Fayetteville beats Conway in 7A Arkansas football semifinals
Fayetteville stopped Conway on four straight plays inside Bulldog territory in the final minute of the game Friday night to secure a 24-21 victory in the Classic 7A Arkansas high school football state semifinal game.
After both teams came up empty on their first possessions, Fayetteville struck paydirt first.
FHS QB Drake Lindsey drove the Bulldogs down the field and hit junior Jaison DeLamar for a 28-yard gain to the Conway 3. Two plays later, senior Christian Setzer blasted in from a yard out to make it 7-0 with 6:28 left in the first quarter.
On the ensuing drive, the Wampus Cars faced a 4-and-2 at the Fayetteville 39. Senior quarterback Donovyn Omolo scampered for a 9-yard pick.
After hitting Desmond Davidson for an 18-yard gain, Omolo tied the score at 7-7 with a 2-yard run with 2:48remaining in the opening quarter.
After forcing a shanked Fayetteville punt, Conway’s Trez Hammond returned it to the Bulldog 45. But the Wampus Cars proceeded to turn the ball over on downs.
Conway’s next drive ended with kicker Major Mahar’s first missed field goal of the season, as his 24-yard attempt hit the left upright.
Lindsey then led the Bulldogs back down the field with completions to Mason Spencer and Lach McKinney. He completed the drive with a 4-yard TD strike to DeLamar, who turned in the air to make the catch. Fayetteville led 14-7 at the half.
Omolo got injured in the second play of the second quarter and had to come out for a play. Backup quarterback Wesley Tapp then had his line pass was then picked off by Isaiah Taylor at the Conway 45.
Lindsey then threw a strike to Spencer, but the ball was deflected and caught out of the air by Setzer, who broke lose for 31 yards to the Conway 14. Mason then hauled in a 14-yard TD to put the Bulldogs up 21-7 with 9:15 left in the third quarter.
Conway inched a little closer late in the period. Omolo hit Jackson Anderson for 44 yards to the Fayetteville 37. Anderson then hauled in a 23-yard touchdown catch to cut the lead to 21-14 with 2:31 remaining in the third.
After the Wampus Cats forced a turnover on downs, thanks to a sack by Ben Chandler, Conway was back on the march.
After Davidson picked up a first down on 4th-and-1 at the Fayetteville 12, Omolo hit Jaydon Gaines for an 8-yard TD to tie the score at 21-21 with 7:53 left on n the game.
Setzer quickly got the Bulldogs back into Conway territory with a 43-yard run, followed by a 14-yard scamper to the Wampus Cats 14. But they had to settle for the go-ahead 27-yard field goal by Nathan Kachel.
Conway drove into Fayetteville territory and picked up a 4th-and-1 on a 14-yard pass to Davidson. A pass interference call then moved the ball to the Bulldog 14. But the Wampus Cats failed to convert n 4th-and-8 at the Fayetteville 12 with 1:44 to play.
Using its timeouts, Conway forced Fayetteville to punt and got one more crack. After a catch interference call against Fayetteville on the punt, the Wampus Cats took over at the Bulldog 39 with 40 seconds left.
The Bulldogs forced four straight incompletions and ran out the clock.
3 Takeaways
1.
Fayetteville senior quarterback Drake Lindsey continued his record-setting season with his 50th and 51st passing touchdown of the season, while earning a trip to the Class 7A state title game.
Although he finished with a season-low with 175 yards, the Minnesota-commit was efficient, completing 20 of 29 passes. He is the first Fayetteville quarterback to ever throw for at least 50 touchdowns.
“It’s surreal, but we’re 12-0, we got one more to play, and that’s all I’m worried about,” Lindsey said. “Just finishing this next one and getting it done.”
A key play in the game was one of Lindsey’s passes to receiver Mason Spencer, when the ball got deflected into the air and right into the open arms of Setzer, who rambled 31 yards to the Conway 14. The Bulldogs scored to go up 21-7 on the following play.
Setzer finished with 123 yards on 21 carries, including the game’s first score -- a 1-yard plunge in the first quarter.
He said all the motivation they needed to win the game came from the final game of 2022. The Wampus Cats came into Fayetteville for last season’s playoff game and crushed the Bulldogs 37-0.
“Coming off of that embarrassing loss last year, we fought for this one, and we fought hard,” Setzer said. “And we were just able to make all the plays that were necessary. It was the only motivation. That was the only thing we worried about. They came in here and beat us in front of our home crowd, so we wanted to send a message that we couldn’t let them do that again in our house.”
2.
Dick is on the verge of leading Fayetteville to its first-ever undefeated state championship season. The only other time Fayetteville has finished a season undefeated was 1957, when the Bulldogs went 10-0 and Little Rock Central finished 12-0. That was before a state playoff system was in place, so there was no definitive winner for the state championship.
“It’s huge, almost unreal,” Dick said, following the game. “Right now, I’m just thinking of all the things that flipped back-and-forth, back-and-forth. There’s a lot of fight in these kids. They’ve faced a lot of adversity. That’s all about life, right there. They never gave up. Even when things didn’t look good, these kids kept fighting.
He and his staff instilled a message this week of staying poised on the field.
“That was our message every day in practice, you know, poise, composure – and then turn it loose between the whistles,” he said. “And that’s what they did. Our guys come to battle every week. They’re well-coached, they’re tested, and our kids show up and believe in the system. We’re just so proud of those kids right now.”
3.
After winning the past five Class 7A state championships – all at Bryant – Conway first-year head coach Buck James’s history run finally came to an end.
“Well, we lost,” he said. “We haven’t lost in five years, that’s the only difference. I mean, our kids played hard, they competed. We just didn’t make many plays, and they made plays. The team that made the most plays won.”
But showing the fight that James’ team always show, the Wampus Cats bounced back from a 21-7 second-half deficit to tie the score at 21-21.
“They kept fighting to the end of the game,” James said. “They had a chance to win it at the end, but we didn’t make the plays we needed. Fayetteville made the plays they were supposed to, so that was the difference.
He still considers this a good year for Conway football, and is focused on moving forward with the program.
“We had a good year and wanted to win,” he said. “It was hard on the kids, because, really, I didn’t get (to Conway) until July. But I thought our seniors and our kids bought into everything I wanted to do. And I think they played their tails off all year for us.”
Dick gave James high praise following the game.
“He is just a hell of a football coach, and there is not a more proper way to put it,” Dick said. “He’s just done an unbelievable job winning all those games and getting to that point. He still had a heck of a season, and he will go out as Arkansas’s greatest to ever do it.”
--Steve Andrews
Photos by Ted McClenning
SBLive Sports
Photo by Ted McClenning
