Fayetteville has positive finish to spring practice

Benji Mahan, Fayetteville interim head football coach, speaks Friday during first period action of the Purple and White Scrimmage on of the Purple and White Scrimmage at the high school.
Benji Mahan, Fayetteville interim head football coach, speaks Friday during first period action of the Purple and White Scrimmage on of the Purple and White Scrimmage at the high school.

FAYETTEVILLE -- A laid-back night of football capped off spring practice for Fayetteville on Friday at Harmon Stadium, as the team closed out spring drills with its annual Purple-White Game.

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Terrance Rock, on the Fayetteville Purple Team, runs Friday past White team defenders on his way to a touchdown during the first period of the Purple and White scrimmage at the high school.

Judging by the smiles and energy on the field and up and down the sidelines, players, coaches and the staff throughout the Bulldog program have adjusted well in the past week to the news of former head coach Daryl Patton's abrupt resignation.

Patton submitted his resignation to Fayetteville superintendent Dr. Paul Hewitt on May 12 and informed the team of his decision the same day. Hewitt said Patton's resignation was voluntary and the school has since formed a search committee to find the next head coach.

Fayetteville offensive coordinator Benji Mahan was named interim head coach the same day Patton resigned.

"That's the good thing about football is it keeps kids' minds off a lot of stuff," Mahan said. "We talk about that with them a lot. Kids deal with a lot. Whether it's at home, at school, wherever, this is a place of refuge. For two hours, you can forget about all that stuff.

"And I feel like we have gotten better, and that's what we're looking for."

Fayetteville players had the weekend off to digest the news of Patton's resignation before getting back to work in spring practice Monday. Friday's Purple-White game, which went in favor of the Purple team, 21-14, was the capper to a successful week of progress.

"It helps when you've got great senior leaders and it helps when you've got great coaches who are men of integrity," Mahan said. "Everyone came out here and everything went smoothly.

"It was a really good week."

Senior-to-be Taylor Powell, Fayetteville's two-year starting quarterback, viewed Friday as an ideal way to finish off spring practice.

"It was a lot of fun," Powell said. "We came out here and had a good time, and I thought we all came out here and competed well. Unfortunately my team lost, but it was a spring game and it was about improving."

Powell said he believes the team even became closer after the difficult week and tough news with losing their head coach.

"I give a lot of credit to our team leadership committee," Powell said. "They helped bring us together, and it really helped us bond and I think it made us even stronger as a team this last week."

Fayetteville began accepting applications for the head coaching position just days after Patton's resignation. The search committee, which consists of athletic director Steve Janski, Fayetteville High principal Chad Scott, assistant superintendent John L. Colbert, football booster club president Neil Shipley, former Bulldog Michael Brisiel and faculty representative Liz Caudle, will begin interviews with finalists around June 1.

"Our committee is doing a great job," Janski said. "We've come together and spent about two-and-a-half hours together and looked at the different options we can go.

"I've been so impressed with the different levels of applicants in this job. We have applicants from just about every level of football. And that shows back on the hard work of this staff and the athletes in this program over the past decade."

Sports on 05/21/2016

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