Bentonville claims Big West Conference title

CENTERTON -- Springdale Har-Ber coach Eric Nolan was more pleased with his team's effort Saturday at the Big West Conference tournament than a week ago at the Dual State tournament, but the end result was similar. The Wildcats still couldn't catch Bentonville High. The Tigers rode 10 medalists, including four champions, to the Big West team title with 228 points -- 15.5 points better than Har-Ber -- at Bentonville West's Wolverine Arena. That makes back-to-back weeks that Bentonville defeated Har-Ber, including the Dual State Tournament title a week ago in Van Buren. But Nolan said his team answered the call this week. "I always tell our kids the only time a loss is bad is when you don't learn from it," Nolan said. "I feel like we saw growth with our team from last week to this week." Bentonville coach James Rappe liked the way his team competed for the most part, but said there were a few matches the Tigers dropped that he thought they should have won. "All around I can't really pick any moments out that I'm disappointed in," Rappe said. "I think there were some moments that we could have performed better in, however, it's a situation where you're asking kids to give you their best. It's a long season. They've been beating on each other back and forth. "Instead of breaking them down after they've went through something that's tough on them, you've got to build them up." Bentonville's wins by Obi Smith (126), Logan Schmidt (132), Cash Jones (145) and Luke Brandon (170) were huge in leading the Tiges to the team title, Rappe said. Brandon (64-3) was also named the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler for upper weights. Smith pinned Bentonville West's Stephen Fox, the defending Class 6A-7A state champion at 113, notching his second win of the season over him. Jones, who came in seeded second, dominated most of the match against top-seeded Logan Sloss of Russellville, the defending 6A-7A state champion at 138. He led 17-4 in the third period, but got caught late and was put on his back. However, Jones avoided the pin as time ran out, giving him the 17-6 major decision. "Obi picking up the pin is huge on Stephen Fox," Rappe said. "Carrying right into 132, Logan Schmidt getting (Bryce) Arroyos was huge. He's a very good wrestler. Cash came out and did his thing against the kid they had ranked number one in the state. He's a very good wrestler, but I think we were ready for the match today." Har-Ber finished with three champions in Brendan Davis (113), Josh Tyler (152) and Britton Bowman (160) and won two of the three matchups against Bentonville in the finals. Nolan acknowledged he wasn't happy with his team's effort a week ago, but the effort was much better this time. "I wasn't real happy last week and my thing with that is if our kids step up like they did today and yesterday and they come in second, I'm OK with that," Nolan said. "It's when I feel like we're not determined or motivated where that's a problem." Springdale High sophomore Isaac Ponce (34-7) won at 106 and was also named the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler for the lower weight classes.

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BENTONVILLE CLAIMS BIG WEST CONFERENCE TITLE

PAUL BOYD

NWA Democrat Gazette | 2/12/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Bentonville Athletics