Fayetteville coach Billy Dawson was not among the coaches in a preseason poll who picked Bentonville West to win the 7A-West Conference championship this year.
He picked Bentonville.
"They're the defending conference champions," Dawson said. "Until somebody dethrones them, they're still the champs."
Fayetteville (5-1, 2-1) will have its chance to knock Bentonville (3-3, 3-0) down a notch today at Tiger Stadium. Following an 0-3 start, Bentonville has outscored three 7A-West opponents by a combined score of 144-15 to share first place in the standings with Bentonville West. Fayetteville is tied for second place with Springdale High.
The Bulldogs will likely play again without senior quarterback Darius Bowers, who is still recovering from a knee injury he suffered against Bryant. But Fayetteville has grown increasingly comfortable with junior Hank Gibbs, who has thrown for 896 yards and 13 touchdowns in three starts. He'll also have two standouts on the receiving end in Connor Flannigan and Beau Stuckey, who've combined for 81 catches and 1,416 yards with 29 touchdowns in six games.
Bentonville will counter with a team that has greatly limited the mistakes that cost the Tigers in non-conference games. Receiver Dylan Smith is one of the league's top athletes and quarterback Easton Hughes has added confident after completing all 11 of his passes in a 56-7 rout over Rogers Heritage last week.
Despite Bentonville's slow start, no one is surprised the Tigers and Bulldogs will meet again in a game that will have a huge impact on who eventually wins the conference championship in the 7A-West. There's a history of Bentonville winning this game during the regular season.
The Tigers are also on a roll and they're at home.
RICK'S PICK Bentonville
Other games involving teams from Northwest Arkansas (selections are capitalized).
CLASS 7A
SPRINGDALE at Rogers
BENTONVILLE WEST at Springdale Har-Ber
Rogers Heritage at VAN BUREN
Fort Smith Northside at CONWAY
BRYANT at Fort Smith Southside
CLASS 6A
Russellville at GREENWOOD
Siloam Springs at LAKE HAMILTON
CLASS 5A
Clarksville at ALMA
HARRISON at Greenbrier
CLASS 4A
Gravette at BERRYVILLE
LINCOLN at Green Forest
PEA RIDGE at Prairie Grove
Gentry at SHILOH CHRISTIAN
DARDANELLE at Dover
ELKINS at Mena
OZARK at Pottsville
Subiaco Academy at WALDRON
CLASS 3A
Mansfield at BOONEVILLE
West Fork at CEDARVILLE
Paris at CHARLESTON
GREENLAND at Lamar
CLASS 2A
HECTOR at Hackett
MAGAZINE at Lavaca
Western Yell County at MOUNTAINBURG
LAST WEEK 18-7 (72 percent)
OVERALL 117-35 (76 percent)
Sports on 10/12/2018