MUSKOGEE, Okla. -- Fayetteville turned to its bag of tricks at just the right time Friday night.
The Bulldogs had a chance to build some breathing room just before intermission although the offense sputtering for much of the first half. Thanks to two trick plays, that's just what Fayetteville did en route to a 24-10 win against Muskogee (Okla.) at The Indian Bowl.
How They Scored
Fayetteville 24
Muskogee 10
Fay^0^14^10^0—^24
Musk^3^0^0^7—^10
First Quarter
Musk — Soper FG 21, 2:58.
Second Quarter
Fay — Rapert 2 run (Conway kick), 5:44.
Fay — Morris 26 pass from Powell (Conway kick), 0:37.
Third Quarter
Fay — Rapert 1 run (Conway kick), 6:30.
Fay — Conway FG 44, 0:32.
Fourth Quarter
Musk — Buckhanan 6 pass from Cherry (Soper kick), 0:47.
Senior Dre Greenlaw got the Fayetteville drive going by taking a reverse hand-off and tossing a 42-yard pass to Bruce Armstrong to set the Bulldogs up at the Muskogee 22. After an offensive pass interference call, Fayetteville faced a first-and-25 from the Roughers' 26. The Bulldogs broke the huddle and caught Muskogee napping, running a play where everyone froze at the line except quarterback Taylor Powell and wide out Tyson Morris.
The 26-yard touchdown pass worked to perfection, as Morris was open against the unsuspecting defense, and Fayetteville was on its way to victory.
"Like we tell our kids, if we're going to practice gadget plays then we're going to run them," Bulldogs coach Daryl Patton said. "We're not going to be afraid to run them, and we were able to go out there and execute about three tonight that are in our magic bag.
"But that's not what we want to be about. We had way too many miscues. Too many bad snaps, fumbles, penalties and we've got to clean that up. Because we've got a tough Fort Smith Northside team next week and if we don't clean that up it could be ugly."
Muskogee (0-3) held Fayetteville to 53 total yards and no points on the Bulldogs first four possessions. The Roughers found brief success of their own running ball behind quarterback Quintahj Cherry, leading to a Chase Soper field for a 3-0 lead late in the first quarter. But as the game wore on, Fayetteville's defense solved almost everything put up by the Roughers.
"Defensively we played pretty good, other than the two trick plays," Muskogee coach Rafe Watkins said. "We lost containment on one big long run, and at times I thought we got better running the ball. And I was more pleased offensively than I've been the first two weeks."
Extra Points
• Fayetteville stuck with its two-quarterback rotation the entire night. Taylor Powell finished 3 of 9 for 37 yards and a touchdown and Jack Lindsey was 5-for-11 for 43 yards.
• Muskogee finished with just 195 total yards, 181 which came in rushing yards.
• Arkansas commit C.J. O'Grady did not catch a pass in the game.
• Purple'Dogs junior running back Luke Rapert finished with 90 yards rushing on 20 carries.
Up Next: Fayetteville opens 7A-West Conference play by welcoming a former league member back, as Fort Smith Northside visits Harmon Stadium next Friday. The Grizzlies defeated Greenwood Friday and are 3-0.
Sports on 09/20/2014