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Har-Ber Gets Its Revenge
Last updated Friday, October 31, 2008 11:52 PM CDT in Prep Sports
By Vernon Tarver
THE MORNING NEWS
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FAYETTEVILLE -- Revenge came in a sweet form for Springdale Har-Ber. After watching their state championship dreams ripped away by Fayetteville last November, the Wildcats flipped the script Friday in a 28-7 win against the Bulldogs at Harmon Field.
Yes, the very same 28-7 score as in last year's Class 7A title game won by the Purple'Dogs. Only this time, it was Har-Ber on the winning end thanks to a power running game, big plays through the air and a dominating defense.
"This is huge for us," said Wildcats senior tailback Derek Brinker, who finished with 128 yards rushing a touchdown. "We've just been playing three years and this is already a huge rivalry for us. And for us to come out here and put it on them like we did, it just feels great."
From a bruising and balanced offense which piled up 488 yards to a defense that completely shut down Fayetteville's ground game, the Har-Ber (7-2, 4-2 7A-West Conference) victory was in so many ways identical to last year's championship clash.
For the Wildcats on Friday, it began with defense when Fayetteville (4-5, 2-4) failed to score from inside the Har-Ber 2 on four consecutive running plays early in the second quarter. Feeding off the momentum from the big defensive stop, Har-Ber quickly seized control of the game by driving 99 yards on just three plays -- capped by a 74-yard touchdown reception from Zach Faust to Kaleb Vaughn.
"To be honest that (defensive stand) set the tone of the whole deal," Har-Ber coach Chris Wood said . "To see the energy when our defense comes off the field, and that just carries over to our offensive guys. And then we go 99 yards and get points out of the deal.
"That's what we've been able to do. That's the third time this year we've stopped someone on the goalline. It's been a trend for us and our defense has been our heart and soul all year."
While the Wildcats were having their way with Fayetteville's defense -- building a 21-0 lead midway through the third quarter -- the Purple'Dogs had no answer when the ball was in their hands. Sophomore quarterback Brandon Allen was intercepted four times and the Bulldogs were held to minus-10 rushing yards for the entire game.
"I don't know why, but we were flat," Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton said. "We were flat in pregame, flat at the start and Har-Ber I thought came out flat too. Everybody was waiting for somebody to do something and the goalline stand really kind of lit a fire under Har-Ber."
Faust finished with 252 passing yards and two touchdowns and Vaughn added a 67-yard touchdown run to go along with his touchdown catch to pace the Wildcats. For Fayetteville, Allen did manage 313 yards passing in the loss. But it went for naught with the Purple'Dogs struggling to find any running game success.
"That was a key, you always try to eliminate one phase of the game," Wood said. "And our defense was able to take away the run and when you can do that, you can just pin your ears back and go get them and that's what we did."
GAME BREAKER
Wildcats/28 Purple Bulldogs/7
Why The Wildcats won
Har-Ber was led by its defense all night. The Wildcats had a huge goalline stand in the second quarter and never allowed Fayetteville to get its running game going. On the offensive end, Derek Brinker and Kaleb Vaughn were the stars in an almost perfectly balanced attack.
Why The Purple'Dogs lost
Fayetteville had absolutely no running game to speak off, which led to several mistakes in the passing game. The Bulldogs couldn't overcome their failure to finish drives and gave up too many big plays to the Har-Ber offense.
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