Bentonville smashes Rogers Heritage, 52-0

ROGERS — Bentonville made it look easy again Friday night.

Bentonville built a 38-point halftime lead and rolled to a 52-0 victory over Rogers Heritage in a 7A-West Conference game at Gates Stadium. Sophomore Josh Ficklin had three touchdown runs in the first half for Bentonville (6-0, 3-0), which led 38-0 at halftime following a line drive 33-yard field goal from Logan Turner with 2 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

Sean Anderson rushed for 104 yards and scored a touchdown on 14 attempts in the first half to lead Bentonville. Bentonville sent in the reserves and Drew Wright took over at quarterback in the second half, which was played with a running clock via the sportsmanship rule for high school football in Arkansas.

“We want any opportunity we get for kids who practice so hard for us to play on Friday night,” Bentonville coach Jody Grant said. “We had a lot of guys come in and make plays.”

Bentonville entered the game as a heavy favorite against Rogers Heritage (1-4, 0-3), which ended a 25-game losing streak last month with a 55-12 win over Springfield (Mo.) Central. The War Eagles fell well short of the near-perfect game they would’ve had to play against Bentonville, which won 35-7 last week at Fort Smith Southside.

Heritage couldn’t stop the Bentonville running game, and the War Eagles added to their quick demise by committing five turnovers — three interceptions and two fumbles — in the first half.

Bentonville scored on two of its first three possessions and led 14-0 after an 11-yard run by Ficklin and a 5-yard touchdown pass from Andrew Edwards to tight end Jackson Gilbreth. The Tigers continued their assault in the second quarter and led 35-0 following two short touchdown runs by Ficklin and one from Anderson.

The biggest cheer from the home crowd came when Seth Kendall intercepted a pass for Rogers Heritage and returned it to the War Eagle 37. But Cole Joyce and Jackson Hutchens intercepted passes for Bentonville, and Turner capped the first-half scoring on a 33-yard field goal with 2 seconds left.

FOUR DOWNS

• Roger Heritage threw three interceptions and lost two fumbles while falling behind 38-0 at halftime.

• Cole Joyce, Jackson Hutchens and Ty Riley had interceptions in the first half for Bentonville.

• Drew Wright took over at quarterback in the second half when the Tigers used plenty of reserves with the game out of reach.

• Bentonville will return home against Fayetteville on Friday while Rogers Heritage plays at Fort Smith Southside in 7A-West Conference scheduled games.