Football: Lyons' season-best outing has Tigers roaring

Special to NWA Democrat-Gazette/DAVID BEACH Bentonville High's Easton Miller (8) looks for running room Friday against Springdale High at Tiger Stadium in Bentonville.
Special to NWA Democrat-Gazette/DAVID BEACH Bentonville High's Easton Miller (8) looks for running room Friday against Springdale High at Tiger Stadium in Bentonville.

BENTONVILLE -- The first pass Nathan Lyons threw Friday night went for a modest 3 yards, and his second one actually negated the previous yardage.

Bentonville's High's senior quarterback, however, continued to fire away, and Springdale High had no answer for it. Lyons threw for 298 yards in the first half and completed touchdown passes to four different receivers as the Tigers rolled to a 49-21 victory during 7A-West Conference action at Tiger Stadium.

Bentonville High 49, Springdale High 21

Springdale^7^0^7^7^—^21

Bentonville^14^21^7^6^—^49

First quarter

Bent — Campbell 17 pass from Lyons (Younger kick), 8:10.

Spring — Lopez 1 run (Barroso kick), 5:03.

Bent — Mays-Hunt 64 pass from Lyons (Younger kick), 4:02.

Second quarter

Bent — Miller 47 pass from Lyons (Younger kick), 8:10.

Bent — Johnson 18 pass from Lyons (Younger kick), 6:32.

Bent — Miller 3 run (Younger kick), 2:43.

Third quarter

Bent — Miller 5 run (Younger kick), 4:29.

Spring — Thompson 10 pass from Hutchins (Barroso kick), 0:33.

Fourth quarter

Spring — Robinson 7 pass from Hutchins (Barroso kick), 4:01.

Bent — Gurganus 44 pass from Hughes (Hogue kick), 3:19.

"They did a good job stopping us on the first two passes, and we sort of shot ourselves in the foot a little," said Lyons, who finished with 313 yards on 22-of-29 passing -- all season-high marks. "We just have to learn to play from the beginning until the end of the whistle.

"I had a good night, and I give all my thanks to that offensive line. They protected me all night long, and Springdale has a big defensive lineman. He wasn't even a factor, and we picked on Springdale's defense a little bit."

Lyons kept the opening drive alive when he hit Kam'Ron Mays-Hunt with a 21-yard pass on the next play, then capped it with an 18-yard touchdown pass to Harrison Campbell with 8 minutes, 10 seconds left in the first quarter. After Springdale (4-3, 1-3) matched Bentonville's score with a 1-yard touchdown run by Jonathan Lopez, Lyons needed just 61 seconds to respond and hit Mays-Hunt with a 64-yard touchdown pass as the Tigers (5-2, 4-0) took the lead for good with 4:02 left in the first quarter.

Lyons wasn't done there. He continued his hot hand in the second quarter when he tossed a 47-yard touchdown pass to Easton Miller with 8:10 before halftime, then he connected with Tyler Johnson on an 18-yard touchdown pass less than 2 minutes later for a 28-7 Bentonville lead.

"We had a game plan that we believed in, and that's what we stuck with," Bentonville coach Jody Grant said. "I'll be honest with you -- I thought Nathan operated really good, as our offense did. If that performance doesn't earn that dude some player of the week awards, I don't know what will."

Miller gave the Tigers a 35-7 halftime cushion on a 3-yard touchdown run, then scored again from 5 yards out with 4:29 left in the third quarter and forced the sportsmanship rule into play. Layne Hutchins, who completed 17 of 27 passes for 171 yards, threw touchdown passes of 10 yards to Alex Thompson and 7 yards to Kamond Robinson to complete Springdale's scoring.

"I don't feel we're that bad," Bulldogs coach Zak Clark said after his team's third straight loss. "Right now, it's just the little things.

"Bentonville did a great job of picking up yardage on third-and-longs. We had them third-and-extra long on five or six occasions in the first half, and they just made the plays. Offensively, we had three or four three-and-outs in a row, where we have to be able to keep the ball and extend some drives."

Sports on 10/14/2017

Upcoming Events