BENTONVILLE — The Bentonville senior class will graduate having achieved a feat for the first time in the school’s history since 1963.

The Tigers clinched a share of the 7A-West Conference championship Friday night with their 17-0 victory over Springdale Har-Ber. They tied Har-Ber for the league title in 2007 and earned the outright crown last year.

That meant Friday’s victory resulted in the first three-year stretch of at least sharing a conference championship in 46 years, a fact not lost on Tigers coach Barry Lunney.

“It means a lot to me,” Lunney said. “I know people probably think I overdo it. For some people, it’s all about the state championship, and believe me, I’m proud of our state championship.

“But for these guys to be part of three conference titles in a row is really special.”

After watching his team post its fifth shutout this season, Lunney predicted his players might not understand the magnitude of the three-peat.

“I don’t know that they’ll really realize it until later on,” he said.

Senior running back Courtney Haskell, who rushed for 128 yards and a touchdown against the Wildcats, made Lunney’s point for him.

Haskell wasn’t part of Bentonville’s 2007 and 2008 teams, but he noticed that much of the pregame talk centered around Har-Ber, not a conference championship.

“You know, we really didn’t talk about winning the conference all that much this week,” Haskell said after Friday’s game.

“We were focused on the game. And I think we’re all about state right now. We want to win a state championship.”

Har-Ber coach Chris Wood understandably found it difficult to gloat about his team’s second share of a 7A-West title in three years after Friday’s defeat. But don’t forget the Wildcats have put together nearly as impressive a three-year run as the Tigers.

The Wildcats have won only one less game than Bentonville since the start of the 2007 season. And at end of the season Har-Ber didn’t claim a share of the conference title, the Wildcats ended up in the 2008 Class 7A Championship game.

Wood quickly shifted his focus to the playoffs Friday night.

“It was just one game,” Wood said. “We have to move on. We got a share of the (7A-West) championship, but our big goal is to get to Little Rock. We’re a No. 2 seed going into the deal, and we’ll see what happens.”

Lunney said the consistent strength of the 7A-West makes the three-peat even sweeter.

“This is the best league in the state of Arkansas year in and year out, and I’m real partial to it,” Lunney said. “It’s a league of great players, great coaches, great programs and all the communities want great programs badly.

“We’re so proud of what we’ve done.”

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