BENTONVILLE -- CJ Brown turned, squared up, and accepted a hard pass into his chest Friday to set off a wild celebration for Bentonville at Tiger Stadium.
It was the culmination of a fantastic night for Brown, who caught a 2-point conversion pass in overtime to give Bentonville a 31-30 victory over Fayetteville in 7A-West Conference play. Bentonville improved to 4-0 in league play and 6-1 overall with the win over Fayetteville, which held a 20-10 lead over the Tigers early in the second half.
But with a chance to win or lose in overtime, Bentonville went for the win, which did not surprise the Tigers' players.
"We knew we had the offensive line to do it, so we went for it," said Josh Ficklin, who scored on a 10-yard run after Fayetteville first took the lead in overtime.
Regulation ended 23-23 and Fayetteville scored first when Lach McKinney caught a pass at about the 4 and fought his way into the end zone to put the Bulldogs ahead 30-23 following the extra-point kick. Bentonville retaliated immediately when Ficklin took a handoff and scored on a 10-yard run. Bentonville decided to go for the win with the 2-point play and the move paid off when Nye spotted Brown in the end zone and hit him between the numbers with his pass.
"(Brown) was not the primary target on the play," Nye said. "He was the second read but, when I looked up, he was in space and I had to give it to up."
Brown displayed his athleticism early when he caught a pass and leaped over a defender in the first quarter. The junior receiver kept making plays all night for the Tigers, who remained the only unbeaten team in 7A-West Conference play.
The scene on the sidelines was what you'd expect in such a hard-fought game with Fayetteville players hanging their heads in disappointment and Bentonville players rushing to the middle to celebrate a dramatic win. Despite Friday's outcome, the race for the conference championship in the 7A-West is far from over. Springdale plays at Fayetteville next week while Bentonville stays at home to face Rogers, which improved to 6-1 overall after beating Springdale Friday night.
Fayetteville snapped a lengthy regular-season losing streak to Bentonville last year and ended the Tigers' 35-game conference win streak with a 42-34 victory at Harmon Field. Fayetteville won the conference championship and rode the momentum of that victory over the Tigers all the way to the state championship game in Little Rock, where the Bulldogs fell 42-38 to the four-time defending state champions in Class 7A.
Fayetteville (4-3, 2-2) has dealt with some frustration in losing three very close games, starting with a loss to Cabot with 8 seconds to play, a loss to Rogers with 4 seconds left, and a 1-point loss to Fayetteville on the last play of Friday's game.
Fayetteville and Bentonville each scored in the first quarter before the teams hit a lull and traded punts for much of the second quarter. Fayetteville awakened with an 80-yard scoring drive, capped by a perfectly-executed touchdown pass play from Drake Lindsey to Christian Setzer in the back of the Bentonville end zone for a 11-yard score. Setzer zipped out of the backfield on a wheel route and out jumped a Fayetteville defender while being closely guarded.
Bentonville scored just before the half on a 41-yard field from Logan Tymeson but Fayetteville still went to the locker room leading 14-10. Fayetteville stretched its lead to 20-10 on the opening drive of the third quarter when backup quarterback Landon Schaefer dove into the end zone on a 3-yard keeper.
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