ROGERS -- Rogers High managed to stay in contact with Fayetteville until midway through the third quarter Friday night at Whitey Smith Stadium, but then the Purple Bulldogs took control.
[HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL SCOREBOARD: Full results + recaps, photos and more]
Senior quarterback Taylor Powell threw two touchdown passes to trigger a 28-0 finish by Fayetteville to claim a 54-17 win over the Mounties in 7A-West Conference play.
7A-West Conference
Fayetteville 54, Rogers High 17
Fayetteville^19^7^14^14^—^54
Rogers^7^3^7^0^—^17
First Quarter
Fay-Rock 80 run (kick failed), 7:15.
Rog-Benninghoff 8 pass from Horton (Lopez kick), 4:15.
Fay-Shipley 31 pass from Powell (Birch kick), 2:38.
Fay-Ellis 54 interception return (kick failed), :18.5
Second Quarter
Fay-Hinton 2 run (Birch kick), 10:28.
Rog-Lopez FG 37, 5:09.
Third Quarter
Rog-Benninghoff 70 pass from Horton (Lopez kick), 7:38.
Fay-Lewis 35 pass from Powell (Birch kick), 4:55.
Fay-Banister 34 pass from Powell (Birch kick), 2:53.
Fourth Quarter
Fay-Rock 41 run (Birch kick), 9:53.
Fay-Nolen 10 run (Mulinga kick), 3:24.
The Mounties (4-2, 1-2 7A-West) got within 26-17 thanks to a 70-yard touchdown pass from Max Horton to Jake Benninghoff with 7 minutes, 38 seconds left in the third quarter, but Rogers would not score again.
Fayetteville (5-1, 2-1) responded behind the passing of Powell, a Wake Forest commit. He completed four passes in an eight-play, 80-yard drive capped by a 35-yard strike to Brennon Lewis. After the Purple Bulldog defense got a three-and-out, Powell and friends went to work again, this time going 77 yards in six plays. Powell hooked up with Barrett Banister for a 34-yard scoring strike to finish it and Fayetteville was in charge, 40-17, with 2:53 left in the third quarter.
Fayetteville coach Bill Blankenship told his team following the game that it must be more disciplined.
"We did not handle their passing game very well, especially in the first half," Blankenship said. "I thought they really outplayed us in that area. I thought Rogers had a great game plan offensively and they got their players isolated in situations and they won in one-one's.
"We overcame a lot of obstacles, a lot of adversity. We put ourselves behind the chains on offense with penalties and we gave a lot of first downs by penalties. Those are things that good teams cannot continue to do if we want to be the team in November and December we want to be."
Powell finished with three touchdown passes to three different receivers and the Purple Bulldogs also got a defensive score when Andrew Ellis returned an interception 54 yards for a score.
Rogers took an early 7-6 lead when Horton hooked up with Benninghoff for an 8-yard touchdown pass, but the Fayetteville defense also stuffed the Mounties on fourth down inside the 5. Powell hooked up with Harry Shipley for a 31-yard touchdown pass and Ellis' interception return gave Fayetteville a 19-7 lead after a quarter.
Rogers coach Mike Loyd saw some positives, despite the loss.
"I thought a bunch of our kids competed," Loyd said. "I thought we left three or four touchdowns out there on the field. You can't do that against a great football team. We had them in a hole a couple times. Their quarterback makes great plays. They made a lot of big plays.
"You've got to learn how to finish. We're down there on the 2. Our backs gotta read blocking schemes. We gave up too many big plays and didn't take advantage of our opportunities."
Sports on 10/08/2016