Bentonville cruises to set up showdown for 7A-West title

7A-WEST BENTONVILLE 42, SPRINGDALE 7

SPRINGDALE — Harrison Campbell cradled the ball to his chest as he did a backward roll into the end zone.

Campbell’s 43-yard touchdown pass from Easton Hughes gave Bentonville a three-touchdown lead in the first quarter, and the Tigers rolled to their sixth consecutive victory 42-7 against Springdale on Friday at Jarrell Williams Bulldog Stadium.

Bentonville (6-3, 6-0 7A-West) dominated every facet of the game against an injury-depleted Springdale team that was missing most of its offensive firepower. Quarterback Grant Allen was lost for the season last week with a broken leg, and he was joined on the sideline by running back Garrett Vaughan (calf) and wide receiver Brock Pounders. Starting defensive back Jujuan Boyd also did not suit up.

“This is the time of the year when you want to be playing your best football going into Week 10 and the playoffs,” Bentonville Coach Jody Grant said. “We challenged our kids this week in all phases, and I thought they did a good job, but we have a lot of things we still need to clean up. That’s the thing that I’m most disappointed in, going backward offensively. That was an emphasis this week. We didn’t do as well in that area as I would have liked.”

Hughes was almost perfect in the passing game, completing his first 10 passes for 174 yards and a pair of touchdown passes. Besides the 43-yarder that gave the Tigers a 21-0 lead, Hughes hit Zach Lee on a 27-yarder for a 35-0 lead with 5:24 left in the first half. He added a third scoring pass in the second half to finish 18 of 21 for 257 yards.

Bentonville’s defense allowed the Bulldogs (6-3, 3-3) just 83 total yards in the first half and sacked Springdale starting quarterback Will Mueller four times for minus-19 yards.

The Tigers scored on their first five possessions, with Preston Crawford finding the end zone from 7, 14 and 10 yards. Crawford rushed for 80 yards on 10 carries.

Bentonville has won six consecutive after opening the season with three nonconference losses. Grant said the team was able to look past the scores of those games and at the bigger picture.

“I think we learned a lot from those games,” Grant said. “We played a lot of new starters, and that’s not the case now. They have nine games under their belt. Two of those games we should have won, and we really didn’t know how to win at that point. Now I think our kids are figuring that out.”

The victory sets up a winner-take-all game next week at Tiger Stadium when Bentonville hosts Bentonville West for the 7A-West title. Both teams already have secured first-round byes for the playoffs in two weeks.

“This is a big game because it’s for the conference championship, but every game has been big in conference,” Campbell said. “We know these guys and we’re good friends, but when it gets to this point, we’re not really talking to those guys. It’s about focusing on the game and bringing home a conference championship again.”

Bentonville West senior quarterback Will Jarrett threw for 375 yards and two touchdowns in the first half in a rout of Van Buren in Centerton.

Bentonville West (6-3, 6-0 7A-West) needed only 39 seconds to get on the scoreboard as Tyrese Smallwood bolted 33 yards for a touchdown, but it was the only score that took place in the first quarter.

Blake McDoulett started the second quarter with a 39-yard field goal to put the Wolverines up 10-0 before Jarrett found ways to go deep. He hit Tucker Swoboda with a 51-yard pass to set up Smallwood’s 1-yard touchdown run with 9:08 before halftime, then he connected with Swoboda again for a 78-yard touchdown pass before he hit Jadon Jackson with a 92-yard touchdown pass to make it 31-0.

FAYETTEVILLE — Darius Bowers completed his first 15 passes as the Bulldogs (7-2, 4-2) cruised to a victory over the winless War Eagles (0-9, 0-6).

Bowers, who did not take a snap in the second half, finished 15 of 17 for 266 yards and 4 touchdowns. His first incomplete pass was an interception. He spread the wealth with touchdown passes to Luke Charboneau (12 yards), Connor Flannigan (49), Beau Stuckey (1) and Barrett Adams (4).

Montell Perry rushed for two touchdowns, including a 10-yard run with 3:19 remaining in the first half that gave the Bulldogs a 42-0 lead.

Heritage broke up the shutout on the game’s final play when junior Jaheim Webb scored on a 49-yard run.

A 2-yard touchdown run by sophomore Rees Nelson late in the third quarter and 2-yard touchdown run by junior Jayden Brockinton midway through the fourth accounted for the Bulldogs’s final two scores.

ROGERS — Jay Burn rushed for 350 yards and two touchdowns as the Wildcats (5-4, 3-3) rolled to a 7A-West Conference victory over the Mounties (1-7, 0-6).

Burn broke off a 50-yard run the first time he touched the ball and his last seven carries resulted in runs of 10 yards or more. His lone carry of the second half was an 83-yard touchdown.

Har-Ber quarterback Blaise Wittschen tossed three touchdown passes as the Wildcats won their second game in a row.

Rogers quarterback Hunter Loyd completed 20 of 36 passes for 136 yards and Nathan Hahn ran 22 times for 115 yards.