Arkansas high school football notebook: Duo steps up for short-handed Pine Bluff

And more news and notes from Week 7 of Arkansas high school football

WHITE HALL, — On a night when the Pine Bluff Zebras had every reason to feel sorry for themselves, two players wouldn’t let the Zebras down. 

Running back Austyn Dendy, who recently committed to Missouri, rushed for 68 yards on 16 carries and 2 touchdowns, including a two-point conversion in the Zebras’ 20-14 victory over White Hall at Bulldog Stadium

Dendy opened the scoring at the 5:44 mark on a 1-yard run. After White Hall’s Jayden Smith and Noah Smith had touchdown runs of 13 and 42 yards in the second quarter to put the Bulldogs up 14-6, Dendy added a three-yard run with 34 seconds left in the second quarter that brought the Zebras to 14-12 when Marquez Bentley Jr.’s pass to Courtney Crutchfield fell incomplete for the two-point conversion.

“Like I told the other reporter, Dendy is a big-time kid,” said Pine Bluff head coach Michael Williams. “He’s a 4-star, 5-star kid and they need to list him as a 4-star, 5-star player.”

The other player, who would not let the Zebras lose was Brentley. Brentley, who normally plays running back, was forced into quarterback when Landon Holcomb was one of 23 players suspended for their role in a post-game fight after a 24-21, double-overtime loss to Mills on Oct. 6.

Brentley overcame several bad snaps which limited his rushing total to 21 yards on 17 carries and while his passing totals weren’t great (6-of-13 for 45 yards), he made the one big play in the fourth quarter when he scored from 9 yards out with 9:39 left to put the Zebras up 18-14. Dendy added the two-point conversion to set the final margin.

“I knew we lost some players and knew we were at a disadvantage, but I knew we had to score. Somebody had to put it in and I put it in,” said Brentley on his game-winning touchdown.

And while Dendy and Brentley came up with the big touchdowns, the defense stood up when it had to, stopping Smith at the goal line when he tried to score from two yards out with 1:24 left to preserve the victory.

“We stepped up big time,” said Williams. “We’re not thinking about last week. We’re thinking about the win tonight. We had a huge stop on the goal line.”

The goal-line stand came after the Bulldogs held the ball for 17 plays with 14 on the ground and withstood Smith converting a fourth and six on the seventh play of the drive.

Smith led the Bulldogs with 83 yards rushing on 19 carries.

The win improves Pine Bluff’s record to 6-2 overall and 5-1 in the 5A-Central keeping the Zebras in the mix for the conference title. White Hall falls to 3-4 and 2-3.

“We’re trying to chase down (conference leader Joe T.) Robinson (6-1, 5-0). Coach (Todd) Eskola is a good friend of mine and runs a great program so we’re trying to chase him down,” said Williams.

Courtney Crutchfield, an Arkansas Razorback commit, who had 60 yards in punt and kickoff returns, was succinct when summing up his team’s attitude this week. He said, “We got back in line and worked hard. We started listening more and becoming more disciplined.”

--Jeff Halpern

Fayetteville has perfect conference title in its sights

After defeating Bentonville 42-21 at home Friday night, Fayetteville (7-0, 4-0) all but put a bow on the 7A-West championship and the Bulldogs’ first undefeated regular-season since the 1957 team went 10-0 a whopping 66 years ago. That was before the state’s playoff system was in place, so Fayetteville and Little Rock Central (12-0) both finished perfect that season.

The Bulldogs have won five state championships since then (2007, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016), but none of those seasons ended with an unblemished record.

Now, with history on the line, the Bulldogs have three regular-season games ahead, before the playoffs begin. Fortunately, for the Purple Dogs, those last three games are against three of the bottom four teams in the conference – Har-Ber, Springdale and Rogers Heritage. But knowing that anything can happen in sports, Fayetteville must still prepare for those games the same as it has all season.

The Bulldogs have defeated both current second-place teams, Bentonville and Bentonville West, as well as fourth-place Rogers.

The three games remaining are against teams with a combined record of 5-16 overall, and 3-9 in the conference.

“We’ve still got that perfect season going, and that is something Fayetteville has not done in recent history,” senior linebacker Noah Janski said. “So, we want to make history. We’ve still got three regular-season games head of us, and we need to take care of business in those. But we knew Bentonville, Rogers and West were going to be our toughest competition and we were able to win those.”

Junior receiver Jaison DeLamar said it will be business as usual when the Bulldogs get back to practice on Monday.

“We’ve just got to come into practice these next few weeks, and keep grinding just like we did for all these other teams,” DeLamar said. “We just need to go do our thing and finish out strong.”

After losing three conference games by a combined five points last season, head coach Casey Dick said motivating his team down the stretch will not be a problem.

“There is a little motivation there,” Dick said with a smile. “I think any time you are competitive in sports, and that happens to you, you always want the next one. This is an experienced group that’s been through a lot, so there was a lot of internal drive in there for a bunch of these guys.

Senior quarterback Drake Lindsey, who has now thrown for at least five touchdowns in all four conference games – with no interceptions – is motivated for a perfect regular season, but that’s not all he’s willing to settle for.

“It feels great right now, but we’ve still got three games left and will try to go win them all,” Lindsay said. “We want to finish the regular season undefeated, but we won’t be done yet. Because we’ve got the playoffs, and winning the state championship is our big goal."

--Steve Andrews 

Southside defense smothers Nettleton

As if it has not already, Southside sent a message to the rest of the 5A-East that they are not to be underestimated.

The Southerners (7-0, 4-0) got in an early 10-0 hole on the road but it did not take very long for the momentum to shift in their favor as they outscored Nettleton 42-7 for the remainder of the contest in the 42-17 rout. The 7-0 start is the first for the program since 2017.

Senior quarterback Savion Hall led another impressive offensive showing, compiling 227 yards of offense (86 passing, 141 of the team’s 379 rushing yards) with four total touchdowns, however the defense that has played well all season kept the Raiders uncomfortable. Southside forced two turnovers, one by way of a forced fumble caused by Braden Simpson that was recovered by Brady Wood, while Andrew Plummer snagged an interception.

Another huge test is on the horizon for Friday against Valley View at home that will all but secure the 5A-East championship for the winner.

–Kyle Sutherland | @k_sutherlandAR

Bismarck hanging tough in 3A-4 race

Following a setback to Glen Rose last week that snapped a four-game win streak, the Lions devoured Magnet Cove 50-14 to keep themselves in position for the top two spots in the 3A-4. They are currently behind Glen Rose and Centerpoint who are tied for first place.

Bismarck (5-2, 3-1) rode the hot hand of junior quarterback Ben Keithley who passed for 413 yards and threw six touchdowns, all to different receivers. Tony Weeks hauled one in and also led the team with 120 yards, while the other five were Caedmon Keithley, Johnny Diaz, Dalton Daniels, Preston Hughes and Joseph Roberson. Hughes also had a big night defensively with 15 total tackles and intercepted two passes.

The Lions have a favorable slate in their next two contests, first at home against Danville on Friday and then they head to Two Rivers on October 27 before hosting Centerpoint for senior night. That Week 10 matchup will likely be for the conference’s No. 2 seed assuming both handle their business and Glen Rose does not slip up.

–Kyle Sutherland | @k_sutherlandAR