Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Fayetteville 28, Har-Ber 7
Fayetteville forces six turnovers, en route to third title in last five seasons
Fayetteville players celebrate their 28-7 win over Springdale Har-Ber Saturday in the Class 7A state championship game at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. Visit nwadg.com/ photos to see more photographs.
LITTLE ROCK — Offense made all the headlines for Fayetteville throughout most of the season.
On Saturday, the Purple Bulldogs’ defense wrote the story.
Fayetteville forced six turnovers and almost completely took away the Springdale Har-Ber passing attack, holding the Wildcats to one first quarter score in a 28-7 win in the Class 7A championship game at War Memorial Stadium.
For the Purple’Dogs, the victory was the fourth state title in school history and the third in the last five seasons.
“Give credit to (defensive coordinator) Wendell Harris and our defensive staff, and give credit to our defensive players,” Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton said. “(Har-Ber) scored 47 last time on us and seven this time. That’s a 40-point difference and the story of the game was our defense creating those turnovers.”
Fayetteville (12-2) struggled as well to take care of the ball, committing three turnovers which included two interceptions in the Wildcats’ red zone. But the Bulldogs’ defense made big play after big play to prevent Har-Ber from ever catching up.
Senior safety Joey Savin, the championship game Most Valuable Player, set a state finals record with three interceptions for Fayetteville. All three came before halftime.
“This was the best game of my life and I’m glad I was around to play in this one,” Savin said. “It wasn’t just me. The guys up front did an amazing job. They forced them to put up those passes and it allowed me to do what I did.”
Fayetteville scored quickly after Har-Ber’s first turnover on the very first possession of the game, getting a Taylor Powell 12-yard pass to Drake Wymer with 10 minutes, 25 seconds left in the first quarter. The Wildcats answered after a second turnover by holding the Bulldogs’ offense and then then driving 77 yards in seven plays, capped by an eight-yard run by Tali Nasilai with 5:12 left in the opening quarter.
With the rest of Har-Ber’s first half filled with more mistakes — as quarterback Fuller Chandler threw four of his five interceptions before intermission — Fayetteville had several opportunities to blow the game open in the second quarter. But besides a 45-yard touchdown run by Luke Rapert, the Purple’Dogs could add no more points before halftime, also missing a 31-yard yard field goal try as time expired in the second quarter.
“We felt really good at halftime,” Patton said. “But we knew they would come back with something else.”
Two Fayetteville turnovers to start the third quarter opened the door for Har-Ber (11-2). But the Wildcats could only respond with another interception and a punt, setting up the Bulldogs for a strong finish.
Fayetteville finally broke the game open with a five-play, 68-yard drive late in the third quarter, getting a 19-yard scoring run from Javontae Smith for a 21-7 lead.
After another costly HarBer fumble on a high snap over Chandler’s head with the Wildcats driving inside the Fayetteville 15, the Purple’Dogs sealed the deal when Smith capped a five-play, 62-yard drive with a 31-yard scoring run for the 28-7 lead with 5:09 remaining.
“You’ve got to give Fayetteville credit, they played outstanding,” Har-Ber coach Chris Wood said. “I thought you could tell a little bit that they had been here before, and we just made a few too many mistakes offensively.
“I thought our defense played well and they gave us an opportunity, especially forcing two turnovers to start the second half. We just came up short tonight and you hate it in this moment. It’s not a reflection of the entire season we had, but we’ll be back.”
Fayetteville held Har-Ber to 278 total yards, including just 22 passing yards. Luke Hannon rushed for 193 yards on 34 carries for the Wildcats. He ran for 313 yards and scored five touchdowns in the regular season win against the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs got 101 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries from Luke Rapert, and 97 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries from Smith, while quarterback Taylor Powell finished 15-of-25 for 175 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.
“We had a lot of pressure, started the season number one and we stumbled a little bit through the year,” Patton said. “But when the playoffs get here, they feel like it’s their time and November and December is when they shine. And this one is awfully sweet right here.”