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Faust, Brinker Pace Har-Ber
Last updated Saturday, September 6, 2008 12:05 AM CDT in Prep Sports
By Leland Barclay
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES RECORD
GREENWOOD -- Springdale Har-Ber's one-two punch of Zach Faust and Derek Brinker overpowered Greenwood on Friday night.
The two senior leaders led a 447-yard attack in leading the Wildcats to a 45-14 win over the Bulldogs in the season opener at Smith-Robinson Stadium.
Both teams played in championship games in their respective classifications last year, but played mostly new faces on Friday night while veterans Faust and Brinker stole the show.
"We leaned on two seniors that have been there," Har-Ber coach Chris Wood said. "Derek got stronger as the game went on, and we tried to keep pounding it. Zach made some really good decisions. He had a lot of pressure on him with Greenwood's scheme. They got a lot of hits on the quarterback, but Zach stayed in there and delivered the ball."
Brinker carried 26 times for 157 yards and three times, rushing for 106 yards and two of his touchdowns in the final half when Har-Ber pulled away.
Faust completed 13 of 30 passes for 217 yards with a touchdown toss to Trenton Moser in the fourth quarter. Nine of his completions were for more than 10 yards, including 51- and 57-yard tosses.
"They can go deep and pound you with the big guy," Greenwood coach Rick Jones said. "That's a hard combination. We were on the field way too much on defense because we weren't executing on offense."
Har-Ber led just 17-9 at the half, overcoming a sluggish first quarter with Brinker and Faust running for touchdowns and Oscar Escobar adding a 33-yard field goal.
In the second half, Greenwood committed three of its four turnovers with Houston Pruitt and Jacob Bundrick intercepting passes and Austin Otwell recovering a fumble for Har-Ber.
"It was definitely a tough night," Jones said. "We had trouble running the ball and passing the ball. We weren't sure coming in what we were going to be able to do."
Brinker added to Har-Ber's halftime lead with a 6-yard scoring run in the third quarter but Greenwood answered with a 39-yard touchdown pass from Tony Sandifer to Spencer Harris to keep the deficit at 24-15.
Har-Ber scored three times in the fourth quarter, gaining nine first downs and rolling up 180 yards in the final quarter.
"We tired their defense out, and we were able to get points off the turnovers," Wood said. "Our defense really played well. When it was choppy for us on offense, we were able to pin them down there."
Har-Ber limited Greenwood to just 67 yards on the ground and to just 16 completions in 36 attempts passing with three interceptions.
GAMEBREAKER
Why Har-Ber won
Har-Ber quarterback Zach Faust threw for 217 yards and a touchdown, and running back Derek Brinker rushed for 157 yards and three touchdowns.
Why Greenwood lost
The Bulldogs were forced to punt six times and turned the ball over 10 times, resulting in 10 stops for Har-Ber's defense.
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