BRYANT -- Survive and advance.
Fayetteville had trouble slowing down the Bryant offense all night and had to fight harder than normal to put its own points on the board. At the very end, though, the Bulldogs avoided disaster -- and a stinging upset from the Hornets -- when Nick Scalise intercepted a Gunner Banks pass in the closing minute to preserve a 30-24 Fayetteville win in the Class 7A quarterfinals at Hornet Stadium.
Fayetteville 30, Bryant 24
Fayetteville^13^3^8^6^—^30
Bryant^21^3^0^0^—^24
First Quarter
Bryant — Smith 22 pass from Burks (Ray kick), 7:57.
Fay — Rapert 15 run (pass failed), 4:43.
Bryant — Kelly 81 pass from Burks (Ray kick), 3:57.
Fay — Smith 66 run (Fagg kick), 3:27.
Bryant — Burks 3 run (Ray kick), :53.
Second Quarter
Fay — FG Fagg 27, 7:19.
Bryant — FG Ray 28, :55.8.
Third Quarter
Fay — Allison 28 pass from Powell (Powell run), 9:43.
Fourth Quarter
Fay — Rock 30 pass from Powell (kick failed), 9:55.
"Doesn't matter how you win, just win. That's what it's about in the playoffs," Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton said. "Give all the credit to Bryant. We got outcoached tonight and you tell that bye week paid off because they had a great gameplan.
"We were really hit and miss all night on offense and defense. But our defense got going there at the end. Credit (defensive coordinator) Wendell Harris. We started bringing pressure on defense and that made a difference."
Right from the start, Bryant (9-2) made it clear Fayetteville was in for a fight. The Hornets scored on their first three possessions with Banks hitting Austin Kelly with a 81-yard touchdown pass for one score, Landon Smith for another 26-yard TD pass play and capping another drive with his own three-yard scramble.
Bryant also gave the Fayetteville defense fits behind the running of De'amonte Terry, who finished with 138 yards on 21 carries. But after a blazing first quarter, the Purple'Dogs were able to keep pace and catch up with the Hornets the rest of the way.
A quick score in the third quarter, on a 28-yard touchdown pass from Taylor Powell to Garland Allison -- followed by a Powell two-point run -- tied the game at 24-24 with 9 minutes, 43 seconds left in the quarter. Fayetteville (10-2) then took its first lead with 9:55 left in the game when Powell hit Terrance Rock on a 30-yard pass. The PAT failed for a 30-24 score, leaving the door open for Bryant.
Fayetteville put together a fourth down stop inside its own 10 in the closing minutes and tried to run out the clock. But a Powell fumble on a 3rd down sack -- on a questionable call which appeared to be a forward pass -- gave the ball back to Bryant with just 1:09 remaining.
On the very next play, though, Banks rolled away from pressure and his pass down the sidelines was intercepted by Scalise to preserve the win for Fayetteville.
The Bulldogs advance to play at rival Bentonville in the Class 7A semifinals.
"Gunner was trying to throw the ball out of bounds and the ball just slipped out of his hands," Bryant coach Paul Calley said. "Just an unfortunate play, but he played so well for us tonight.
"I'm so proud of our kids. We faced so much adversity this season and we played a tremendous game and had a great year."
Sports on 11/21/2015