2001 MVP says title run a blur
Posted on Wednesday, December 3, 2008
BENTONVILLE — The MVP of the 2001 Arkansas High School Class 5 A championship football game remembers the Bentonville Tigers’ run through the state playoffs as a blur.
Former quarterback Alan Schlagenhaft says, “ It seems like such a long time ago. ”
Some memories of that pioneering year stand out more than others.
“ More than anything I remember we felt like we had the community behind us, ” he says. “ It was something the town had not experienced before. It was fun; I remember all the preparation, the (pep ) rallies, stuff like that. ”
The 2001 Tigers (12-1 ) beat Pine Bluff 21-20 at home and won on the road at Cabot (21-7 ) and Texarkana (20-14 ) before beating El Dorado (23-16 ) in front of 14, 000 (mostly Bentonville ) fans at War Memorial Stadium for the 5 A championship, at the time the largest classification in the state.
It was a team that thrived on coming back from adversity and deficits.
“ I was talking about that recently with (former teammate and running back ) Lucas Clark, ” says Schlagenhaft, who today handles information technology at New Creature in Rogers. “ We talked about how we never really thought about losing. We always thought, ‘ We’re down but we’re not out. ’ We never got our heads down. ”
Like the time the Tigers trailed Pine Bluff 20-7 with 8: 18 left to play in the first-round game. On thirdand-10 from the 3, the Tigers had 97 yards ahead of them trailing by a touchdown.
“ That was an intense game, probably the only one we thought we might be out of it, ” the 24-year-old says. “ That was definitely an improbable drive. After that, we felt like we could tackle anything. That gave us confidence that we might not have had going into that game. ”
Schlagenhaft connected with wide receiver Chalin Aswell from the 49 with 7: 05 left to make the score 20-14. He later connected with Aswell to the 2, where Steve Jones scored with 2: 22 remaining to tie the game and cap an 11-play drive.
Former Arkansas Razorbacks kicker Brian Vavra made good on both kicks.
After Schlagenhaft led Bentonville to that victory, he and head coach Gary Wear shared a hug. Wear whispered to him that there may be some quarterbacks with better stats than his, but when BHS needed two touchdowns in the last eight minutes of a ballgame, “ There’s no one I want back there more than you, buddy. ”
Earlier in the year, Wear called Schlagenhaft his “ general. ”
“ You couldn’t ask for a better leader, ” Wear said. “ He doesn’t point any fingers. Everything he does is always positive. That shows, like, when we’re running sprints. You’ll notice Alan wins the sprints every time. He goes about things the right way. ”
In the championship game, Schlagenhaft completed 10 of 19 passes for 146 yards, completing four passes to Aswell for 39 yards, three to Weston Geigle for 24 yards, one to Chris Brosh for 56 and two to Drew Denny for 27.
The town threw the victorious team a parade.
Afterward, Schlagenhaft — a two-sport star — was a hot small-school recruit. He tore an ACL at Valparaiso on a football recruiting trip, playing in a pick-up basketball game. He went on to sign and attempted to play at Division III Wheaton College before reinjuring his knee in a scrimmage.
He says he has no regrets about not getting to play college football.
“ I would have loved to play but it wasn’t in the cards, ” he says. “ I left it out there. It was a freak thing. I had to believe my long-term health was more important. ”
The team captain threw for a then-school record 2, 616 yards in the 2001 regular season and for 3, 930 yards over a two-year career.
He completed 163 of 279 attempts (. 584 ) and 17 TDs with seven interceptions his senior year, throwing just one interception in four playoff games while passing for more than 900 yards.
His long pass was 76 yards. He rushed 83 times for 225 yards and five TDs.
“ Looking back at it all, ” he says, “ it seems like a blur. ”
Seven years later, Schlagenhaft says he’s attended this year’s Bryant and Russellville playoff games. He likes to go down to the field and talk to old hands like former teammate and now-coach Aaron Danenhauer, who was a standout offensive lineman at Tulsa.
“ I ran into Aaron on the sidelines and wished him well, ” Schlagenhaft says of his former center. “ He’s still big as a house. It’s neat to see his brother out there dominating like Aaron did. ”
Chances are Schlagenhaft will be at War Memorial Stadium on Saturday to watch the Tigers try and win the school’s second state title.
“ It’s pretty exciting to watch, ” he says. “ They seem to have a pretty young team, especially on offense. It looks like (coach Barry ) Lunney’s building a powerhouse from what I can tell. ”
It’s a powerhouse that this MVP helped to build.
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