Bulldogs Must Regroup

ALLEN HOUNDED BY WAR EAGLES

Posted: November 8, 2009 at 4:42 a.m.

Anthony Reyes
Fayetteville junior running back Dylan Hale, right, tries to escape the grasp of Rogers Heritage junior linebacker Matt White during the first half of Friday’s game in Gates Stadium in Roger

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ROGERS — A trip to Fort Smith Southside’s muddy quagmire last week made Rogers Heritage junior quarterback Reed Brown appreciate his home stadium so much more.

“Our field is perfectly nice,” Brown said. “You can lay on it without worrying about getting mud in your pants. It’s so nice to come back and be able to throw the ball and run the ball and do whatever need to do without falling or the defense having the upper hand.”

The War Eagles (8-2, 5-2 7A-West Conference) owned David Gates Stadium on Friday, moving the ball easily against Fayetteville while holding the Bulldogs’ highoctane offense in check.

The 49-20 win gives Heritage the West’s third seed in the Class 7A playoffs, which start this week.

“It just picks us up going into the playoffs,” Brown said. “We already knew we had a chance in the playoffs. This just really opens it up. Our offense finally clicked with the defense at the same time and everything hit at the right spots.”

Brown hit his first four passes — the last for the first of three touchdown passes — and the offense was smooth from the start.

Brown passed for 243 yards — raising his season total to 2,336 — and junior Zac Stewart rushed for 191 yards and two scores.

The War Eagles were told having a big offensive night might be the only way to keep the Bulldogs off the field. The Heritage defense, however, did that job.

“We were told coming into this that our best defense was going to have to be our offense because (Fayetteville was) going to score,” Brown said. “That’s how we had to prepare. But our defense came in and got crucial stops.”

Heritage hounded junior quarterback Brandon Allen, who threw two interceptions as the Purple’Dogs offense never got on track.

The War Eagles were solid in coverage. Sam Mayhall, Jimmy Britton and Stephen Reed broke up passes out in coverage, and Reid Schatzman knocked down a pass at the line.

“They’ve got a good quarterback and they threw some things at us but we kept it in front and made tackles and took some things away from them,” Heritage coach Perry Escalante said. “We were taking away passes, crossing routes, putting big licks on them and they started dropping balls late.”

The biggest breakup came late in the first quarter when the Bulldogs — trailing 7-3 — used a timeout to set up the Wildcat formation on fourthand-goal from the 4. Heritage called a timeout, then knocked the ball loose from Allen, who tried to pull in a pass from Demetrius Dean.

Both teams turn their attention to the playoffs and 7A-Central opponents.

Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton said his team needs to put Friday’s disappointing loss behind it so the Bulldogs (5-4-1, 4-3) can focus on a tough Conway team.

“I want them thinking Conway and the playoffs,” he said. “I’ll take the blame for this loss.

“We’ve got to do a good job to make sure they’re focused and ready to play.”

Heritage is expecting a tough test from sixth-place Little Rock Catholic.

“Down there in that conference, they just pound on each other, kind of like ours,” Escalante said. “It’s going to be a rock’em, sock’em football game.”

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