LITTLE ROCK -- Fayetteville knew turnovers and miscues had to be eliminated to stand a fighting chance in its rematch with Bentonville in the Class 7A state finals.
The Bulldogs, who committed five turnovers in a Week 10 loss to the Tigers, most definitely cleaned things up Saturday at War Memorial Stadium. Just not quite enough.
"The first half, we're down there (in Bentonville territory) twice," Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton said. "If we clean that up and score, it's a different ballgame."
Fayetteville (11-3) moved the ball well the entire afternoon against a normally stingy Tigers defense. Sophomore quarterback Taylor Powell completed 22 of 28 passes for 300 yards. Junior tailback Luke Rapert broke off a 37-yard run and finished with 96 rushing yards, and Arkansas commit C.J. O'Grady teamed with Garland Allison, Tyson Morris and fellow UA commit Dre Greenlaw to give Powell open targets in the passing game.
But in a game that went down to the wire, with Bentonville rallying in the final minute for the 24-21 win, it's points perhaps missed out on that Fayetteville might remember the most.
Trailing 10-7 in late in the first half, Rapert fumbled on a third-and-1 attempt in field-goal territory with 2 minutes, 43 seconds left before intermission. Then following a Bentonville punt, Fayetteville was in prime position for another scoring opportunity when two short Rapert runs with the clock running out -- paired with a illegal participation penalty -- pushed the Bulldogs back to a 36-yard field-goal attempt. Cal Conway was wide left on the try as time expired, meaning Fayetteville missed out on two excellent scoring chances just before half.
"You look at the first half, and there was two possessions we left out there," Patton said. "We wished we could have had them back, but the kids fought and scratched and did everything we asked them to. The coaches had a good game plan, but we just came up a little short."
Bentonville (9-4) again forced a key turnover to begin the second half. With Fayetteville driving inside the Tigers' 30 on its first possession of the third quarter, senior defensive back/wide receiver and state finals Most Valuable Player Cody Scroggins jumped in front of an intended Powell pass for O'Grady, again preventing any Bulldogs' points as they threatened in Bentonville territory.
"We knew they were going to make big plays because they have great athletes, but we just had to minimize it," Scroggins said. "I thought we did a great job of that.
"When we (get turnovers), it pumps up our offense. That really gets us going, and plays like that (interception) just pumps up our offense."
Bentonville and Fayetteville both never panicked Saturday. The Bulldogs rallied from a 17-7 deficit for a 21-17 lead with 3:06 to play. The Tigers then drove the field for their game-winning drive to capture the 24-21 win with just 26 seconds left.
But Bentonville coach Barry Lunney agreed. The turning point in this back-and-forth battle may well have been his team's ability to make key stops in the second and third quarter.
"Someone asked me the turning point, and I thought those stops in the first half were it," Lunney said. "We created some stuff and made some turnovers by being aggressive.
"It was hard to get pressure on their quarterback because he wasn't holding the ball long, and they had a good game plan to get rid of the ball. Man, they protected that quarterback (Powell), and he's going to be a good one. So it was important for us to get pressure on him when we could."
Sports on 12/07/2014