Bulldogs, Tigers back in familiar territory
Regular-season rematch pits teams in 4th championship game in 5 years
Fayetteville wasn’t going to let a 43-point loss to Bentonville in the final week of the regular season ruin its dreams of a state championship.
The Bulldogs are back in the Class 7A state championship game today at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, where they will get another crack at Bentonville after losing 45-2 to the Tigers on Nov. 7 in Bentonville.
It is the fourth time in five years Bentonville (8-4) and Fayetteville (11-2) have met in the state championship game.
The Week 10 loss knocked the Bulldogs out of the No. 1 seed from the 7A-West Conference to the fourth seed, but that didn’t deter Fayetteville. It beat Cabot (35-14) and won on the road at Conway (4235) and Fort Smith Southside (56-14) — both No. 1 seeds — to reach its fifth title game in eight years.
“The team that wins state championships is the team that gets healthy and gets hot at the right time,” Fayetteville Coach Daryl Patton said. “I like where we’re at right now.”
Sophomore quarterback Taylor Powell turned in his most efficient game of the season last Friday in the semifinals at Fort Smith Southside. Powell completed 20 of 22 passes for 219 yards and 3 touchdowns.
“He’s grown up and matured,” Patton said of Powell, who has passed for 2,208 yards and 18 touchdowns. “The game is slowing down for him. Gosh, he’s playing as well as anybody around.”
Bentonville is back in the title game for the fifth consecutive season. The Tigers opened the season with four consecutive losses but have won eight in a row since. That includes knocking off North Little Rock 42-10 last Friday, when junior quarterback Kasey Ford threw for two touchdowns.
Bentonville defeated Cabot 39-28 in last season’s championship game.
“We know that if we can compete in our conference for a championship, then we have a chance to compete statewide for a championship,” said Bentonville Coach Barry Lunney, who will try to lead the Tigers to their fifth state title overall and the fourth since he was hired in 2005. “It’s fun to get here.
“I don’t take it for granted, I know that. I hope that our kids don’t.”
This will be the 29th meeting between Bentonville and Fayetteville since the schools started playing each other in 1991, and the series is tied 14-14. Bentonville has won the past nine regular-season meetings, but Fayetteville has won three playoff games against the Tigers, including state championship games in 2011 and 2012.
Lunney said the rivalry is important to both schools.
“You ought to be playing for something of significance,” Lunney said. “It’s been that way with Fayetteville for a couple of years now. It’s just not this way everywhere. You’ve got to enjoy it and embrace it. I hope our communities do. I think they do. I know they do.”
Bentonville’s 0-4 start included losses to regional and national programs Kansas City (Mo.) Rockhurst, Broken Arrow, Okla., and Bergen Catholic (N.J.), but the Tigers pulled it together in conference play as they earned a share of the 7A-West title and the conference’s No. 2 seed in the 7A playoffs.
Lunney said a challenging nonconference schedule has helped Bentonville get to where it is.
“If you’re going to have a chance to be the best, you have to play the best,” Lunney said. “We’ve had a lot of fun over the past several years playing not only teams in our state that are excellent, but also teams that regionally and nationally have name recognition and great programs.
“It’s been great for us. It’s really helped us to the point where our expectations are, if we can get here, we know the level of football we have to play to win.”
Patton said he also was pleased pleased with his team’s ability to bounce back after its loss to Bentonville.
“They don’t give rings out in November,” Patton said. “You have to earn it and play for it in December to get it. The kids understand that.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Bentonville. They were great that night, but they didn’t see our best.”