ROGERS -- Bentonville West quarterback Will Jarrett is back.
Jarrett threw for 226 yards and three touchdowns in only a half to help the Wolverines to a 42-0 win over Rogers Heritage in 7A-West Conference football on Friday night at Gates Stadium.
Bentonville West 42,Rogers Heritage 0
Bentonville West 14 14 14 0 — 42
Rogers Heritage 0 0 0 0 — 0
First Quarter
West-Jackson 9 pass from Jarrett (McDoulett kick), 8:47.
West-Smallwood 10 run (McDoulett kick), 2:22.
Second Quarter
West-Jackson 37 pass from Jarrett (McDoulett kick), 6:01.
West-Jackson 27 pass from Jarrett (McDoulett kick), 2:01.
Third Quarter
West Dak. McDonald 23 pass from Dal.McDonald (McDoulett kick), 9:26.
West-Anderson 27 run (McDoulett kick), 8:18.
The senior saw his first playing time since suffering an ankle injury almost two months ago in West's season opener at Owasso, Okla. But he didn't show much rust.
Jarrett acknowledged a few nerves early, but those went away quickly.
"Maybe a little nervous, but mainly being excited," Jarrett said. "It was fun to be back out there with my team and my brothers. It just couldn't have been a better first game to be back."
Jarrett completed 11 of 15 passes and led the Wolverines (5-3, 5-0 7A-West) down the field for a touchdown on their opening possession, completing four of five. He finished off the drive with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Jadon Jackson on a slant for a 7-0 lead with 8 minutes, 47 seconds left in the opening quarter.
West coach Bryan Pratt said he wasn't sure that Jarrett would play earlier in the week, but the senior's play answered any questions he might have had.
"He sorta looked at me and winked and said 'I'm back,'" Pratt said following the game. "Last week he did a little bit. He came out this week in practice and I'll be honest, I was really questioning whether I was gonna play him this week. But he had a great week of practice, really worked hard and looked good and promised me he felt good.
"So we went with it. He's a guy who has a lot of experience. He's just a gamer."
Jarrett said he progressed all week in practice.
"Monday didn't feel too bad, so I went Tuesday in full pads," Jarrett said. "From there, it was like every day was just a little bit better and made the decision (Thursday)."
Pratt said his first thought was to use Jarrett for just a couple series, but against the senior changed his mind with his play.
"The more he went, the better he felt, so we just said we'll finish the half out with him," Pratt said. "Obviously it was huge."
Jarrett found Jackson for two more scores in the first half on passes of 37 and 27 yards as the Wolverines cruised to a 28-0 halftime lead. The Wolverines also locked up a first-round bye in the playoffs with a win and Fayetteville's win over Springdale High.
Pratt also credited sophomore quarterback Dalton McDonald, who was thrown into the starting role in Jarrett's absence. He helped the Wolverines to four straight conference wins and threw for a score to in the second half to his brother, Dakota.
"He's been phenomenal," Pratt said. "For us to be sitting here at 4-0 going into this game with our backup quarterback is definitely a really good deal for us. To be able to get Will back and be sitting in the position we are. We never thought when we started off 0-3.
"We were really in a tough situation there, but there was some silver lining in the clouds."
Sports on 10/20/2018