FAYETTEVILLE — Fayetteville Ramay brought a physical game plan to rivalry night and it paid off in a big way.
The Indians ran all over Fayetteville Woodland, piling up more than 250 yards on the ground in their 28-13 victory over the cross-town Cowboys at Harmon Field.
The Indian eighth graders did almost the same with a 27-13 win to sweep Woodland on the night.
“I'm extremely proud of them. Any time you beat a cross-town rival, my hat's off to them,” Indians coach Craig Foringer said. “We didn't have a great start, but we were able get a lead and then control the clock and the line of scrimmage and come up with two more scores.”
Ramay (3-6, 3-5 Northwest Arkansas Conference) built a 14-point lead on long touchdown runs by quarterback Daniel Shimer and fullback Aaron Kildow. Shimer dodged tacklers on a play-action 28-yard naked bootleg, while Kildow ran into a pile at the 5-yard line and pushed until he got into the end zone.
But Woodland (3-6, 2-6) came out of the half fighting, scoring on its first offensive play on a strike from quarterback Grant Koch to quarterback-turned-receiver Alan Dunn, who ran a slant route to midfield, made the catch in traffic and raced 64 yards for the score.
The Indians answered with a 5-play, 76-yard drive — all on the ground — capped by a 19-yard rush by Ryan Humphries. Ramay piled up 264 yards on 40 carries, led by Humphries' 111 yards on 17 rushes. Kildow picked up 62 yards on 10 carries, while Shimer kept the ball six times for 46 yards.
Woodland's next scoring drive drained the last five and a half minutes of the third quarter, finding six points on a 20-yard run by Dunn.
The Cowboys still couldn't stop Ramay, which got a second score from Shimer on another bootleg run to reach the final margin.
Ramay’s offensive line dominated the trenches all night, a line featuring four eighth-graders and just one freshman (Nathaniel Kisor).
“Our eighth-grade line has gotten better all year long. Coach Bryan Hale has done a great job with them,” Foringer said.