Speed puts Bulldogs in control

-Fayetteville's speed was on full display during Friday's 50-14 victory against Van Buren at Harmon Field. The speed came from the one-two punch of Beau Stuckey and Connor Flannigan. The duo, along with Hank Gibbs' passing and a sack-happy defense, was the difference in the Bulldogs improving to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the 7A-West Conference while the Pointers slipped to 2-3 overall and 1-2 in league play. "They're really good football players who can run," Fayetteville Coach Billy Dawson. "We get caught up sometimes in guys who have a lot of speed, and those guys can really run, but those are two good football players and I thought our quarterback did a nice job of getting the football to them. "We're getting better. We played a little cleaner penalty-wise, so I'm proud of where we're at and the direction we're heading." Gibbs connected on a 21-yard touchdown pass to Luke Charboneau and a 29-yard pass to Flannigan to give Fayetteville an early 14-0 lead before Van Buren responded with a 78-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Gary Phillips to Jude Bartholomew. Three plays after the missed field goal, Gibbs hit Stuckey on a tunnel screen and Stuckey did the rest by slicing through a seam in the defense for a 75-yard touchdown sprint. Van Buren answered when Phillips hooked up with Bartholomew again for a 14-yard scoring strike to make it 21-14. That was as close as the Pointers would get as Flannigan returned the ensuing kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown and added to the lead on a 39-yard touchdown pass from Gibbs to Flannigan. Flannigan finished with 6 receptions for 137 yards while Gibbs was 14-of-26 passing for 262 yards and 4 touchdowns. Fayetteville's Montell Perry began the second-half scoring when he followed a 24-yard run with a five-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Sophomore Rees Nelson added a 78-yard touchdown run as time expired for the Bulldogs.

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SPEED PUTS BULLDOGS IN CONTROL

MIKE CAPSHAW

Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette | 10/6/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Andy Shupe