Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
West posts program’s first shutout
BENTONVILLE WEST 45, SPRINGDALE HAR-BER 0
SPRINGDALE — Dakota McDonald was in the right place at the right time Friday night.
McDonald’s second-quarter touchdown will show up on the stat sheet as a 13-yard pass from his little brother Dalton McDonald. The pass was actually intended for another receiver, but the ball was tipped around, and Dakota pulled the ball in at the back of the end zone.
That was just one play in Bentonville West’s historic 45-0 win against Springdale Har-Ber in Wildcat Stadium. The win was historic in that it was the first shutout in program history for the three-year-old Wolverines.
It also summed up the game as a whole.
“It’s huge to get a shutout any time,” West coach Bryan Pratt said. “Anytime you’re playing in 7A football, it’s tough to get a shutout. They don’t come very often, especially with the running clock and that kind of stuff. Really proud of our young guys. You can see us on the sideline — we really want to coach those guys hard, and we want our kids to buy into them just like they buy into our varsity.”
West (4-3, 4-0 7A-West) won its fourth straight game — all in conference play — in dominating fashion. The Wolverines intercepted three Har-Ber passes in the first half, two leading to touchdowns, and blocked a punt for a touchdown in the mercy-rule win.
Jonas Higson, who played in his first game back from an injury, said the focus of the Wolverines’ defense was to contain Har-Ber running back Jay Burns, who rushed for 323 yards and four touchdowns last week against Springdale High. The unit did just that, holding Burns to just 35 yards on 14 carries.
“We knew he had a big game a week before against their crosstown rivals, and we knew that they ran a lot of run plays to our strong side,” Higson said. “They told me at the beginning of the week it would be a man-check for me. I just had to man-up this week, and our game plan worked out really well.”
Higson also got in on the scoring, blocking a Har-Ber punt into the end zone, then recovering for a 21-0 lead with 8 minutes, 33 seconds left in the second quarter.
West led 35-0 at halftime and held Har-Ber to 108 total yards. The second half was more of the same. The Wild- cats’ biggest play of the game came with under 20 seconds left when backup quarterback
Noah Livingston hit backup receiver Walker Immel on a 53-yard strike down the left sideline to the West 13. With the clock almost out, West sacked Livington to end the game.
“We didn’t play very well offensively,” Pratt said. “We did some stupid things and had some penalties that cost us, but our defense just kept coming through.
West backup running back Tanner Anderson was a bright spot offensively for West, ripping off a 74-yard touchdown run to cap the scoring and finishing with 105 yards.
Higson said the Wolverines, who share the 7A-West lead with Bentonville, have put the 0-3 start to the season behind them.
“After every game in nonconference, our coaches just told us, yes important and you don’t want to lose, but just put it behind you and focus on conference games,” Higson said. “I think our team really bowed up after that 0-3 start.”