BENTONVILLE GETS rolling early, knocks off Conway.

BENTONVILLE 47, CONWAY 21

CONWAY — Bentonville’s season opener was delayed by a week, but the wait didn’t seem to affect the Tigers much on Friday.

The Tigers racked up more than 500 yards of total offense and used an efficient outing from senior quarterback Andrew Edwards to knock off Conway 47-21 at John McConnell Stadium.

“We were really pleased with the way we played,” said Bentonville Coach Jody Grant, whose team was originally set to open the season the previous Friday against Liberty (Mo.) North but was forced to cancel the game after the Missouri team was not allowed to travel out of state. “I did think in the first half we looked a little bit rusty and made some mistakes, but then we challenged them at halftime. They came out with a different mindset there in that third quarter.

“Conway’s a really good football team, and we feel really good about this win because we know just how good they are.”

Bentonville (1-0) was plenty good itself, particularly in that third quarter. The Tigers outscored the Wampus Cats 16-0 during that 12-minute stretch to build a lead that ended up being too much for Conway to overcome.

Edwards finished 11-of-18 passing for 219 yards with 2 touchdowns. He also carried the ball 11 times for 70 yards and 1 score. Sophomore running back Josh Ficklin also had a productive night for the Tigers, running 11 times for 104 and 1 touchdown.

Senior quarterback Ben Weese, who threw for nearly 300 yards a week ago against Fayetteville, was held to just 137 yards passing for Conway (1-1).

Bentonville took the opening kick and ate up nearly six minutes off the clock before Edwards snuck in from a yard out to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead with 6:43 to go.

The Wampus Cats returned the favor on their initial series and tied it at 7-7 when Weese delivered a pass to senior tight end Jayden Williams for a 33yard touchdown.

Conway would catch a break on Bentonville’s next possession to take its first lead. Senior punter Logan Turner shanked a 3-yarder off the side of his foot at the Tigers’ 45-yard line. Three plays later, senior running back Jamaal Bethune rumbled 31 yards for a touchdown with two minutes left in the first quarter to put the Wampus Cats out front.

But the Tigers answered the way Grant hoped they would. Bentonville scored the game’s next 10 points to take a lead into halftime. Edwards tossed a 70-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Cooper Smith with 32 seconds remaining in the period to tie the game at 14-14, and Turner added a 22-yard field goal just before the break that gave the Tigers a 17-14 cushion.

“We’ve got to be able to respond in situations like that,” Grant explained. “[The short punt] was a key moment because it gave Conway some momentum. But we can’t let things like that linger, and I thought my guys handled that well.”

Edwards continued Bentonville’s surge on his team’s first offensive snap of the third quarter when he lofted a 46yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Chas Nimrod at the 9:56 mark.

Conway put itself in an even deeper spot with backto-back turnovers afterward. Following a Weese interception, Ficklin scored on a 36yard run with 6:32 showing to push Bentonville’s lead to 3014. The Tigers then recovered a fumble on the resulting kickoff moments later, leading to a 36-yard field goal by Turner.

“Against great teams, you can’t make mistakes like we did,” Conway Coach Keith Fimple said, referring to his team’s third-quarter woes. “That’s something that we need to grow on and build off of. We gave up field position and did some things that you just can’t do against a team like Bentonville.

“It was just a barrage of things there in that quarter that really hurt us.”

Running backs Sean Anderson, a junior, and Johny Pike, a sophomore, had touchdown runs in the fourth quarter for Bentonville.

Sophomore running back Boogie Carr scored on a 2-yard dive in the final quarter for Conway.