Har-Ber’s defense swarms Northside
NO. 1 SPRINGDALE HAR-BER 48, FORT SMITH NORTHSIDE 7
SPRINGDALE — Springdale Har-Ber’s defense did more than just stop Fort Smith Northside.
Blaze Brothers and David Vowell returned interceptions for touchdowns as Har-Ber defeated Northside 48-7 on a rainy homecoming night at Wildcat Stadium. Har-Ber scored 28 points in the second quarter with the help of a 33-yard interception return by Brothers and a 22-yard interception return by Vowell, a senior defensive end.
Bryton Cook added a third interception to set up a 14-yard touchdown pass from Fuller Chandler to Trey Smith to put the Wildcats ahead 41-7.
“Our defense set the tone, no doubt about it,” Har-Ber Coach Chris Wood said. “They scored 14 points and gave us great field position early on when we were sluggish offensively. It was just another night where our defense rose to the occasion.”
Har-Ber (8-1, 6-0) clinched a share of the 7A-West Conference championship and a first-round bye for the Class 7A playoffs. The Wildcats can earn their first outright league title with a victory next week at Rogers Heritage.
“We’re greedy. We want to win it outright,” Wood said. “We’ll enjoy this until 10 o’clock [Friday], then we’ll get ready for Heritage.”
Har-Ber got rolling in the second quarter after an 8-yard touchdown run by Tyler Blackston. Then Brothers scored on his interception return before Luke Hannon added an 8-yard touchdown run to give Har-Ber a 21-7 lead. Vowell finished off the first-half scoring when he intercepted a screen pass by Max Frazier and returned it for a touchdown.
Northside (4-5, 3-3) took a 7-0 lead when linebacker Chuy Parga recovered a fumble by Chandler and returned it 21 yards for a touchdown. But that was it for the Grizzlies, who did not complete a pass in the game and were held to 26 total yards in the first half.
Northside’s best weapon was Parga, who had punts of 67, 66 and 49 yards in the first half.
Har-Ber increased its lead in the second half behind Hannon, who had runs of 34 and 35 yards to set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Chandler. Tali Nasilai added a 48-yard touchdown run to start the clock running under the mercy rule with 6:25 left in the game.
NO. 7 BENTONVILLE 49, ROGERS HERITAGE 6
BENTONVILLE — Casey Ford ran for two touchdowns and passed for two more as Bentonville (8-1, 5-1 7A-West) defeated Rogers Heritage (0-9, 0-6).
Ford threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Kam’Ron Mays-Hunt, a 3-yard pass to Chase Hunter and scored on runs of 1 and 12 yards in the first half as the Tigers took a 35-3 lead into halftime and were never threatened.