Van Buren goes for winning season

The Van Buren Pointers are now the hunted. That’s what happens after a big home win over a ranked opponent and facing a road trip against a hungry opponent. “As a program, we need to go get that win,” Van Buren head coach Crosby Tuck said. “It’s huge for us, mentally, program-wide, building off a signature win. We have to build off of it. To take a step back would be frustrating.” Van Buren’s 35-30 win over Bentonville West, ranked seventh at the time in the statewide Arkansas Sports Media Poll, wrapped up the fifth seed in the Class 7A playoffs on Senior Night at home. Van Buren travels to Springdale on Friday. The Bulldogs will celebrate Senior Night at Jarrell Williams Stadium and must win to get into the playoffs. “It’s a playoff game to them,” Tuck said. “It’s their Senior Night as well. They have several things to energize them. People were talking about how last week could be a trap game for Bentonville West. It could be a trap game for us, coming off a big win and having already secured our playoff seed. They’re fighting for the playoffs.” The Pointers also have a lot at stake as a win would mean a winning season, their first since 2010. “One of the things that’s important to us right now is we want to go in there and guarantee ourselves a winning season,” Tuck said. “That’s a big step for us. The ball’s in our court to be able to do that.” The Pointers are coming off consecutive solid efforts against two of the top teams in the 7A-West. Two weeks ago, Van Buren led Springdale Har-Ber 31-21, before giving up two touchdowns in the final 4:03 to lose, 34-31. Last week, Van Buren erased a 24-14 halftime deficit with two quick offensive touchdowns and a defensive score to hold on to a 35-30 win over West. “If we’re going to go out there and play with that kind of effort, we can pretty much play with anybody as long as that’s how we’re going to play for four quarters versus what we were doing for a while,” Tuck said. “It has to be something that it’s where we’re at now with the program. We can’t regress from that. We can’t do that for two weeks and take a step back. That’s the way we have to play football. If we’re able to do that, both the last two weeks are big for us.” Van Buren’s defense was stellar the last two weeks, especially in the second half on Friday when it turned away West time after time. “They’ve been giving superb effort, coming out and flying around,” Van Buren defensive coordinator Moe Henry said. “We’ve played two really good offenses the last two weeks. We came up with several turnovers against both of them. That’s been their rewards for playing with such energy and effort.” West had four straight possessions into Van Buren territory in the second half without any points with multiple defensive players making key plays. “That’s something that we try to do when we’re thinking of the game plan,” Henry said. “The kids have fun with the movements that we do because they know if everything works together as a unit that they’re going to have their time and the opportunity to make plays. We’ve been able to have a good distribution of plays being made by everybody.” West did have 82 offensive plays last week for 508 yards and 23 first downs, but Van Buren’s defense made big plays when it counted. “They do a good job of reloading for the next series and that is a testament to the condition they are in,” Henry said. “Some of the corrections we want to be able to do is for them to be able to have 82 snaps is something that as a defense we go back and analyze ourselves; how could we have minimized these snaps and how could we get off the field on third down. If we can do that, that number won’t get as high. The more effort we can put on the front end, they’re not getting 82 snaps, but I know they’re playing hard and giving it all they’ve got.”

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VAN BUREN GOES FOR WINNING SEASON

LELAND BARCLAY

Times Record | 11/8/2019

PHOTO CREDIT: Aaron Shaffer