Fayetteville celebrates outright 7A-West title

7A-WEST FAYETTEVILLE 49, SPRINGDALE HAR-BER 14

FAYETTEVILLE — The goal for Fayetteville Coach Casey Dick was to make this week as much fun as possible for his senior class. Mission accomplished. The Bulldogs got a little tricky Friday night while making history at Harmon Field. It of course involved a couple of seniors, too.

A reverse-pass from senior wide receiver Jalen Blackburn to fellow senior wide receiver Isaiah Sategna for a 64-yard touchdown was just the exclamation mark needed for the Bulldogs. Fayetteville rolled after that for a 49-14 victory against Springdale Har-Ber in a 7A-West Conference matchup.

“Our kids are so great and we preached this one is for the seniors,” Dick said. “Everything would take care of itself. They bought into that. It’s just so awesome. These kids really care about each other. It’s awesome to coach this group.”

The win for Fayetteville (8-2, 7-0) secured an outright conference championship for the first time since 1963. The Bulldogs earned the No. 1 seed and heads into the postseason where they await the winner of next week’s game between fifth seed Springdale Har-Ber (7-3) and Cabot, the Central’s No. 4 seed after a loss to North Little Rock.

The trick play was something Fayetteville had practiced all week and was looking to use it. Blackburn didn’t expect the play call when it happened though. He had been forced to come out the play before.

“I threw up the play before,” Blackburn said. “I came out and they asked me if I could go. I got right in there and tossed it up. It made me super happy. Finishing strong means so much to us because we haven’t won this conference outright in a long time.”

It was Blackburn’s first varsity throw, but he made the most of it. The toss gave Fayetteville a 28-0 lead with 2:34 left before halftime and was apart of a fury of offense before the break.

Sategna, who recently flipped his commitment from Oregon to the University of Arkansas, said his favorite moments in practice all week were running that play. He is glad it worked out for the Bulldogs.

“Every time we practice it, I would run down the field with a big smile on my face,” Sategna said. “We have been waiting to run that one all week. We were wanting to run that play. I was so excited when it was called.”

Fayetteville didn’t mess around early, scoring on five of its six first-half possessions. That allowed them to jump out to a 35-0 edge at the break. Seniors all played a key role in building the lead.

Senior quarterback Bladen Fike scored the initial touchdown of the game on a fourthdown scramble. He went on to toss three touchdowns to seniors Blackburn, Dylan Kittell and to sophomore Christian Setzer. The offense finished with 363 first-half yards.

The seniors showed out on the defensive side of the ball as well. Braelon Palmer came away with a goal-line interception in the first half to help keep a shutout early. Fayetteville finished with three interceptions with senior Owen McCone and junior Bo Nolen getting in on the action, too. The defense issues just 116 yards in the first half.

Fike finished 13-of-21 passing for 142 yards with 3 touchdown for Fayetteville. Senior running back Uriel Espino had a season-best 125 yards on 23 carries. Blackburn finished with 4 catches with 33 yards with a score to go along with his 64-yard touchdown toss. Sategna added 3 catches for 74 yards with a score.

Har-Ber was able to get its offense going in the second half, scoring 14 unanswered points. Junior quarterback Luke Buchanan scored twice on the ground. But Fayetteville closed out the game strong with the final two touchdowns.