Lindsey’s 4 TDs lift Bulldogs
7A-WEST
FAYETTEVILLE 42, BENTONVILLE WEST 28
FAYETTEVILLE — Drake Lindsey saw his receiver break free behind the defense and rared back and let the football fly.
Kaylon Morris was 10 yards behind the Bentonville West defense when he hauled in Lindsey’s 70-yard bomb and eased into the end zone to give Fayetteville a two-touchdown lead in the second quarter.
The Bulldogs maintained that margin the rest of the way in a 42-28 win to open 7A-West Conference play Friday night at Harmon Stadium.
“We were on left-middle and it was stacked, and I was thinking I might be able to get the inside post,” Lindsey said. “Then I saw K break free and my O-line did a great job of protecting me. The pocket was clean and I just saw a 5-yard burst and I just put it where he could go get under it.”
The Lindsey-to-Morris strike gave Fayetteville (3-1, 1-0) a 14-0 lead with 7:10 left in the second quarter and the Bulldogs kicked it into high gear.
The game was scoreless until the fifth play of the second quarter, when Lindsey connected with Jaison Delemar on a 51-yard scoring strike, the first of four touchdown passes for the junior quarterback in the second quarter.
Lindsey was 20-of-26 passing for 354 yards and 4 touchdowns on the night.
Fayetteville’s special-team plays were huge in the win, but none was bigger than Bo Nolen’s blocked punt in the second quarter that gave the Bulldogs the ball at the Bentonville West 25. Fayetteville used a trick play as Landon Schaefer hit Lindsey on a double-pass with Lindsey throwing back to Schaefer for a 22-yard touchdown and a 21-0 lead.
“That was monumental,” Fayetteville Coach Casey Dick said of Nolen’s blocked punt. “I worked for Coach [Bryan] Pratt for four years and that’s all we worked on was blocking kicks and special teams, so that was obviously big for us to be able to block a kick like that.”
Fayetteville extended the lead to 28-0 when Lindsey hit Lach McKinney down the left sideline and McKinney juked a defender to get into the end zone.
Bentonville West (2-2, 0-1) scored just before the half when Jake Casey found senior receiver Nick Bell for 61 yards to set up a short Jay Herndon touchdown run to make it 28-7 at halftime.
The Wolverines battled back throughout the second half as Casey found his groove with receivers Ty Durham and Jaxon Brust time and again. After Fayetteville went up 35-7 by driving 80-yards on its opening possession of the second half, the Wolverines outscored the Bulldogs 21-7.
Casey finished 24 of 39 for 374 yards and 2 touchdowns, and Durham caught 11 passes for 178 yards and threw a touchdown pass while also scoring two touchdowns.
“Our kids played, and that’s one thing we didn’t do in the first half,” Pratt said.
“We didn’t do a good job in the second quarter. It’s 0-0 in the first quarter but in the second quarter, we just fell apart.
“It’s really frustrating to see us play like that. If we play like we played in the second half, the ballgame is a whole lot different. But I will gladly play them again any chance we get. I feel like our kids came out in the second half and really manned up, and that’s what I want from my kids.”
Both teams will continue conference play next week as Fayetteville hits the road to take on unbeaten Rogers, and Bentonville West returns home to play Springdale.