Football: Defense controls Bentonville's shortened spring scrimmage

NWA Democrat-Gazette/JASON IVESTER Kasey Ford, Bentonville senior quarterback, drops back to pass Friday during a scrimmage inside the Tiger Athletic Complex.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/JASON IVESTER Kasey Ford, Bentonville senior quarterback, drops back to pass Friday during a scrimmage inside the Tiger Athletic Complex.

BENTONVILLE -- Storms forced Bentonville's football team to take its spring game to the shorter field inside the Tiger Athletic Complex.

The Tigers' defense made sure the action took place on an even smaller space and kept the offense in check for most of Friday's scrimmage.

Bentonville Tigers 2015 Football Schedule

Date^Opponent^Time

Sept. 4^at Kansas City (Mo.) Rockhurst^7 p.m.

Sept. 11^Highlands Ranch (Colo.) Valor Christian^7 p.m.

Sept. 18^Tallahassee (Fla.) Rickards^7 p.m.

Sept. 25^Fort Smith Southside*^7 p.m.

Oct. 2^at Fort Smith Northside*^7 p.m.

Oct. 9^Springdale Har-Ber*^7 p.m.

Oct. 16^Springdale High*^7 p.m.

Oct. 23^at Rogers High*^7 p.m.

Oct. 30^Rogers Heritage*^7 p.m.

Nov. 6^at Fayetteville*^7 p.m.

  • — 7A-West Conference game

"I was pleased with the way our defense came out and competed," first-year head coach Jody Grant said. "Offensively, we've had some success through the spring, and the defense has had its days where it was rough and vice versa.

"The defense came out, tackled well and were gap sound. The offense did some good things, but we dropped too many balls and missed too many assignments -- stuff that obviously will have to be cleaned up before team camp."

The Tigers opted to do everything inside a 10-yard barrier instead of the full 80-yard field inside Bentonville's indoor facility, but the offense had the right to try to score if it could break containment inside that 10-yard zone. The only problem is Bentonville's offense didn't get many chances to do that.

The varsity defense forced five consecutive three-and-out series until rising senior quarterback Chase Hunter broke off an 11-yard run and later hit Nick Gibson with a 20 yard pass. Both big plays came out of a read option-type alignment Bentonville used at times instead of the usual Pistol formation it has utilized the past five seasons.

"We were operating a little bit with a run-pass option and shifted the quarterback from the pistol to the shotgun," Grant said. "It's stuff that is tough to defend. It's real tough, and that's what we see on Saturdays all the time in college football.

"It's now trickled down to our level of football, and when it's operated properly it's very tough to defend. We've learned that through this process and working through it."

Hunter and starting quarterback Kasey Ford were only in their third practice session after helping Bentonville win state championships in soccer and baseball, respectively, as was starting receiver Ben Barron. The Tigers were also missing rising senior guard Jacob Clark, their lone returning starter on the offensive line, because of injury.

The defense, however, allowed only seven first downs throughout the short workout and forced four turnovers, including two interceptions by rising junior safety Aaron Estrada.

The Tigers will now turn their attention to next weekend's team camp as they will host Springdale Har-Ber; Fort Smith Northside; Jenks, Okla.; Jefferson City, Mo.; and East St. Louis, Ill., in two days of competition at Tiger Stadium.

Sports on 05/30/2015

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