HAYS - Hays High played Bentonville, Ark for their first home game of the season which was also Homecoming.
Bentonville entered as the top ranked team in class 7A out of Arkansas. Their enrollment tops 3,300. Hays enrollment will becoming official on the 21st of the month and will likely land below 1,100.
A fourth quarter comeback fell short as Hays fell 20-14 to Bentonville.
Bentonville (3-0) fired early using a strong south wind to their advantage. Hays punted on the first drive and the Tigers struck from 52 yards away on a screen play. A holding penalty took the points off the board but Bentonville was not deterred. The Tigers caught a tipped pass for a 39 yard score with 10:14 left in the first quarter.
Hays (2-1) put together their best drive of the first half of 10 plays and 41 yards. The Indians converted fourth and one from their own 29 yard line before punting inside Tiger territory.
Riley Windholz pulled down an interception on Bentonville's next possession but the Indians' offense turned the ball over on downs after the next four plays.
The two teams traded punts into the second quarter, after which Bentonville put together their longest drive of the first half. A ten play, 75 yard drive that saw the Tigers convert on 4th and 1 in their own territory and 3rd and 7 with an 18 yard pass. Bentonville finished off the drive with a two yard touchdown run for a 14-0 score at the 5:31 mark of the first half.
Highlights
Bentonville looked poised to run away with the game in the second half. The Tigers hit on a 40 yard touchdown pass on their first drive of the third quarter. A missed extra point left the score at 20-0 with 8:03 showing in the quarter.
Hays fumbled on the first play of the second half. Bentonville took over at the Indians' 23 yard line but couldn't score. Braxton Basgall picked off a deflected pass in the end zone and returned it out to the 15 yard line.
The Indians didn't score on the drive but did flip the field with a Jace Dreher 61 yard punt that Lane Geist was able to catch up with keep in play to be downed at the two.
A Bentonville 20 yard punt into the wind set up Hays at the Tigers' 29 yard line. It took seven plays but the Indians got onto the scoreboard for the first time. Joey Dintino found Archer Amrein out of the backfield for a touchdown in the southwest corner of the end zone with 11:02 left in the game. Mason Zimmerman's extra point closed the gap down to 20-7.
Bentonville was again forced to punt. This time with the wind at their backs, the Tigers downed the ball at the Hays eight yard line. Dintino went over top of the defense, into the wind, to find Brogan Albers for an 85 yard gain to the Bentonville 7. The Indians backed themselves up ten yards on a pair of pre-snap penalties. Dintino hit Jaxon Prediger for a sixteen yard gain to the one. Basgall ended the drive with a one yard touchdown plunge. The Zimmerman extra point brought Hays within six points at 20-14 with 5:45 left.
Hays never got the ball back. The Tigers converted a 3rd and 13 with a 14 yard quarterback scramble and another on a five yard facemask penalty.
Coach Tony Crough
Dintino threw for 132 yards on 9 of 18 through the air. Albers caught three passes for 103 yards. Bentonville outgained Hays 312 to 206. The Indians won the turnover battle two to one.
Hays heads on the road for a third time in four weeks to open the season. The Indians will face their first Western Athletic Conference opponent, Garden City.