FAYETTEVILLE --Fayetteville's speed was on full display during Friday's 50-14 victory against Van Buren at Harmon Field.
The speed came from the one-two punch of Beau Stuckey and Connor Flannigan. The duo, along with Hank Gibbs' passing and a sack-happy defense, was the difference in the Bulldogs improving to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the 7A-West Conference while the Pointers slipped to 2-3 overall and 1-2 in league play.
Fayetteville 50, Van Buren 14
Van Buren^7^7^0^0^–^14
Fayetteville^14^21^9^7^–^50
First Quarter
Fay – Charboneau 21 pass from Gibbs (Richardson kick), 9:21
Fay – Flannigan 29 pass from Gibbs (Richardson kick), 2:57
Van – Bartholomew 78 pass from Phillips (Flores kick), 2:12
Second Quarter
Fay – Stuckey 75 pass from Gibbs (Richardson kick), 10:08
Van – Bartholomew 14 pass from Phillips (Flores kick), 5:16
Fay – Flannigan 87 kickoff return (Richardson kick), 5:00
Fay – Flannigan 39 pass from Gibbs (Richardson kick), 1:21
Third Quarter
Fay – Perry 5 run (Richardson kick), 9:46
Fay – Safety, 5:12
Fourth Quarter
Fay – Nelson 78 run, :00
[HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Click here for more scores, recaps and photos]
"They're really good football players who can run," Fayetteville Coach Billy Dawson. "We get caught up sometimes in guys who have a lot of speed, and those guys can really run, but those are two good football players and I thought our quarterback did a nice job of getting the football to them.
"We're getting better. We played a little cleaner penalty-wise, so I'm proud of where we're at and the direction we're heading."
Gibbs connected on a 21-yard touchdown pass to Luke Charboneau and a 29-yard pass to Flannigan to give Fayetteville an early 14-0 lead before Van Buren responded with a 78-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Gary Phillips to Jude Bartholomew.
Three plays after the missed field goal, Gibbs hit Stuckey on a tunnel screen and Stuckey did the rest by slicing through a seam in the defense for a 75-yard touchdown sprint.
Van Buren answered when Phillips hooked up with Bartholomew again for a 14-yard scoring strike to make it 21-14.
That was as close as the Pointers would get as Flannigan returned the ensuing kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown and added to the lead on a 39-yard touchdown pass from Gibbs to Flannigan. Flannigan finished with 6 receptions for 137 yards while Gibbs was 14-of-26 passing for 262 yards and 4 touchdowns.
Fayetteville's Montell Perry began the second-half scoring when he followed a 24-yard run with a five-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Sophomore Rees Nelson added a 78-yard touchdown run as time expired for the Bulldogs.
Sports on 10/06/2018