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One big quarter was not quite enough for the Bryant Hornets. The Fayetteville Bulldogs followed senior quarterback Darius Bowers to a 36-35 victory over Bryant at Hornet Stadium on Friday night. "Our quarterback is a good player," Fayetteville coach Billy Dawson said. As Fayetteville (3-0) tried to run out the clock, Bowers injured his left knee and had to leave the game with less than two minutes to play. "I hope he's OK," Dawson said. Fayetteville led 21-7 at halftime, but Bryant (2-1) scored four third-quarter touchdowns to lead 35-21. "They're a good team, and we want to play good teams," Bryant coach Buck James said. "Year in and year out, Fayetteville's going to be one of the best teams. A game like this, it's going to depend on how we take it. We have to decide whether we want to blame somebody else or if we want to accept that we didn't play three quarters very well. We played one really well, and if we can learn to do that for four quarters, we have a chance to be a good football team." A 42-yard field goal by junior Huxley Richardson put Fayetteville within 35-24 to start the fourth quarter. Fayetteville held Bryant to one first down in the final 12 minutes. It scored on a 13-yard pass from Bowers to junior back Conner Flannigan to cut Bryant's lead to 35-30 with 8:46 left in the game. "Our defense did a tremendous job stopping them, especially in the fourth quarter," Bowers said. "We really needed that to get going." Bryant managed no more than three plays and a punt on its next possession, and Fayetteville responded with an eight-play 61-yard drive that included two third-down and one fourth-down conversion. Bowers' 7-yard touchdown run completed the scoring with 3:44 left in the fourth quarter. Bowers completed 19 of 27 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for two touchdowns and 33 yards on 15 carries. Fayetteville scored on the game's opening possession after it drove 65 yards on six plays, the final a 19-yard touchdown run by Bowers. Bowers' 69-yard touchdown pass to junior Connor Flannigan gave Fayetteville a 14-0 lead with 51 seconds left in the second quarter. A fumble recovery by junior Catrell Wallace gave Bryant the ball at the Fayetteville 27 midway through the second quarter. Three plays and two pass-interference penalties later, senior running back Latavian Scott scored on a 2-yard run to put Bryant within 14-7. An interception by junior defensive back Cornelius Williams gave Fayetteville possession at the Bryant 28 late in the second quarter. Bowers' 20-yard pass to Flannigan on 3rd-and-14 put Fayetteville at the Bryant 2. Flannigan's 2-yard run on the next play gave Fayetteville a 21-7 lead that it maintained until halftime. Bryant's third-quarter run started with a 28-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Ren Hefley to sophomore River Gregory. A blocked punt downed on the Fayetteville 1 and followed by a 1-yard run by Scott tied the score at 21-21 with 1o:14 left in the third quarter. Hefley's 30-yard touchdown run and 21-yard touchdown pass to Scott gave Bryant a 35-21 lead with 4:56 left in the third quarter. "We knew if they got into that offensive rhythm, we were going to be in trouble," Dawson said. "They're good. They got us out of our rhythm, but our kids are resilient and played good enough in the fourth quarter to win."

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Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette | 9/17/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Jimmy Jones