Under Dogs : Fayetteville faces tough task against top-ranked Tigers

Ramay Junior High running back Brice Gahagans (28) heads for the end zone through the Rogers Heritage freshman defense on the Indians' first offensive play of the game during the first quarter of play Thursday at Harmon Field.
Ramay Junior High running back Brice Gahagans (28) heads for the end zone through the Rogers Heritage freshman defense on the Indians' first offensive play of the game during the first quarter of play Thursday at Harmon Field.

— Fayetteville coach Dar yl Patton has had several brushes with the impossible in his 15-plus seasons as a head coach. The Purple Dogs will get reacquainted with the improbable today against top-ranked Bentonville at 7:30 p.m. at Harmon Field in both squads' 7A-West Conference opener.

Bentonville, which returned 10 of 11 starters on offense, is averaging 46.7 points per game and a defense that returned just one starter is allowing a minuscule 6.3 points per outing in a 3-0 start.

Patton called the 2009 Tigers the most talented overall squad in the state since the 2005 Springdale Bulldogs that features Mitch Mustain and Damian Williams.

"They're that good," Patton said. "We're a definite underdog this week. Bentonville's very good at what they do. Offensively, they've got a college-sized offensive line and I've seen no weaknesses on film. Defensively, they're very sound. It would obviously be a huge win for our program and an upset in everyone's eyes."

But Patton isn't waiving a white flag or bowing at the feet of mighty Bentonville just yet. Pattonhas seen his share of upsets, two of which transpired during his tenure as head coach at Bryant.

"No one gave us a chance against No. 1 El Dorado in 1999 and we played a perfect game and beat them," Patton said. "If we played El Dorado 100 times, they'd beat us 99 but they didn't that night.

"When we played Conway in 2002, they had Peyton Hillis and no one gaveus a chance. We played them as hard as we could. Conway was on the oneinch line, third and goal to win the ball game and I had a 170-pound sophomore safety come up and tackle Hillis short of the goal-line and we won. When you're dealing with 16-,17- and 18-year old kids anything can happen. You just don't know."

What Patton does know is that he's confident his Purple Dogs are capable of pulling the upset, especially with their high-octane passing game. While Patton is cautiously optimistic, he knows that hisentire team must be free of miscue and avoid a shootout at all cost.

"I think we've got it in us to do this," Patton said. "We're going to need some guys to play above their head at some positions. If we can keep them in the 20s defensively, we've got a chance. Offensively, even though no one has against them yet, I think we can score in the 20s. That's not a knock on a very good Bentonville defense but if we can't score in the 20s, we're likely not going to have a shot. I don't see us winning this game 6-3 or 46-45. Offensively, we can't turn it over and we have to finish drives, put points on the board and win the special teams battle."

While Fayetteville has struggled on special teams, making only 4 of 7 extra points, 1 of 4 field goals and 1 of 5 twopoint conversions, it has created opportunities with turnovers. Fayetteville so far is plus-4 in the turnover ratio. It's the first time in more than two years they've been on the positive side of that statistic.

Last year at this time, Fayetteville quarterback Brandon Allen had already thrown five interceptions. He's tossed just two so far. Allen is completing 60.7 percent of his passes and is averaging 304.3 yards per game through the air.

But Allen completed just 11 of 29 passing for 101 yards and four interceptions in 2008's 31-3 beatdown at Bentonville.

"Brandon's a different quarterback this year," Patton said. "We've done a great job of protecting the football so far. That has to continue."

Fayetteville must continue to be effective in the short passing game and would benefit from a boost in production on the ground to allay some of the burden from Allen, who also led FHS in rushing last week with 124 yards.

"I don't care what anyone says, when you're playing with a lead like Bentonville has done every week, it's easier to play defense," Patton said. "Because you're getting teams out of their comfort zone and making them do what they don't want to do. They haven't been in a close ballgame yet and I don't know if we can give them a close game or not but we're sure going to give it all we can to try."

Defense will be key in keeping the contest close. Fayetteville's defense entered last week's tussle at home against Russellville having allowed 436 yards of total offense in two games. The Purple Dogs surrendered 445 yards of total offense against the Cyclones alone.

"When you're one dimensional you can be stopped," Patton said. "LittleRock Central was one dimensional and we tried to force them to play lefthanded and beat us with the pass. Jeff City, same way. We tried to take the run away and make them beat us throwing the football. Russellville was a little more balanced and we tried to take their run away because we didn't expect their passing game to be that good and they throw for over 300 yards on us."

Patton said it's that offensive balance that will keep his defense guessing and could pose serious problems in both the passing and running game versus the Tigers.

"Bentonville can do both well," Patton said. "They've got two very good running backs and a quarterback who's athletic and can throw the ball. That's a huge challenge for our defense. We've got to play perfect and execute."

Sports, Pages 8, 10 on 09/25/2009

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