FAYETTEVILLE — With their arms linked together, Springdale Har-Ber’s football players swayed back and forth as their marching band played a tune two nights before Halloween.
For the Wildcats, who were 17 seconds away from their second consecutive loss, the song made for beautiful music on a cold Friday night.
Only a few yards away, Fayetteville’s players knelt on Harmon Field and were again forced to wonder what went wrong in another close loss. This time it was a 55-51 defeat to Har-Ber on a 92-yard kickoff return by Shawn Sayarinh with three seconds remaining.
“(It’s) like a kick in the gut,” Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton said. “You know, that’s a tough loss, a tough loss.”
After rallying from a 14-point deficit in the second half, the Bulldogs (6-3, 3-3 7A-West Conference) appeared to be in position to knock off the Wildcats (8-1, 5-1) after running back Brice Gahagans scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with 17 seconds remaining.
A two-point conversion extended Fayetteville’s lead to 51-48, and all the Bulldogs needed to do to shatter Har-Ber’s chances of competing for a 7A-West championship was not avoid anything big over the final seconds.
That didn’t happen, though.
Sayarinh fielded the kickoff at the 8, darted through a gap in the middle of the field and raced 92 yards down the left sideline for the game-winner.
“That’s what makes this conference the best, not only in Arkansas, but in the Southwest. Because every game comes down to the most minute possessions,” Har-Ber coach Chris Wood said. “And this was a great high school game with a great crowd. It was just great, great ball.”
With Friday’s win, Har-Ber’s chances of sharing the conference championship remain alive. The Wildcats host Bentonville next Friday in a highly anticipated game to determine the top seed in the Class 7A playoffs.
Fayetteville’s playoff seeding remains up in the air as well.
Sayarinh’s kickoff return for a touchdown capped a wild game that featured nearly 1,000 yards of total offense and plenty of drama. The two teams combined to score 50 points in the fourth quarter.
Running behind a powerful offensive line, Har-Ber tailback Gordon Welch rushed for a career-high 224 yards and one touchdown on 38 carries. Fayetteville countered with a high-powered passing attack, led by quarterback Brandon Allen.
The senior completed 21 of 34 passes for 296 yards and three touchdown, his last coming on a 12-yard strike to Demetrius Dean that gave the Bulldogs a 43-42 lead with 3 minutes, 45 seconds left.
“It was a shootout all game. We were trying to keep up with them on their offense, and the defense was doing the best it could,” Allen said. “And when you think you’ve got it won there at the end, that’s just tough to take. They run a kickoff back, that’s just tough.”
Prep Football
7A-West Conference
SPRINGDALE HAR-BER 55, FAYETTEVILLE 51
Har-Ber 7 14 14 20 — 55
Fay 7 7 7 30 — 51
First Quarter
Fay — Allen 1 run (Coffin kick), 7:14.
Har — Johnson 35 pass from Luther (Gonzalez kick), 4:21.
Second Quarter
Har — Welch 4 run (Gonzalez kick), 10:31.
Fay — Smith 15 pass from Allen (Coffin kick), 5:58.
Har — Davis 56 run (Gonzalez kick), 1:32.
Third Quarter
Fay — Gahagans 75 run (Coffin kick), 11:49.
Har — Fine 29 pass from Luther (Gonzalez kick), 8:40.
Har — Luther 7 run (Gonzalez kick), 2:02.
Fourth Quarter
Fay — Gahagans 3 run (Coffin kick), 11:46.
Har — Luther 62 run (Gonzalez kick), 10:18.
Fay — Gorton 35 pass from Allen (Coffin kick), 9:21.
Fay — Dean 12 pass from Allen (Hale run), 3:45.
Har — Fine 39 pass from Luther (run failed), 1:26.
Fay — Gahagans 1 run (Dean pass from Allen), 0:17.
Har — Sayarinh 92 kickoff return (Gonzalez kick), :03.
Gamebreaker
Why the Wildcats won
Running back Gordon Welch rushed for a career-high 224 yards and one touchdown on 38 carries, and Shawn Sayarinh returned a kickoff 92 yards for the game-winner with three seconds remaining.
Why the Bulldogs lost
Quarterback Brandon Allen completed 21 of 34 passes for 296 yards and three touchdowns, helping Fayetteville rally from a 14-point deficit. But the Bulldogs, after taking back the lead, allowed Sayarinh to return a kickoff for a touchdown.