7A high school football
Class 7A Final game summaries and briefs
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Fayetteville 28, Springdale Har-Ber 7 — PHOTOS
The play of Blake McDonald built a lead for Fayetteville and bullish Cody Hammer provided the offense in the second half as the Bulldogs knocked off Springdale Har-Ber 28-7 for the Class 7A championship Saturday afternoon at War Memorial Stadium.
Hammer, the game’s most valuable player, finished with 205 yards rushing, 127 of that in the second half, and scored two touchdowns as the Bulldogs (9-3-1) won their first state title.
Hammer gained all 61 yards on the clinching scoring drive in the fourth quarter. His 5-yard touchdown with 7:55 left gave Fayetteville a 27-7 lead. Drew Patton added the extra point.
“After a couple of carries the coaches told me I was going to get to carry the ball a lot,” said Hammer, who had 34 of Fayetteville’s 48 rushing plays. “I was ready for it.”
Har-Ber (10-3), which won the regular season meeting between the schools 42-41 in overtime, scored on its first possession of the second half to make it a 21-7 game. Josh Fohmer caught a 23-yard pass from Patrick Calcagni with 10:10 left in the third quarter. Miguel Campuzano kicked the extra point.
“When we started getting people healthy in the middle of the season, we became a better team,” said coach Daryl Patton.
But that would be the only points the Wildcats would score on the day. The Bulldogs charged to a 21-0 halftime lead on the play of McDonald, who finished with 152 yards offense.
McDonald’s 10-yard run gave the Bulldogs the lead with 7:14 left in the first quarter. Drew Patton’s extra point made it 7-0. McDonald hit Michael Bowman with a 16-yard touchdown pass with 6:02 left in half and Patton’s kick made it 14-0.
After a 34-yard pass from McDonald to Gionni Harris, Hammer scored on a 1-yard run with 3:19 left in the half. Patton again added the extra point for a 21-0 halftime lead.
McDonald, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound senior, passed for 138 yards in the first half with Harris grabbing five for 89 yards.
Har-Ber, in its second year of varsity sports, had just 6 yards rushing and 82 yards passing in the half. For the game, the Wildcats had 252 yards and suffered three turnovers, two interceptions and a fumble.
Congratulations to the Bulldogs and Ric Davies.
Ric's a great coach but even a greater person.
Go Dogs ! -- Brian Dickinson, San Antonio
Non-subscriber comment posted by staff on December 3 at 6:17 a.m.
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