Wolverines make history with win over Van Buren

BENTONVILLE — The first thing Bryan Pratt told his Bentonville West football players after they had gathered in the south end zone was to “jump around” as the music blared over the speakers.

The Wolverines had reasons to celebrate Friday night. They had just notched the first victory in school history, and they did it in their 7A-West Conference opener with a convincing 42-14 victory over Van

Buren at Tiger Stadium.

“This is special,” sophomore quarterback Will Jarrett said. “This is something I will never forget. It was a fun game from the first whistle to the last.”

West (1-3, 1-0) scored 28 unanswered points after Van Buren (1-3, 0-1) tied the game at 14 on its first play of the second half — a 70-yard touchdown pass from Caleb Salisbury to Walter Green. The Wolverines needed only six plays to change that as Kobe Anderson ran 7 yards for the score, and Blake McDoulett’s kick made it 21-14 with 7 minutes, 52 seconds left in the third quarter.

That was West’s first offensive touchdown on the ground this season, but the Wolverines weren’t finished at that point. After Jarrett hit Jackson Prince with a 13-yard touchdown pass later in the third quarter, Sebastian Caniglia scored on a 4-yard run with 9:46 remaining and Cory Patton added a 4-yard touchdown run to cap the scoring.

“We were standing around a week ago in this same spot, and it wasn’t that much fun,” Pratt said. “We had to get people to buy in to what we were doing. We talked about getting out of the wagon and pulling instead of riding or being a speed bump, and our kids responded very well. We came out and had the best week of practice we’ve had, and it paid off.”

“If you’re going to win, you have to run the football, and that’s one of the reasons we haven’t been winning. We came out and had success, especially in the second half.”

Van Buren took the opening kickoff and milked more than 7 minutes off the clock before Green scored on a 9-yard run. West needed only four plays to answer as Jarrett, who missed last week’s game with an injury, hit Jadon Jackson with a 62-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 7 with 3:13 left in the first quarter.

The Wolverines then caught a break as the second quarter started when Van Buren was in punt formation and Josue Recinos fumbled the snap away. Slade Pearson picked up the loose ball and ran 22 yards for a touchdown, and McDoulett’s kick gave West a 14-7 lead.

“What a boost of confidence this is, and just for us coaches personally,” Pratt said. “You’ve been grinding for so long, trying to get things right and you couldn’t seem to get any luck going. What a great time to turn it around.”

Pratt