Bentonville cashes in on fake and shake

BENTONVILLE -- Kasey Ford faked the handoff to Dylan Smith, then drifted to his right as he appeared to look for an open receiver Friday night.

What Bryant's defense didn't know was that Smith was actually the intended receiver on the play.

Bentonville's senior tailback broke away into the end zone and caught a 21-yard pass for the go-ahead touchdown, and the Tigers went on to post a 17-7 victory over Bryant in the quarterfinals of the Class 7A playoffs at Tiger Stadium.

Smith's catch and Bennett Moehring's extra-point kick gave Bentonville (7-4) a 10-7 lead with 7 minutes, 48 seconds remaining. Then the Tigers made two defensive stands in the final 4 1/2 minutes to seal the victory.

"I'm supposed to carry out the fake until the corner ran off with the wide receiver, then I go behind him," Smith said. "The only guy that would have eyes on me is the middle linebacker, and he would lose me with the fade, so I took off when the cornerback left.

"As soon as he threw the pass, I said to myself 'Just catch it, no matter what.' It just hit me in the hands, and I fell over. I wasn't going to do anything else. "

Bentonville advances to the semifinals, where it will face North Little Rock next Friday at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. North Little Rock defeated Fort Smith Northside 56-29 Friday night.

Bryant (9-2-1) took the ensuing kickoff and drove to the Bentonville 38 before it faced fourth down. Tailback Devonte Turner got the ball on the play, but a host of Tigers defenders were there to stop him for no gain with 4:12 remaining.

The Hornets got one more shot, but they had to go 73 yards in about 3 minutes to do it. Cody Scroggins ended any comeback attempt when he intercepted a pass that deflected off Austin Kelly's hands and returned it to the Bryant 25 with 2:52 left.

"Good things happen when Cody's on the field," Bentonville Coach Barry Lunney said. "We've really been good on defense all year.

"We were outsized. Anybody that looked at the linemen and the size, they're big and physical. Our defensive guys, they're tired. This game pushed us, and I was proud of the fight of our kids. They made some big, big plays."

Bryant's only score came on Kylon Boyle's 1-yard touchdown run with 1:10 left before halftime.

Sports on 11/22/2014

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