Bentonville receiver Chas Nimrod is the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Player of the Week.

Three games into his junior year, Chas Nimrod is an emerging star at receiver for Bentonville.

Nimrod has scored five touchdowns for the Tigers, who are 3-0 following impressive road wins at Conway, Kansas City (Mo.) Rockhurst, and Shawnee (Kan.) Mill Valley.

“Chas is 6-foot-3 and he can run,” Bentonville coach Jody Grant said. “We want to get him the ball and let him do his thing.”

Nimrod did his thing aplenty against Mill Valley, Kansas’ defending state champions in Class 5A. Nimrod played a vital role with five catches for 176 yards and two touchdowns in Bentonville’s 35-28 victory over the Jaguars. Nimrod took a pass from quarterback Andrew Edwards then used his 4.5 speed (laser timed) in the 40-yard dash to sprint 76 yards for his first touchdown. Nimrod also caught a pass that went 59 yards for a touchdown and he had a 26-yard gain on Bentonville’s winning touchdown drive in the fourth quarter.

For his effort, Nimrod in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Player of the Week.

“Looking back, my favorite play of the night was my first touchdown,” said Nimrod, who caught a pass about 15 yards down field then outran the pursuit for a 76-yard score. “I didn’t know how much I accelerated until I saw the play on film.”

Nimrod flashed his bigplay ability last year as a sophomore with 16 catches for 375 yards and four touchdowns. He also returned a kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown in a playoff game against Little Rock Catholic.

Two weeks ago, Nimrod caught five passes for 81 yards and two touchdowns in a 21-17 win at Rockhurst, which has won more state championships than any high school football program in Missouri.

“You better put a safety over the top against Chas or he’ll hurt you,” Grant said. “He also does a good job protecting the edge on runs plays.”

Bentonville’s win at Mill Valley was part of a mostly successful weekend for Arkansas teams against stiff competition from out of state. Bryant defeated Trinity Christian (Texas) 44-40, Pulaski Academy beat Life Christian (Va.) 31-20, and Fort Smith Northside won 28-21 at Moore, Okla., in a game that was arranged just last week.

“We wanted to make a statement and we did that two weeks in a row,” Nimrod said. “Those wins and the wins by Bryant and Pulaski Academy shows Arkansas football is better than people think.”

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