'Dogs win Dawson's debut

The Billy Dawson era began with a bang as Fayetteville knocked off Blue Springs, Mo., 22-17 at Peve Stadium on Friday night. The first-year coach finished his postgame speech to players by shouting "Hip, hip, hooray!" three times. He was certainly pleased with his team's effort against the Wildcats (2-1), a team playing their third game that entered Friday as Missouri's No. 1 team in a statewide media poll. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs (1-0) look liked a team playing its season opener by overcoming 14 penalties for 104 yards. Blue Springs committed three for 35 yards. "We shot ourselves in the foot a lot," Dawson said. "I knew coming in that if we could survive early and could hang in there, then we'd have a chance at the end and we had some guys show up tonight and show some flash tonight when it mattered most." While Fayetteville's defense made several huge stands like Cemari Dobbins' game-clinching interception in the closing seconds, an offensive play change the game. On 4th-and-10 and time ticking away, junior quarterback Darius Bowers threw a jump ball that was won by Frank Morgan, who finished the play by running in for a 28-yard touchdown that gave Fayetteville a 19-17 lead with 4 minutes, 20 seconds remaining in regulation. "We brought him in for that play and had the play originally drawn up for him," Bowers said. "All I had to do is throw it up and I knew he would go get it because Frank has probably got the best vertical in the state." Bowers, who fought off second-half cramps by drinking pickle juice, completed 22-of-31 passes for 275 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He also rushed 16 times for 61 yards, which included negative yardage on sacks. After fumbling on the first offensive play, Bowers responded by completing 14 of 19 passes for 198 yards in the first half, including an 8-yard touchdown pass to Jackson White that gave the Bulldogs a 10-9 lead midway through the second quarter. That capped off a 12-play, 84-yard drive that featured Bowers and receiver Kris Mulinga heating up to help convert four third downs on the drive. Bowers ran for two of the first downs while Mulinga bullied his way for one and drew a pass interference penalty for the other third-down conversion. "Fumbled the ball on the first snap, but then he rebounded," Dawson said. "He had a great night. Stayed cool and collected Very, very proud of him and the way he responded." Senior Brayden Butler was a difference maker on Fayetteville's defense in the first half. The senior, who had two sacks, made a tackle for a loss to force the Wildcats' into 3rd-and-goal from the 7. Butler intercepted Donohue's pass in the end zone. On the next play, Bowers hit Mulinga in stride for a 75-yard bomb. The duo then failed to connect on a fade pattern, but Fayetteville settled for a 26-yard field goal by Huxley Richardson gave the Bulldogs a 13-9 at halftime. "For an opening game, I thought we played well and defense is why we had a shot," Dawson said. "Brayden Butler flies all over the field and made a lot of big plays. There were a bunch of them who stepped up and made big plays when it mattered." Blue Springs capitalized on Bowers' fumble on Cade Musser's 10-yard touchdown run to take a 6-0 lead with 5 midway through the first quarter. Fayetteville appeared to have an answer by driving down the field, but an offsides' penalty on 3rd-and-goal from the 2 forced a 20-yard field goal by Richardson to cut the deficit to 6-3. It was Richardson's first of three field goals, which proved to be the difference. "This a great start for us," Bowers said. "We feel good about it, but it's time to move on. We still have a lot of work to do because I think some people have been underestimating us."

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'DOGS WIN DAWSON'S DEBUT

MIKE CAPSHAW

Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette | 9/2/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: David Gottschalk