BENTONVILLE -- The 2014 season for Bentonville's football team could be summed up with what happened on the final drive of the Class 7A State Championship game.
The Tigers were down at times, but they were never out.
At A Glance
Bentonville Tigers 2014 Football Schedule
Date^Opponent^Time
Sept. 5^Kansas City (Mo.) Rockhurst^L, 17-16
Sept. 12^at Broken Arrow, Okla.^L, 34-0
Sept. 19^Oradell (N.J.) Bergen Catholic^L, 21-10
Sept. 26^at Fort Smith Southside*^L, 10-7
Oct. 3^Fort Smith Northside*^W, 29-26
Oct. 10^at Springdale Har-Ber^W, 45-13
Oct. 17^at Springdale High*^W, 38-7
Oct. 24^Rogers High*^W, 49-0
Oct. 31^at Rogers Heritage^W, 42-10
Nov. 7^Fayetteville*^W, 45-2
Class 7A State Playoffs
Nov. 21^Bryant^W, 17-7
Nov. 28^at North Little Rock^W, 42-10
Dec. 6^Fayetteville^W, 24-21
* — Denotes 7A-West Conference game
Bentonville survived an 0-4 start -- its worst stretch since the end of the 2005 season -- and went on to earn a share of the 7A-West Conference title and reach the state title game for a fifth consecutive season. The Tigers then trailed Fayetteville 21-17 with three minutes left to play Saturday afternoon, but they went on a 68-yard drive and scored on Dylan Smith's 6-yard touchdown run with 26 seconds remaining to earn their second straight state title.
"It was a picture of our whole year, those last four or five minutes," Bentonville coach Barry Lunney said. "Fayetteville goes down and score, and it looks like they have all the momentum. They've scored 14 straight points, and we had struggled overall in our passing game.
"In the championship games we've won, we've been in control of the game. We lost control of the scoreboard with not much time left, and that last drive was -- wow, I don't think I could have written a script for it. At least if I had written the script I would have known we were going to win."
It was the season many people expected Bentonville to enjoy, but it didn't start out that way. The Tigers lost Javier Carbonell for the entire season and Austin Bugos for a lengthy time before the season had started, and nobody expected Bentonville to struggle with the likes of running backs Smith and Hekili Keliiliki, quarterback Kasey Ford and receiver Cody Scroggins back.
The Tigers, however, managed only four touchdowns through the first four games and suffered their first 0-4 start in recent school history. In each of those games, the opposing team scored a touchdown with a Bentonville turnover and turned the game in its favor, including an interception return by Seth Acosta that gave Fort Smith Southside a 10-7 win and ended the Tigers' 33-game conference win streak.
"The Southside game was, I think, arguably our worst game -- period," Lunney said. "It was worse than the Broken Arrow game because it was a conference game, and our defense played great. Then we lost Dax Hale in the first half, and we went from having one tight end to no tight ends that were starters.
"It was a helpless feeling in that game. It was tough. For me, it was about the lowest point I felt since I've been here because I thought we were ready to turn the corner. We were close. We had a ball knocked out of our hands in the end zone, then had an interception right before half. It was just a struggle."
Just when it appeared it couldn't get any darker, Bentonville gave up a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to start the following week's game against Fort Smith Northside. The Grizzlies then built a 19-7 lead midway through the third quarter, and the Tigers needed something good to happen.
That's when somebody turned on Bentonville's light as Smith bolted for a 46-yard touchdown run four plays later, and the Tigers went on to score 22 unanswered points and claim a 29-26 victory. A Bentonville offense that averaged 8.3 points per game in its four losses wound up averaging more than 36.8 points in its nine victories.
"Even though we were behind in the first half, we could see that we had a good drive and started to run the ball better," Lunney said. "That gave us hope, but we had to win a game. We ran our simple inside zone play, and our receivers came down and blocked.
"From that point on, we could sense it. That's what has been most impressive and pleasing to us as coached. Our guys competed. We have a good group of competitors and that goes with the program. That are the expectations. They had a chance to fold it, but they didn't."
Sports on 12/11/2014