Nobody on the Fayetteville football roster has ever beaten Har-Ber. The last time the Bulldogs knew what that felt like was in the State Title game in 2007. Since then Fayetteville has been left with a bitter taste in its mouth (0-4 against their rivals). But that can end Friday.
Two smash mouth football teams that started the season with two losses, now atop their conference playing for playoff positioning that could go a very long way in crowning a State Champion.
“We feel like if we can play to our standard we can beat anybody,” said Fayetteville senior receiver Cole Harris. “Har-Ber's a really good team and we're going to have to have a good week of practice and I feel like if we do that we can look to finally beat Har-ber.”
Last year Har-Ber put a beating on Fayetteville 45-24. So Fayetteville came into this season with a chip on its shoulder.
“We knew Har-Ber and Bentonville were the teams we wanted to beat and now that we're finally here that's all we're trying to do,” said senior quarterback Austin Allen.
Fayetteville has shown the regular season means very little when it comes to winning a State Championship in November and December.
“We've proven that three out of the last five years when we've made it to Little Rock we've not beaten Bentonville, we've not beaten Har-Ber,” said Fayetteville head coach Daryl Patton. “We'd go into the playoffs as a fourth seed. We've not given up, we've kept getting better and we found a way in Little Rock and we've won two of the three. So win or lose we're going to be in the playoffs and it's about getting hot at the right time and getting healthy and playing your best football in November.”
“Last year they both beat us in the regular season and anything can happen in the playoffs,” said Allen. “Once you get it rolling it's one game at a time so anything can happen.”
Fayetteville and Har-Ber start that final march toward the playoffs in our Football Friday Night Game of the Week- kicking off at 7:30pm in Fayetteville.