BRYANT -- The rehabilitation was worth it for Ren Hefley.
The Bryant junior quarterback missed his team's final four games of the regular season because of a left collarbone injury, but returned Friday night to engineer the game-winning drive in the fourth quarter for the Hornets, who defeated Fayetteville 21-20 at Bryant Stadium in the Class 7A quarterfinals.
Senior Kris King's 1-yard run and sophomore Grayson Scoles' extra-point attempt gave the Hornets a one-point lead with 43 seconds left. Fayetteville had an opportunity to win the game, but junior quarterback Darius Bowers was short by one yard on fourth-and-four with 12 seconds remaining, allowing Bryant to seal the victory.
Bryant (10-1), the No. 2 seed from the 7A-Central Conference, will travel to 7A-West Conference champion Bentonville High for a semifinal game next Friday. Fayetteville's season ends at 7-5.
Meanwhile, Hefley, who did not start Friday but started the second half after Bryant trailed 20-0 at halftime, led the Hornets on a 12-play, 54-yard drive that began with 3:14 remaining and his team trailing 20-13. The drive was set up by a bad snap on a punt attempt by Fayetteville sophomore Huxley Richardson.
Hefley threw two third-and-10 passes for first downs to senior Brandon Murray for 10 yards and junior Randy Thomas for 14 yards. Thomas' reception gave Bryant a first down at the Fayetteville 22 with 2:19 left. A Fayetteville pass interference penalty on the next play put the ball at the Bulldogs 11 with 2:02 remaining and senior running back Latavion Scott carried the ball the next three plays, getting Bryant to the one with 56 seconds left.
Scott's helmet came off on the third run, and King took it in for the touchdown with 43 seconds to play.
Hefley completed 8 of 21 passes for 104 yards and 1 touchdown.
"It was great," Hefley said. "I was so blessed to come back out here and play."
Scott finished with 110 rushing yards on 28 carries. King had two scoring runs of 6 yards and 1 yard, ending up with 21 yards on 6 carries.
Junior quarterback Jake Meaders, who started Friday night and filled in for Hefley over Bryant's final four regular season games, passed for 43 yards and threw an interception.
Fayetteville led 20-0 at halftime, with Bowers tossing scoring passes of 23 yards to senior Cody Gray in the first quarter and 16 yards in the second quarter to sophomore Connor Flannigan. Bowers added a 19-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
Bryant began chipping away at Fayetteville's lead in the third quarter.
King's 6-yard touchdown run pulled the Hornets within 20-7 at the 7:19 mark. Then, with 11:52 left in the fourth quarter, Fayetteville senior running back Dan Hinton fumbled at the Bryant 28 and senior defensive back James Polite recovered.
The turnover led to Hefley's 29-yard touchdown pass to Thomas and Bryant cut the lead to 20-13 with 7:22 remaining.
Bowers completed 18 of 35 passes for 250 yards with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception and added 93 rushing yards and another score on 16 carries. Flannigan led the Bulldogs' receivers with 8 receptions for 81 yards and 1 touchdown.
While Bowers and the Bulldogs looked like they were headed to the Class 7A semifinals for the fourth consecutive season, Bryant thwarted those plans with a second-half comeback.
Sports on 11/18/2017