West stays on ground for OT victory

FRIDAY’S 7A-WEST BENTONVILLE WEST 34, ROGERS 31

CENTERTON — Bentonville West was devoted to its running game, particularly between the tackles, throughout the second half of its 7A-West Conference home game against Rogers High.

The Wolverines didn’t stray from that plan when they went into overtime for the first time in school history.

Senior running back Luke Miller took the ball two straight times and followed the blocking of West’s offensive lineman, and the second carry resulted in a 3-yard touchdown run as West earned a 34-31 victory and handed Rogers its first loss of the season.

“They were doing a lot of man-to-man (coverage), and we couldn’t get off,” West coach Bryan Pratt said. “We couldn’t seem to get any plays in our passing game, so we felt like we should be able to run the football. We got into some heavy packages, and I thought we did a fairly good job at it.

“I thought we played our best ball in overtime. That’s the part that is frustrating for a coach. We know we can play like that. We’re just inconsistent with our play right now.”

Miller finished with 18 carries for 99 yards and two touchdowns as he alternated with fellow senior Carlos Hall, who compiled 12 carries for 72 yards and a score. The majority of that yardage came between the tackles, although Miller was used on occasion to go outside and keep Rogers from stacking its defense.

Miller, however, had a long touchdown run called back because of a penalty, one of 12 called against West (4-2, 2-0). He also had three receptions for 55 yards, but he missed another chance to score when he was overthrown while being wide-open on a wheel route.

“The penalty on Luke’s touchdown run, that was horrible,” Pratt said. “That’s bad for us, then we missed Luke on that wheel route on the fourth quarter. We left a lot of points on the field that we should have gotten. That’s just the inconsistent play of our offense.”

Rogers (3-1, 0-1), which played its first game in three weeks, used Christian Francisco’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Gavin Pitts and Francisco’s 6-yard touchdown run to take a 28-20 lead with 10 minutes, 45 seconds left in regulation. West, however, bounced back with Hall’s 27-yard touchdown run and Dalton McDonald’s twopoint conversion run to tie the game.

The Mounties melted more than 7 minutes off the clock with their ensuing drive and had the ball inside the West 25, but Yahir Munoz had his 40-yard field goal attempt blocked with 13 seconds left. Rogers then threw three straight incomplete passes in overtime before Munoz hit a 27-yard field goal.