted for 479 yards of offense in Har-Ber’s 42-35 win against Webb City, Mo..
“Kyle had a great night,” Har-Ber coach Chris Wood said. “He graded out highest on the team with his performance.”
Pianalto didn’t start off real well, though, throwing two first-quarter interceptions and losing a fumble.
“Outside of those three plays, his body of work was outstanding,” Wood said. “Outside of those two throws, all of his decision making was right on point.”
Pianalto finished with 191 yards on the ground and a touchdown on 23 carries. He completed 14 of 27 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns.
“The biggest thing about Kyle is that he shakes things off well,” Wood said. “He doesn’t let things affect him over the long haul. He believes in his teammates. He knows if he protects the ball the guys will make plays for him. I liked his resolve and how he handled himself even when the things were tough on him in the first half. He still stayed the course on everything and didn’t panic. He learned from it and tried to get better.”
Pianalto gashed Webb City on the ground with Har-Ber’s usual power running game.
“A lot of that was on our power game and a little bit of our counter stuff,” Wood said. “We called it to run it in there. That was our intention depending on the defensive look. If they gave us six or seven man box, we were going to throw it. If they have us less than that, we were going to run it.”
HAR-BER BALANCED
Pianalto successfully guided the offense, which had 78 plays and amassed 657 yards of offense with 369 yards rushing to go with this passing.
“Offensively, we were balanced,” Wood said. “We established our running game. Our passing game was equal. We kind of got away from some of our deeper game. We worked some underneath stuff. We still took out shots, but we didn’t realize on having to hit those shots. That was good to see.”
Sain Matthew added 99 yards on the ground, and Matt Garrison ran for two touchdowns. Gus Vitt and Camden Scott led a balanced receiving corps with four catches each.
“It was all about the balance and spreading the ball out,” Wood said. “We’ve got some kids this year that need touches. It’s not one kid that’s going to carry us offensively. We really like our receivers, and our two tailbacks. We want to distribute the ball equally among all our players because we really feel like they bring some really great things to the table for us.”
DOWN BUT NOT OUT
Har-Ber twice faced a 21-point deficit on Friday night, first at 28-7 in the first quarter and then 35-14 with 7 minutes, 45 seconds left in the third quarter. The Wildcats rallied with four touchdowns in a span of 9:25.
“I thought that showed the resilience of the kids,” Wood said. “That was the best thing was the character of our guys. They didn’t fuss at each other. The offense was encouraging the defense, and the defense was encouraging the offense. No one was pointing fingers when things weren’t going well. They just really believed they were going to find a way to win that game.”
Har-Ber’s comeback also ended Webb City’s 46-game overall win streak, which was the second longest active winning streak in the nation behind only Clairton, Penn. Webb City also had not lost in 91 regular-season games.
“We didn’t say much about it on the front end,” Wood said. “About all we said was that to beat this team, the challenge was going to be huge because of what was at stake for those kids at Webb City in the sense that they had won 46 in a row, and won 91 in a row in the regular season. They don’t want to be the group that has that streak end on their watch. We just felt like they would give us everything they had until that final whistle, and they did.”
ROGERS HIGH RUNS IT, TOO
The Mountaineers’ triple option rushing attack was at its best on Friday night in the 47-0 win against Mountain Home.
Quarterbacks Max Harrell and Cole Evans each went over the 100-yard mark with Harrell rushing for 119 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown, and Evans added 112 yards on three carries and three scores. Fullback Preston Young added 104 yards and a touchdown. Slotback Brandon Workman had 94 yards.
“We had a good night,” Rogers coach Shawn Flannigan said. “Everything kind of went our way. We were fortunate to have a really nice night of offense. Some of the guys really shined. We were pleased with what happened in our overall effort.”
Rogers is blending two veterans on the offensive line with three rookies this season, although all five are seniors. Center Bryce Bray and guard Austin Hughes have started all 22 games of their high school career. Tackles Josue Oscoy and Quenton Clay started their first game on Friday night while guard John Shoffner started a couple of games last year due to injuries.
“We expected our offensive line to be solid this year,” Flannigan said. “We were looking at the guys we had coming up, and we felt comfortable and real good with the guys that were going to step in and replace those graduating seniors from last year. We felt good going into it.”
The offensive line cleared the way as Rogers had 37 carries for 503 yards and seven rushing touchdowns.
“They really stepped it up and had a really strong game,” Flannigan said. “They did some outstanding things, both at the point of the attack and down the field that were the result of some of those long runs, getting blocks 10 or 15 yards down the field. It really starts up front with those guys for us to have success.”
BALANCE
The eight conference teams were also balanced in the first week of the season with four teams picking up more of their yardage through the air and four teams getting most of their offensive production on the ground.
Rogers and Har-Ber were joined by Springdale and Bentonville as teams rushing for most of their yards.
Fayetteville, Van Buren, Siloam Springs, and Heritage passed for most of their offensive yardage.
None of that is surprising given that those teams followed that trend last year. Rogers, Har-Ber, Springdale and Bentonville all rushed for more yards last year than they passed for while Fayetteville, Van Buren, Siloam Springs and Heritage all passed for more yards than they accounted for on the ground.
PRETTY GOOD WEEK
The conference went 5-2-1 against quality competition.
Bentonville won at Kansas City (Mo.) Rockhurst, 24-21, after falling behind 13-0 in the first nine minutes of the game.
Springdale High, Fayetteville, and Rogers never trailed in recording opening night victories.
Har-Ber overcame a 21-point third quarter deficit to beat Webb City, Mo.
Siloam Springs rallied with 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to forge a 35-35 tie with Shiloh Christian.
Heritage fell at Fort Smith Southside, 45-28, after leading 28-21 at the half.
Van Buren lost to rival Alma, giving up a clinching touchdown in the fourth quarter on a 27-yard interception return.
THAT FIGURES
221.9 – quarterback efficiency rating for Fayetteville quarterback Mitch Marshall against Warren.
13.6 – average yards gained by Rogers per rushing attempt against Mountain Home.
8.8 – average yardage faced by Siloam Springs on third down against Shiloh Christian, converting just four of 14 attempts.
8.8 – average yards gained on third down by Fayetteville against Warren, converting 11 of 13 attempts.
7A/6A-WEST CONFERENCE STATISTICAL LEADERS
TEAM OFFENSE
TEAM^RUSH^PASS^TOTAL^AVG/GM
Rogers High^503^24^527^0.0
Rogers Heritage^236^247^483^0.0
Springdale High^239^203^442^0.0
Springdale Har-Ber^289^78^367^0.0
Bentonvillle^256^109^365^0.0
Fayetteville^165^191^356^0.0
Siloam Springs^68^286^354^0.0
Van Buren^69^275^344^0.0
TEAM DEFENSE
TEAM^RUSH^PASS^TOTAL^AVG/GM
Rogers High^82^72^154^0.0
Springdale^High^188^82^270^0.0
Bentonville^110^216^326^0.0
Fayetteville^171^180^351^0.0
Springdale Har-Ber^289^78^367^0.0
Van Buren^154^245^399^0.0
Rogers Heritage^230^187^417^0.0
Siloam Springs^303^270^573^0.0
OFFENSIVE SCORING
TEAM^^RUSH^PASS^DEF^SPEC^TOTAL
Rogers High^7^0^0^0^7
Springdale Har-Ber^4^2^0^0^6
Springdale High^3^2^1^0^6
Fayetteville^1^3^0^1^5
Siloam Springs^0^4^0^1^5
Rogers Heritage^3^1^0^0^4
Van Buren^3^1^0^0^4
Bentonville^2^1^0^0^3
DEFENSIVE SCORING
TEAM^RUSH^PASS^DEF^SPEC^TOTAL
Bentonville^1^2^0^0^3
Springdale Har-Ber^3^1^1^0^5
Fayetteville^2^1^0^0^3
Springdale High^4^0^0^0^4
Rogers High^0^0^0^0^0
Rogers Heritage^5^1^0^0^6
Van Buren^1^3^1^0^5
Siloam Springs^2^3^0^0^5
TURNOVERS
TEAM^TAKEAWAYS^GIVEAWAYS^TOTAL
Fayetteville^2^0^+2
Rogers High^3^1^+2
Springdale High^2^0^+2
Bentonville^3^2^+1
Siloam Springs^2^3^-1
Springdale Har-Ber^2^3^-1
Rogers Heritage^0^2^-2
Van Buren^0^3^-3
INDIVIDUAL^STATISTICS
PASSING
PLAYER, SCHOOL^COMP^ATT^INT^YDS^TD
Kyle Pianalto, Springdale^Har-Ber^14^27^2^288^2
Chris Lampton, Siloam^Springs^26^40^2^286^4
Bradley Eversole, Van^Buren^22^32^2^275^1
Josh Qualls, Rogers^Heritage^24^37^0^247^1
Fuller Chandler, Springdale^High^10^17^0^203^2
Mitch Marshall, Fayetteville^14^18^0^191^3
Jake Slocum, Bentonville^9^17^0^109^1
Max Harrell, Rogers^High^1^2^0^24^0
RUSHING
PLAYER, SCHOOL^ATT^YDS^TD
Brandon Gates, Rogers Heritage^29^250^3
Deandre Murray, Springdale High^25^200^3
Heliki Keliiliki, Bentonville^23^192^2
Kyle Pianalto, Springdale Har-Ber^23^191^1
Max Harrell, Rogers High^14^119^1
Braydon Cook, Fayetteville^16^117^1
Cole Evans, Rogers High^3^112^3
Preston Young, Rogers High^4^104^1
Tucker Lee, Springdale Har-Ber^19^99^1
Brandon Workman, Rogers High^6^94^1
Kahlil Gunn, Bentonville^7^64^0
Chris Lampton, Siloam Springs^13^58^0
Terrell Tyson, Fayetteville^16^55^0
Terry Mounce, Springdale High^7^49^0
Sain Matthew, Springdale Har-Ber^5^44^0
RECEIVING
PLAYER, SCHOOL^NO^YDS^TD
Chandler Gregory, Siloam Springs^10^98^1
Jeremy Spickes, Rogers Heritage^9^113^1
Andrew Martin, Van Buren^8^138^0
Tyrone Joseph, Van Buren^6^41^0
Cheyenne O’Grady, Fayetteville^5^104^2
Joey Saucier, Rogers Heritage^5^43^0
Carlos Hernandez, Rogers Heritage^5^41^0
Gus Vitt, Springdale Har-Ber^4^87^0
Camden Scott, Springdale Har-Ber^4^62^2
Micca Brown, Rogers Heritage^4^43^0
Chase Morse, Bentonville^4^31^0
Quiency Patton, Springdale High^3^76^1
Jake Freeman, Van Buren^3^66^0
Parker Baldwin, Siloam Springs^3^60^1
Rickey Hughes, Siloam Springs^3^47^1
Cody Scroggins, Bentonville^3^45^0
Terry Mounce, Springdale High^3^35^0
Luke Rapert, Fayetteville^3^26^0
Jordan Dennis, Fayetteville^3^25^0
Ethan Hudspeth, Van Buren^3^14^0
7A/6A-West Conference
Team^Conf.^Overall
W-L^W-L-T^PF^PA
Bentonville^0-0^1-0^24^21
Fayetteville^0-0^1-0^35^21
Rogers High^0-0^1-0^47^0
Springdale High^0-0^1-0^42^27
Siloam Springs^0-0^0-0-1^35^35
Rogers Heritage^0-0^0-1^28^45
Van Buren^0-0^0-1^27^35
Last Week’s Scores
Bentonville 24, KC Rockhurst 21
Fayetteville 35, Warren 21
Siloam Springs 35, Shiloh Christian 35
Rogers High 47, Mountain Home 0
Springdale High 42, Batesville 27
Springdale Har-Ber 42, Webb City, Mo. 35
Alma 35, Van Buren 27
FS Southside 45, Rogers Heritage 28
This Week’s Games
Broken Arrow, Okla. at Bentonville
Jefferson City, Mo. at Fayetteville
Rogers High at Tahlequah, Okla.
Rogers Heritage at FS Northside
Siloam Springs at Russellville
Springdale at Tulsa (Okla.) Central
Columbia (Mo.) Rock Bridge at Springdale Har-Ber
Van Buren at Poteau, Okla.