PURPLE'DOGS CRUISE PAST HERITAGE

Darius Bowers got a bit chilly in the second half. He was red hot in the first, completing his first 15 passes to lead Fayetteville to a 56-7 win against Rogers Heritage at Harmon Stadium on Friday. Bowers, the Bulldogs' senior quarterback, took his last snap when he handed the ball off to Montell Perry for a 10-yard touchdown run, Perry's second, that pushed the margin to 42-0 with 3 minutes, 19 seconds remaining in the first half. Fayetteville improves to 7-2, 4-2 in 7A-West while the War Eagles fall to 0-9, 0-6. Despite watching from the sideline, Bowers found a way to stay warm in the second half. "This is football weather," Bowers said with visible goose bumps on both bare arms after the game. "I tried to hype up the guys by bouncing around because it was fun to get to watch some of the younger guys get to play so much." Bowers' first incompletion actually didn't hit the turf. He said he "floated" a pass over a receiver for an interception. Bowers finished 15-of-17 for 266 yards and four touchdowns. A dropped pass was his only other incompletion. He spread the wealth with touchdown passes to Luke Charboneau (12 yards), Connor Flannigan (49), Beau Stuckey (1) and Barrett Adams (4). "I didn't know that [15 straight completions]," Bowers said. "I just give a lot of credit to the O-line because I had a lot of time to throw and to our receivers making plays. We were just executing well on everything. "We put an emphasis on coming out here and starting fast and we did that." Meanwhile, Fayetteville's defense set the tone on the game's opening play when four defensive linemen busted through the War Eagles' interior line. Senior Coleman Johnson was the first to quarterback Zach Brown for the sack. "Coleman is a good player and he's had a really good year," said Fayetteville coach Billy Dawson. "His dad [Willie Johnson] coaches at Heritage, so it was kind of a little battle there, I guess. "Our defensive line as a whole keeps getting better." That wasn't the lone bright spot for the Dogs' defensively during the first half shutout. With Brown heavily pressured, Carson Johnson hauled in an interception with one-hand that set up the touchdown pass to Stuckey and made the score 28-0 late in the first quarter. Senior Carrington Taylor made an over-the-shoulder interception catch when he ran down a deep ball thrown by Heritage backup quarterback Dylan Moore. Taylor's pick didn't lead to points as Bowers had a pass intercepted by sophomore Dreagon Blackwell, who returned it 13 yards to the Fayetteville 25. But the War Eagles couldn't capitalize on their best field position of the game when a high snap sailed over Moore's head for an 18-yard loss. "We wanted to start fast and play at a high level," Dawson said. "We've been playing well on both sides of the ball the past few weeks, so we wanted to come out and get it to our playmakers and we did that. The guys are getting better." A fumble recovery by Fayetteville sophomore Dominic Green early in the fourth quarter kept the shutout bid alive until Heritage junior Jaheim Webb 49-yard touchdown run on the game's final play. A two-yard touchdown run by sophomore Rees Nelson late in the third quarter and two-yard touchdown run by junior Jayden Brockinton midway through the fourth accounted for the rest of the Bulldogs' scoring.

PURPLE'DOGS CRUISE PAST HERITAGE

Photo Credit: Fayetteville High School Athletics

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