THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Bentonville West High School Athletics

CENTERTON -- Darin Davenport's return to Fort Smith Southside's ranks helped ruin Bentonville West's stadium celebration party Friday night. The senior linebacker, who missed all of last season with an injury, picked off Dalton McDonald's pass and ran 22 yards untouched for a touchdown, helping the Mavericks open their season with a 44-31 victory during the inaugural game at Wolverine Stadium. "He made some big-time plays, and he's a big-time player," Southside Coach Jeff Williams said. "He made some plays early to set us up some momentum, then he made a big one to end it. He just had a phenomenal game." Bentonville West (0-2) trailed 13-7 and took over on its 10 after Kendall Young's sack of Taye Gatewood on third down shut down a Southside drive. Tyrese Smallwood gained 16 yards on the first play, then the sophomore McDonald -- filling in for the injured Will Jarrett -- went back to pass. The ball hit Davenport in the right side of his chest. He then had nobody within 10 yards of him as he raced into the end zone and gave Southside (1-0) a 20-7 lead with 6:44 left in the first half. "I was hungry to play again," Davenport said. "I wanted to give 100 percent, and I gave 100 percent. "On that play, I knew what was coming. I read the quarterback's eyes, so I knew exactly where he was going to throw the ball. When he did, I was right there to make the play. It was a breeze as I ran into the end zone." Bentonville West did try to make comeback attempts three times in the second half, but Ricardo Savoy was there to dash the Wolverines' hopes each time. After Tanner Anderson's 2-yard touchdown run pulled Bentonville West within 23-21 with 9:33 left in the third quarter, Savoy raced down the left sideline and hauled in a Gatewood pass for a 76-yard touchdown two plays later. Smallwood, who had touchdown receptions of 70 and 51 yards in the first half, added a 1-yard touchdown run to make it a 30-28 game, only for Savoy to race 68 yards for a score two plays later. Savoy, who finished with 239 yards on 17 carries, then followed Blake McDoulett's 23-yard field goal with another 63-yard touchdown run to cap things for Southside. "We could never catch up," Bentonville West Coach Bryan Pratt said. "It was one of those things when we're going to have some mistakes starting a sophomore quarterback. He did a really good job throughout, but when he makes a mistake it's usually going to be big. "Our team kept fighting, but we have to get some things cleaned up. We have to stop some people and not give up those long touchdowns. We have to make tackles, and we have to sustain some drives better on offense. We're in the learning process right now, and when you lose somebody like Will, it changes things a little bit." West closes out nonconference play next week with a home game against Bryant, while Southside plays its home opener against Greenwood.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Bentonville West High School Athletics

FS SOUTHSIDE RUINS CELEBRATION

HENRY APPLE

Arkansas Online | 9/2/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Charlie Kaijo