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Friday, October 10, 2008
VYPE Game of the Week: Week 6
Western Arkansas, AR
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By: Mike Capshaw
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Photo(s) By: Will Flowers
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“Fayetteville is defending state champs and they are state champs until someone does something about it,” Henry said. “They are going to act like it and play like it and we expect Fayetteville to be as good as they were last season, maybe better.
“You know Fayetteville can get it done and will get it done at some point.”
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Cody Hammer, one of the state’s top linebackers, is out for No. 12 Fayetteville so the Bulldogs plan to shake things up defensively against No. 8 Fort Smith Northside tonight at home. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 at Harmon Field for the VYPE Game of the Week.
Hammer, last season’s 7A State Championship game MVP, was averaging more tan 15 tackles per game. To try replace that, Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton said sophomores Demetrius Dean and Dylan Hale will see significant snaps on defense against a Grizzlies team (4-1, 2-0) that has won four consecutive games.
Dean, a 6-foot-2, 220-pounder, already has attracted a scholarship offer from Arkansas as a receiver but could line up at linebacker or safety.
“Demetrius is a kid that played a lot of defense in junior high and was very, very good at it,” Patton said. “We’re getting down to the nitty gritty, so we have to look at all options to get it done.”
Protecting the ball has been the Bulldogs’ (2-3, 0-2) chief problem since opening the season with a 35-0 victory against Little Rock Christian. But 16 turnovers in the last four games has contributed to three straight losses, including last week’s 55-27 setback at Springdale.
Giving up that many points could have had fingers pointing at the defense, but Patton said his staff has been strong in the face of adversity.
“We’re all in this thing together and I couldn’t be prouder of my staff,” Patton said. “They are putting in countless hours to try to get this thing right and to find ways to do things a little different to shake things up.”
Northside shook things up completely this season by debuting a no-huddle Spread offense that has seen quarterback Dax Dupire pass for 1,546 yards in five games. He’s completed almost 63 percent of his passes while throwing 12 touchdowns and only 3 interceptions.
But it has been the defense of late, holding pass-happy Har-Ber to seven points last week, that has the Grizzlies playing as well as anybody in the state coming into the game.
“We really played well defensively against Har-Ber, but didn’t offensively so we have yet to put a full game together,” said Northside coach Darrell Henry. “But we go from one tough game to another and it’s Fayetteville-Northside so it doesn’t make a difference what our records are, if we don’t play well, they can score a lot of points.”
Despite its recent struggles, Henry said Fayetteville fields one of the scariest teams in the state in terms of talent and crafty coaching.
“Fayetteville is defending state champs and they are state champs until someone does something about it,” Henry said. “They are going to act like it and play like it and we expect Fayetteville to be as good as they were last season, maybe better.
“You know Fayetteville can get it done and will get it done at some point.”
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