Bulldogs show their resolve

The Fayetteville Bulldogs are doing a good job of putting last year’s struggles behind them.

Fayetteville jumped ahead, fell behind, then rallied for a 36-35 victory over Bryant that left the Bulldogs 3-0 on the season. The fourth-quarter comeback was quite a reversal from last year when the Bulldogs lost a handful of close games, including two one-point defeats to Bryant, which began last week ranked No. 2 in Class 7A.

“Bryant had a great third quarter and it was like an avalanche coming down on us for eight or nine minutes there,” Fayetteville coach Billy Dawson said. “But our players kept playing and our coaching kept coaching. We showed a lot of tenacity and resiliency and that says a lot about us.”

The Bulldogs are focused now on Friday’s 7A-West Conference opener against Bentonville West. Senior Darius Bowers is listed day-to-day after he was injured during the win over Bryant. Hank Gibbs, a junior who played a couple of series last week, will start at quarterback if Bowers is unavailable.

The Wolverines are 0-3 after being hit with injuries at key positions. But Fayetteville knows it can’t overlook the Wolverines, who were the preseason pick by the majority of the league coaches to win the 7A-West.

Bentonville West beat Fayetteville 38-28 last year and won nine consecutive games before losing to Bentonville High.

“Bentonville West is very well-coached and they do a great job of getting the ball to different players,” Dawson said. “They’re explosive. They’ll big-play you.”