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Wildcats Look To Keep Title Hopes Alive
Last updated Thursday, October 30, 2008 9:14 PM CDT in Prep Sports
By Matt Jones
SPECIAL TO THE MORNING NEWS
SPRINGDALE -- While a share of a 7A-West Conference championship isn't out of reach for Springdale Har-Ber, the Wildcats are focusing on playoff positioning.
That starts tonight when Har-Ber travels down the road to Fayetteville in a rematch of last year's Class 7A State Championship game.
In typical Fayetteville-Springdale fashion, bragging rights are on the line, but so are playoff spots.
The Wildcats (6-2, 3-2 7A-West Conference) are coming off a 27-22 loss at Fort Smith Southside last week. Har-Ber is still mathematically alive for a conference crown, but needs a win tonight and a Bentonville loss to keep it that way.
"Things are a little different (after losing to Southside)," Wood said. "It's the end of the year and we're really fighting now for playoff position, maybe not so much a conference title."
Har-Ber committed five turnovers in its first five possessions in last week's loss. Against an experienced Fayetteville defense, that will need to change, Wood said.
"Fayetteville has a very good ball club and they're starting to hit their stride. I don't know if we'll draw from last week. They're different teams, but we can't turn the ball over that many times and win a ballgame. I know that."
After starting the conference season with three straight losses, the Bulldogs (4-4, 2-3) have put together consecutive close wins over Southside and Rogers. Still yet, Fayetteville isn't lock for the playoffs.
"We still need to win one of these last two games to get in for sure," Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton said, "and if we win both we could be playing for a three or four seed, and a possible home game in the playoffs. So it's another big game for us."
The Bulldogs are currently tied with Springdale for fifth place in the 7A-West with the top six teams advancing this year to the playoffs. Another win would punch their sixth consecutive trip to the postseason.
Friday marks the third time in less than a year the Wildcats and Bulldogs have met on the gridiron.
Har-Ber won last year's regular season contest 42-41 in overtime, but the Bulldogs got the last laugh with a 28-7 win in the state championship game in Little Rock.
"This is becoming a pretty big rivalry between us and Har-Ber," Patton said. "It's a rematch of last year's championship and there's a lot on the line. So it's a big game."
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