FAYETTEVILLE -- Both sides of the ball took turns showing off for Fayetteville on Friday.
The defense dominated the first half, with the high powered offense taking over in a record-setting way after intermission as the Bulldogs celebrated homecoming with a 67-21 win against Fort Smith Southside at Harmon Stadium.
How They Scored
FS Southside^21
Fayetteville^67
South^0^0^*14^7^—^21
Fay^15^11^27^14^—^67
First Quarter
Fay — Morris 8 pass from Powell (Fagg kick), 9:31.
Fay — Allison 23 pass from Powell (Smith run), 7:49.
Second Quarter
Fay — FG Fagg 21, 6:43.
Fay — Rock 5 pass from Powell (Smith run), 3:14.
Third Quarter
Fay — Armstrong 39 pass from Powell (kick failed), 10:51.
South — Simpson 79 pass from Johnson (Gutierrez kick), 8:29.
Fay — Smith 22 run (Fagg kick), 6:51.
South — Rogers 3 run (Gutierrez kick), 4:22.
Fay — Rapert 4 run (Fagg kick), 2:54.
Fay — Smith 25 pass from Powell (Fagg kick), :57.
Fourth Quarter
Fay — Rock 17 run (Fagg kick), 11:47.
South — Rogers 1 run (Guteirrez kick), 7:45.
Fay — Shipley 25 pass from Wymer (Fagg kick), 6:08.
Fayetteville marched up and down the field early for two quick first quarter scores to set the tone, with quarterback Taylor Powell finding Tyson Morris and Garland Allison for early scores to give the Bulldogs a 15-0 lead less than five minutes into the game. That would be nearly enough on this night, as the Purple'Dogs stuffed the Fort Smith Southside run game and put constant pressure on Rebels' quarterback Cooper Johnson through the first two quarters..
"I thought the defense was outstanding," Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton said. "They were flying around and getting after the quarterback and really stuffing their run game. And really, through about the first three quarters almost, the defense dominated."
Fort Smith Southside (2-3, 0-2 7A- West) was forced to punt on each of its first five possessions, with just 19 total yards in those five drives. The Rebels finally got a decent drive going near the end of the half but, in a 26-0 game, failed on a 4th and 10 attempt at the Fayetteville 26.
"Fayetteville always does a good job and (defensive coordinator) Wendel Harris always has those guys ready," Fort Smith Southside coach Jeff Williams said. "We missed some open passes and had some drops, but make no excuses. Fayetteville did a great job."
The second half turned into an all-out, up-and-down scoring fest and Fayetteville was more than willing to show out in the final two quarters. Powell added touchdown passes to Bruce Armstrong and Javontae Smith and Smith and Luke Rapert each finished with over 100 yards rushing as the Bulldogs poured on 41 points in the final 24 minutes. Terrance Rock also scored on a 17-yard TD run and Drake Wymer found Harrison Shipley on a 25-yard touchdown pass as Fayetteville (5-0, 2-0) scored the most points in Patton's 13 seasons and also recorded the most points in history against a Fort Smith Southside team.
"I'm not going to downplay, we've got a good football team," Patton said. "We've got a good quarterback, we've got weapons at every spo,t and we've got a good offensive line.
"Right now, we're protecting the ball and it's just fun to watch. And Southside has a good defense, but we just played extremely well tonight."
Sports on 10/03/2015