Bentonville Football Will Lean on Tearris Wallace
In last year’s State Championship game Bentonville lost to conference rival Fayetteville by one point. But after months of heartbreak and a new season on the brink, that is not on this team’s mind anymore.
“This is this year,” said head coach Barry Lunney. “You’re going to be remembered for what you do this year, not last year, especially for the senior class.”
That’s the perfect way for Lunney to summarize the way Bentonville feels about that loss.
“It’s been tons of motivation,” said running back Tearris Wallace. “Coach brings it up if we’re looking a little sluggish and it boosts us pretty fast and there’s still a little bit of fire there.”
No one has more motivation than Wallace. He’s also working on a resume to get more college offers. He just visited the University of Tennessee and has one goal, get an SEC offer.
“It’d be the best. That’s what every kid dreams of growing up in the South,” said Wallace.
“He’s going to concentrate on what he can do to help us win and be successful and we’ve talked about how all that stuff will take care of itself,” said Lunney.
He does have one benchmark though. If he can reach it, that might put him in the running for an SEC offer.
“I talked to a coach and he wants me to put up 2,000 yards and he asked me if we would have played in the second half last year if I would have done it and I told him it would have been pretty close,” said Wallace.
He ran for 1,348 yards and 19 touchdowns last season. This year they may need more from him because Bentonville has to replace All-State quarterback Dallas Hardison. In comes senior Reece Dollins and he’s ecstatic to have a guy like Wallace behind him.
“It’s comforting to have a playmaker like that,” said Dollins. “They can pull you through in certain spots.”
“The running game is going to be very big for us to take pressure off the quarterback. That is regardless of who the quarterback is and what year he is. Being able to establish the run is very beneficial for the entire philosophy of what we are trying to do on offense,” said Lunney.
