Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
West’s offense too much in win over Heritage
BENTONVILLE — West head coach Bryan Pratt admitted the combination of fall break and homecoming took Bentonville West’s football team a little bit out of its usual routine this week.
The Wolverines, however, continued their winning ways Friday as they compiled 658 yards total offense and claimed a 59-21 victory over Rogers Heritage in 7A-West Conference action at Tiger Stadium.
The win guarantees West (8-0, 5-0) a first-round playoff bye and a quarterfinal game at home with still two regular-season games remaining.
“We can definitely move the football if we get a chance to do so,” Pratt said. “(Offensive coordinator Casey) Dick did a good job of preparing us as far as scheming up some things, and we were able to make some plays. That’s a good thing about it.
“It’s tough to keep the kids at an intensity level you want them to play at. We had three really tough weeks coming into this week. You had practice times jacked up, and we weren’t as focused as we needed to be.”
West owned a 31-7 halftime lead and added to that when quarterback Will Jarrett, who completed 26 of 34 passes for 420 yards and three touchdowns, connected with Jadon Jackson on a 43-yard touchdown pass with 10 minutes, 46 seconds left in the third quarter.
Heritage (1-7, 1-4), however, scored on its next two possessions and cut the Wolverines’ lead to a 38-21 margin. Zach Brown hit Jay De La Rosa with a 20-yard touchdown pass, then sneaked in from a yard out four plays after the War Eagles recovered a squib kick at the West 22.
“I felt like our team kept fighting and kept fighting,” Heritage coach Tony Travis said.
“We can find some good things in this one and hopefully get better these next two weeks of our season.
“We still did too many things wrong against a good football team. You’re not going to get to the fourth quarter against these better teams by making so many mistakes.”
West regrouped and marched 63 yards in seven plays to regain control, with Jarrett hitting Dakota McDonald with a 22-yard touchdown pass with 2:48 left in the third quarter. The Wolverines’ reserves took care of the rest of the scoring as O’Niel Herrera-Rivas scored on a 4-yard run on the opening play of the fourth quarter, then backup quarterback Jake West scored from 4 yards out and forced the sportsmanship rule with 3:05 remaining.
Tyreese Smallwood finished with 111 yards on 16 carries and scored on a pair of 1-yard runs as West’s first three touchdowns came on the ground. Jarrett hit Stefan Banda with a 9-yard touchdown pass with a minute before halftime, while Heritage’s other score came on 70-yard pass from Brown to Zach Gall.
West returns to action next week at Rogers High, while Heritage returns to Tiger Stadium to face Bentonville High.
“We can definitely move the football if we get a chance to do so.” — Bentonville West coach Bryan Pratt