Fayetteville has appeared in six state championship games since 2007 and won three of them, but it's the Bulldogs' loss in last year's Class 7A championship game that stung the most.
The Bulldogs led 21-17 with 3:06 left against defending champion Bentonville, but the Tigers' Dylan Smith scored on a 6-yard run with 26 seconds left and Cody Scroggins intercepted Fayetteville quarterback Taylor Powell to seal the game.
It's that memory that has stuck with Fayetteville for almost a calendar year. The Bulldogs have another shot tonight to win their fourth state championship if they can get past 7A-West Conference rival Springdale Har-Ber at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
"The first thing I said when I got back to the locker room last year was, 'It starts tomorrow,' " senior defensive end Eli Hale said. "We were trying to get back to this spot."
Powell has passed for 3,399 yards with 49 touchdowns and 6 interceptions in his second season as a starter, and the junior has managed to keep the Bulldogs (11-2) on an even keel.
"It was a big stage for a sophomore to be on," Powell said of advancing to the title game last season. "I handled it well, but this year I'm a lot more confident in myself. I feel like it's just the next game at a different location."
Har-Ber (11-1) beat Fayetteville 47-43 in the teams' first meeting Oct. 16 behind senior running back Luke Hannon's 333 yards and four touchdowns. Senior quarterback Fuller Chandler threw a 6-yard pass to Trey Smith with six seconds left to win it for the Wildcats, who went through the 7A-West at 7-0.
But Har-Ber Coach Chris Wood said he knows that Fayetteville is a different team than it was almost two months ago.
"It's such a daunting task because they're so well-coached and they're a dang good football team," Wood said. "They started the season No. 1 in the state and with good merit. They deserved every bit of it.
"To go back through them twice, it's a big a challenge. We're glad to get that opportunity to do it at War Memorial."
Coach Daryl Patton has led all of Fayetteville's teams that have made it to the state championship game, guiding the Bulldogs to titles in 2007, 2011 and 2012.
Fayetteville lost to Bentonville in Week 10 to fall to the 7A-West's No. 3 seed and had to play a first-round game, but that might have motivated the Bulldogs. Fayetteville beat West Memphis at home before winning at Bryant and Bentonville in the second round and semifinals to reach the championship game.
"We talk about November and December," Patton said. "T-shirts are nice for winning the conference, but we want the ring. Our kids, on the first day of the playoff run, put 28 up on the board. We said, 'That's how many days we have left in our season.' We wanted to prepare for 28 more days.
"Our kids have done an unbelievable job of that. When you've got kids who are never satisfied and content, you've got a chance."
Sports on 12/05/2015