FAYETTEVILLE — With three red-zone turnovers between them, it was as if neither team wanted to score Thursday at Harmon Field.
Ultimately, Springdale Southwest did just enough to overcome its mistakes to put away Fayetteville Woodland 14-6 in a Northwest Arkansas Conference game.
The Woodland eighth-graders trampled Southwest 35-8 in the early game.
Southwest racked up 223 yards on the ground, but only came up with two scores thanks to three turnovers, including a pair of red-zone fumbles that cost them a chance for a three-touchdown lead by halftime.
More than 160 of Southwest’s rushing yards came in the first half, while the Woodland offense only ran two plays in Southwest’s territory in the first two quarters.
“Any time you go on the road and have two turnovers in the red-zone, you usually lose. We’re very fortunate to come away with a win against a good Woodland team,” Cougar offensive coordinator Rob Wright said. “The offensive line did an excellent job of executing their blocks.
“We prepared to be a ball control offense this week, and we did that, but when we got down to the red zone we fumbled it away.”
Guss Vitt scored Southwest’s first touchdown from 11 yards out, running straight into the defender at the line of scrimmage but spinning out of the tackle before fighting his way to the end zone, dragging defenders in for the score.
Braxton Jester put the Cougars (6-2, 4-2) ahead 13-0 when he dashed 45 yards to set up his own 13-yard touchdown run.
“We’ve been a bend-but-don’t-break defense for a while now, and that’s OK because the thing is keeping them out of the end zone. That’s the goal,” Woodland defensive coordinator Beau Patrick said.
“Sometimes we’re going to give up big plays, but it just depends on how you respond to those circumstances.”
Woodland (3-5, 2-5) wouldn’t score until 1 minutes, 17 seconds remained in the game, when Alan Dunn hit a wide-open Max Coppinger for a 29-yard score on a wide receiver reverse pass.