Fayetteville Impressive In Warmup Win

STAFF PHOTO ANDY SHUPE Luke Rapert, Fayetteville running back, carries the ball into the end zone Monday through the Greenwood defense during the second at Harmon Stadium in Fayetteville. Visit photos.nwaonline.com to see more photographs from the scrimmage.
STAFF PHOTO ANDY SHUPE Luke Rapert, Fayetteville running back, carries the ball into the end zone Monday through the Greenwood defense during the second at Harmon Stadium in Fayetteville. Visit photos.nwaonline.com to see more photographs from the scrimmage.

FAYETTEVILLE -- All things considered, Monday night couldn't haven gone much better for Fayetteville football.

The Purple Bulldogs faced a big test against Class 6A power Greenwood in one of the state's most notable scrimmages. But by the time the varsity action was complete at Harmon Stadium, it was the boys in the Purple who had done most of the barking in this Battle of the Bulldogs.

Quarterbacks Jack Lindsey and Taylor Powell both impressed in their latest work competing for the starting job, and the Fayetteville defense frustrated Greenwood with aggressive and physical play to offset Greenwood's hurry-up attack.

All told, Fayetteville finished the night with a near complete effort, defeating Greenwood 35-13 in the three quarters of varsity competition on Monday.

"Very, very pleased," Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton said. "That team we played right there is a top five team in the state of Arkansas, and for us to come out and play hard and compete like I asked us to do, I'm very pleased.

"Our conditioning, I was worried about if it would hold up there for a while. But for us to give up just two touchdowns and one was after a long interception, our defense did an excellent job."

Fayetteville's offense was a bit slow out the gates Monday, punting away on its first three possessions. Senior safety Miles Taliaferro got the scoring started for the Bulldogs with a 52-yard interception return on a tipped pass, giving the Purple'Dogs a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter.

After Greenwood responded to tie the game with a scoring drive at the end of the first quarter, the Fayetteville offense finally woke up. Powell, a sophomore, guided the first offensive scoring drive for the Purple'Dogs, capped with a 10-yard TD pass to Tyson Morris.

Lindsey, a junior battling Powell for the starting job, added a 26-yard TD pass to C.J. O'Grady in the second quarter for a 21-7 Fayetteville lead.

Greenwood would cut the deficit to 21-13 following a Powell interception just before halftime. But the fourth quarter, played with varsity players after a third quarter of JV action, belonged to Fayetteville.

Powell completed just 1-of-1 passes in the final quarter, but it was a 41-yarder to Morris, setting up a Luke Rapert 15-yard TD run. The Purple'Dogs then added one final score just before the end of regulation, with Lindsey hitting O'Grady for a 3-yard TD.

Powell finished 8 of 11 for 124 yards with one TD and one interception. Lindsey was 7 of 9 for 96 yards with two TDs.

"I said I was going to name a starting quarterback after this (scrimmage)," Patton said. "But they keep making it too tough."

Greenwood also showed off its two quarterbacks battling for the job. Reid Wheeler finished 15 of 23 for 109 yards and Luke Hales was 4 of 8 for 24 yards.

"(Fayetteville) is a good football team and we competed, and we saw the things we needed to work on," Greenwood coach Rick Jones. "This showed us a lot of things, and that's what scrimmages are all about.

"We obviously didn't block well and we weren't near as consistent protection wise. We didn't throw and catch the ball very well, but I thought overall we competed fairly well. But we expect to compete better than fairly well."

Sports on 08/26/2014

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