Bentonville scores 27 straight, knocks off Valor Christian

Clay Barganier, Bentonville wide receiver, evades Highlands Ranch (Colo.) Valor Christian defender Vincent Hood during Friday’s game in Bentonville's Tiger Stadium.
Clay Barganier, Bentonville wide receiver, evades Highlands Ranch (Colo.) Valor Christian defender Vincent Hood during Friday’s game in Bentonville's Tiger Stadium.

BENTONVILLE -- Valor Christian thought a little trickery was what it needed to catch Bentonville by surprise, but it backfired Friday night.

The Tigers then turned the tables on their Colorado opponent with 27 unanswered points and went on to post a 41-22 nonconference victory in their home opener.

Valor Christian^7^3^0^12^—^22

Bentonville^7^7^13^14—^41

First quarter

Bent — Clark 3 run (Moehring kick), 9:52.

Valor — McCaffrey 1 run (Kendziorski kick), 6:30.

Second quarter

Valor — FG Kendziorski 25, 9:59.

Bent — Mays-Hunt 32 pass from Ford (Moehring kick), 7:23.

Third quarter

Bent — Clark 25 run (Moehring kick), 4:53.

Bent — Clark 7 run (Moehring kick), :51.

Fourth quarter

Bent — Hale 25 pass from Ford (Moehring kick), 8:18.

Valor — Waters 32 pass from McCaffrey (pass fail), 7:57.

Bent — Ford 2 run (Moehring kick), 6:34.

Valor — Kortz 1 run (run fail), 4:19.

Jacob Clark ran for 178 yards and three touchdowns, while quarterback Kasey Ford accounted for three more scores as Bentonville (2-0) extended its winning streak to 11 games. Ford threw for 193 yards on 18 of 25 passing and two touchdowns, then ran for another.

"This was a quality team," Bentonville coach Jody Grant said. "They got after us early on, and our kids had to realize this was real football. They better get going, and they did.

"We built a nice little lead, which was good because as good as that group is offensively, no lead was comfortable at all. That's an awesome job as Jacob Clark, and he's a special kid. He's taken ownership as our back, and Kasey is just operating our offense right now and doing real well."

Valor Christian (1-2) -- located in Highlands Ranch -- had a 10-7 lead in the second quarter when the Eagles lined up in a formation where a tackle would be eligible. Dylan McCaffrey tossed a lateral to Christian Ellis, who then threw the ball downfield but was intercepted by Tyrone Mahone at the Bentonville 30.

The Tigers needed only five plays to take the lead for good as Ford hit Kam'ron Mays-Hunt with a 32-yard touchdown pass, and Hayden Moehring's kick put Bentonville ahead 14-10 with 7 minutes, 23 seconds before halftime. Bentonville went on to score 27 unanswered points as Clark scored on runs of 25 and 7 yards in the third quarter, and Ford's 25-yard touchdown pass to Dax Hale made it a 34-10 with 8:18 remaining.

"We were excited in the first half and played with a lot of passion and a lot of heart," Valor Christian coach Rod Sherman said. "We missed some opportunities. We didn't play very well in the red zone on offense and gave up a couple of big plays. Those things just started to snowball in the second half.

"It was a terrible call by me. We thought we had it. We thought they were in an alignment that looked good, and it just wasn't a very good call."

Valor Christian quarterback Dylan McCaffrey, the son of former Denver Broncos receiver Eddie McCaffrey, completed 21 of 36 passes for 295 yards and one touchdown. He also added 66 yards on 15 carries and another score.

Bentonville returns to action next week with another out-of-state opponent as the Tigers welcome Tallahassee (Fla.) Rickards in nonconference action.

Sports on 09/12/2015

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