BROKEN ARROW, Okla. -- Kasey Ford stretched toward the goal line on a fourth-down quarterback keeper, and he appeared to have enough yardage for a first down to keep Bentonville's most serious scoring threat alive.
The next thing coach Barry Lunney and the Memorial Stadium crowd knew, Broken Arrow defensive lineman Eric Clark had the ball in his hands and was running 97 yards the opposite direction for a touchdown.
How They Scored
Bentonville^0^0^0^0^—^0
Broken Arrow^7^14^7^6^—^34
First Quarter
Broke — Leak 21 run (Hathhorn kick), 6:40.
Second Quarter
Broke — Shaw 1 run (Hathhorn kick), 4:18.
Broke — Leak 2 run (Hathhorn kick), 2:09.
Third Quarter
Broke — Shaw 9 run (Hathhorn kick), 0:21.
Fourth Quarter
Broke — Clark 97 fumble recovery (kick fail), 4:10
That play summed up the disastrous night for Bentonville, which loss 34-0 to Broken Arrow.
It was the first time the Tigers (0-2) had been shut out since a 34-0 loss at Russellville in 2004, and it was Broken Arrow's first shutout win since the end of the 2011 season.
"I don't know," Lunney said on the play. "I couldn't see what happened. I think somebody just pulled it out of his hands.
"We never got into a rhythm, and certainly they had a lot to do with it. I think it was a pretty good butt-kicking. We hadn't had one like that since 2005, if my memory serves me correctly."
Bentonville had started the drive on the Broken Arrow 25, thanks to Derek Hembry's 9-yard punt return and a personal foul penalty on Broken Arrow. The Tigers used four straight runs to Kahlil Gunn to move the ball to the Broken Arrow 4 before the host team stuffed Dylan Smith for no gain on third down.
That's when Ford went under center and went over left guard, trying to use his 6-foot-5 frame to get enough push for the first down. When he thought he had it, that's when Clark suddenly had his hands on the ball, and not a Bentonville player could catch him.The only thing that kept Broken Arrow (1-1) from invoking the sportsmanship rule was a player that ran onto the field late during the extra point attempt. The penalty pushed the ball back, then the extra-point attempt was missed, but it was one of the few errors the host Tigers made."We didn't play like puppies. We didn't make young team mistakes," said Broken Arrow coach David Alexander, referring to his team's 14-7 loss to Owasso, Okla.
Extra points
• Bentonville drove inside the Broken Arrow 10 again with time winding down, but Kahlil Gunn -- the leading rusher with 66 yards on 13 carries -- was stopped for no gain on two straight plays before time expired.
• Broken Arrow tailbacks Jamall Shaw and Warren Leak took care of the rest of Broken Arrow's scoring. Shaw had 27 carries for 145 yards, including touchdown runs of 1 and 9 yards, while Leak scored on runs of 23 and 2 yards and finished with 92 yards on 10 carries.
• Broken Arrow was stopped on its first fourth-down attempt, but the Tigers connected on their next two to set up their third-quarter score -- Shaw's 9-yard run. It included a fake punt, which upback Devon Johnson took the snap and ran 29 yards.
Up Next: Bentonville closes out nonconference play at home against Oradell (N.J.) Bergen Catholic (1-1), with kickoff slated for 7:30 p.m. The Crusaders dropped a 49-20 decision Thursday to St. Peter's Prep in a game that was televised on ESPNU.
Sports on 09/13/2014