FAYETTEVILLE -- A pair of onside kicks turned the tide Friday night.
Fayetteville turned two onside kicks -- including one by Rogers High -- into 14 points the final 4 minutes, 43 seconds of the first half as the Bulldogs defeated the Mounties 45-7 in a 7A-West Conference game at Harmon Field.
How They Scored
Fayetteville 45, Rogers High 7
Rogers^0^7^0^0^—^7
Fayetteville^10^21^7^7^—^45
First Quarter
Fay — Greenlaw 29 pass from Powell (Conway kick), 8:29
Fay — Conway 37 field goal, 3:48
Second Quarter
Fay — Mattingly 6 pass from Wymer (Conway kick), 10:18
Rog — Grigsby 4 run (Hernandez kick), 4:53
Fay — Wuehler 50 yard fumble return (Conway kick), 4:45
Fay — Greenlaw 4 run (Conway kick), :37
Third Quarter
Fay — Greenlaw 1 run (Conway kick), 7:00
Fourth Quarter
Fay — Ewing 6 pass from Lindsey (Conway kick), 8:48
After Rogers cut the Fayetteville lead to 17-7, the Mounties attempted an onside kick but Garret Wuehler picked up the football at midfield and the senior raced to the end zone for a 24-7 lead. The kick bounced high around the 50 and Wuehler grabbed the football and outran the Mounties for the touchdown.
Fayetteville then recovered its own onside kick and the Bulldogs marched 46 yards and took a 31-7 lead 43 seconds before halftime on a short touchdown run by Dre Greenlaw.
"Boy, that changed the momentum with that 14-point swing," said Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton. "Got lucky on the onside kick bounce. Then we came back with our onside, and that was a big momentum killer after Rogers had scored."
Rogers coach Shawn Flannigan said Ryan Nolan's onside kick was a good one but that Wuehler just came up with a big play. Rogers lost three fumbles in the first half.
"That changed the momentum, and turnovers again," Flannigan said. "We had a little momentum and we were moving the ball a little bit. It was a very good kick, but that was just an amazing play by that young man (Wuehler). That was a football player making a football play."
Fayetteville set the tone early as the Bulldogs marched 58 yards and took a 7-0 lead when Taylor Powell hit Greenlaw for a 29-yard touchdown on fourth-and-7.
Rogers lost fumbles on two of its first three possession but the Mounties cut the lead to 10 when Bryan Grigsby capped a 73-yard drive with a short touchdown run with 4:53 left in the first half. The drive was kept alive when Fayetteville was called for a personal foul after Mounties quarterback Cole Evans went three yards on fourth-and-4 at the Bulldogs 38.
Fayetteville's (8-1, 5-1 7A-West) victory sets up a huge showdown at Bentonville next week.
"We have a big one with Bentonville, no doubt," Patton said.
Extra Points
• Powell finished the night completing 12 of 16 passes for 170 yards and one touchdown. Backup quarterback Jack Lindsey was 4-of-5 passing for 37 yards and one touchdown.
• Grigsby finished with 91 yards rushing on 19 carries while quarterback Joseph Sultemeier rushed for 51 yards.
• Ten different Fayetteville players caught at least one pass. Terrance Rock had four catches for 53 yards.
Up Next: Fayetteville travels to Bentonville. Rogers (1-8, 0-6) hosts Springdale High.
Sports on 11/01/2014