First kick a sign for Bentonville

BENTONVILLE -- Andrew Griffith never expected to be the player to field the opening kickoff Friday, especially since he's a member of Bentonville's kickoff coverage team. The senior linebacker pounced on the football after the kick hit a Rogers Heritage player, and the Tigers scored four plays later en route to a 70-0 romp over the War Eagles in 7A-West Conference action at Tiger Stadium. "I never thought that would happen in my life," Griffith said. "I was just running down the field, trying to get to the ball carrier. I saw the ball hit the guy and bounce off him. "Since I was going full speed with so much momentum, I was going to pick the ball up and give it to our offense." Bentonville Coach Jody Grant said his kicker simply mishit the kick instead of it being an onside or squib attempt, but Tigers had everything go their way to set up next week's showdown with unbeaten Bentonville West with the outright league championship up for grabs. Bentonville (7-2, 6-0 7A-West) compiled 405 yards of total offense in the first half while building a 49-0 cushion. Rogers Heritage (1-8, 1-5) had just 162 yards of total offense, but it did get as close as the Tigers' 14 late in the game before Bentonville's defensive reserves had three consecutive quarterback sacks to end the threat. "We emphasized that from the get-go," Grant said. "All the people around us -- friends, family and the community -- they're ready to talk about next week. We made sure our kids stayed focused this week because next week will happen next week. The focus was on Heritage, which warranted the respect our kids had given them." Nathan Lyons threw 4 touchdown passes for the third consecutive game and had 166 yards on 9-of-12 passing before he exited midway the second quarter. Running back Easton Miller had 128 yards and 2 touchdowns on just 8 carries. The Tigers' reserves joined in on the scoring when senior tailback Joey Escamilla ran for 104 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries. Preston Crawford, Patrick Bell and Colby Ried had a touchdown run apiece, the latter a 70-yard burst to close out the scoring. "Our kids are playing really good football right now," Grant said. "I think it's the right time to be doing it in all facets of the game. Things really clicked for us on both sides of the ball."

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Bentonville High School Athletics

FIRST KICK A SIGN FOR BENTONVILLE

HENRY APPLE

Arkansas Online | 10/29/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Bentonville Athletics