NORTH LITTLE ROCK — University of Arkansas commit Austin Allen and University of Alabama pledge Altee Tenpenny were primed to put on a show Friday at North Little Rock Stadium.

The defenses had other plans.

While both Allen, Fayetteville’s senior quarterback, and Tenpenny, a senior tailback for the Charging Wildcats, finally got rolling during a wild and hectic fourth quarter, both highly sought after recruits were slow out of the gate.

Allen finished the first half 8 of 15 passing for 95 yards and was sacked four times before intermission, despite leading the Bulldogs to a 14-6 lead at the break. A big reason for Fayetteville’s abilty to take the lead, however, was the play of its defense against Tenpenny. Led by Allen’s fellow UA commits, Alex Brignoni and Brooks Ellis, Tenpenny was held to 34 rushing yards on 10 carries before halftime.

Of course, by the end of the wild night which saw North Little Rock storm back to take a brief lead before Fayetteville pulled out a 30-28 win on a Ryan Starr field goal with seven seconds left, both Allen and Tenpenny finally made their marks.

Allen finished 19 of 37 passing for 273 yards with two touchdowns and added another rushing touchdown despite being sacked six times.

And Tenpenny — who often lined up as a Wildcat quarterback — had 19 carries for 53 yards and a touchdown and three receptions for 51 yards and another TD.

“There’s a reason they are division one atheltes,” Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton said. “Tenpenny’s a great back and Austin did such a great job on our last drive.”

More Starr Power?

Fayetteville had what appeared to be an opportunity to add easy points near the end of the first half, when a 4th and goal from the North Little Rock 9 yardline set up what would normally have been a chip shot field goal attempt for Bulldogs placekicker Ryan Starr. But instead of lining up Starr — who had kicked a 52-yarder earlier this season against Bentonville — for a 26-yard attempt to possibly give Fayetteville a 10-6 lead at the time, the Purple’Dogs elected to go for the touchdown.

“We had what we thought was a good fake set up there,” Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton said. “It looked like we had it, but they snuffed it out.

“Looking back we should have just kicked it.”

Big Play Bulldogs

Fayetteville and North Little Rock went back and forth in a defensive brawl for most of the night Friday at North Little Rock Stadium until late in the fourth quarter. The difference might have been the Bulldogs’ ability to pull off big plays in all three phases of the game, offense, defense and special teams.

On offense, Fayetteville got a 41-yard touchdown pass from Austin Allen to Cole Harris on a cross pattern with 1 minutes, 45 seconds left before half to extend its lead to 14-6 before halftime.

On defense, Jordan Dennis intercepted a Heath Land pass returned it 50 yards in the second quarter to turn the momentum back in Fayetteville’s favor.

And on special teams, Fayetteville senior defensive lineman Reese Fitchue blocked a North Little Rock punt on the first Charging Wildcats possession of the game, setting up the Bulldogs first touchdown.

“Everything about this game was big,” Patton said. “We had big plays all over the place, a big interception, the blocked punt. It was all big tonight.”