BENTONVILLE -- Barry Lunney never hesitated about a two-point conversion attempt and let Bentonville's football team go for the win Friday night instead of settle for a tie in its season opener against Kansas City (Mo.) Rockhurst.
The only problem was the Tigers had to come up with an extra play after Kasey Ford hit Dax Hale with a seven-yard touchdown pass with 39.9 seconds remaining, and it didn't work, even after Lunney called a timeout to set up the play. Ford's pass to Cody Scroggins fell short of the goal line and eventually was ruled incomplete, allowing the Hawklets to come away with a 17-16 victory.
THAT FIGURES
2 — Special teams mistakes that could have helped Bentonville pad its lead
3 — Consecutive Bentonville losses against out-of-state opponents
297 — Yards of total offense by the Tigers
"We got down to fourth down, and that was the play that we were going to run on the two-point conversion had we scored on the corner slant," Lunney said on the touchdown pass. "But we got into that situation and said we better run it now and score, then try to do something different.
"It's disappointing, but we still have a long way to go. Hopefully this will help us refocus a little bit."
Bentonville (0-1) had first-and-goal at the Rockhurst 7 with under a minute to play, but Ford couldn't connect with Hekili Keliiliki out of the backfield on the first try. After Dylan Smith went for no gain on second down, Ford went to Scroggins in the corner of the end zone, but the pass fell incomplete and forced fourth down.
Any other hopes of a Tigers comeback ended when Rockhurst's Will Bazzle recovered the onside kick, then the Hawklets took a knee twice to run out the clock.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Rockhurst safety Devin Dunn, who picked up a Smith fumble and ran 46 yards for a touchdown and gave the Hawklets the lead for good with 5:33 remaining.
PLAY OF THE NIGHT: Rockhurst quarterback T.J. Green -- son of former St. Louis Rams and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Trent Green -- hit Luke Ritter with a two-point conversion pass after Dunn's touchdown and made it a 17-10 game. Had it not happened, Bentonville could have won the game with an extra-point kick instead of going for two late in the game.
INJURY UPDATE: Bentonville had a number of players with cramps because of the heat and humidity Friday night, but no serious injuries were reported.
NOTABLE: The game could have ended differently had it been played at Rockhurst's home field. Missouri schools use overtime in all of their games, while Arkansas schools aren't allowed to play overtime during any regular-season nonconference games. ... Ford completed 12 of 22 passes for 134 yards, including a 61-yard strike to Scroggins. ... Smith had 68 yards on 17 carries to lead Bentonville's ground attack. ... Hale's touchdown reception was the only time Bentonville threw to the tight end.
UP NEXT: Bentonville travels to Broken Arrow, Okla., for a nonconference game Friday night. Broken Arrow -- whose also known as the Tigers -- suffered a 14-7 loss in its season opener against Owasso, Okla.
Sports on 09/07/2014