ALMA —Fayetteville quarterback Bladen Fike wanted to make sure the Bulldogs were heading back home with some hardware Friday night.
He did just that, completing 13 of 17 passes for 215 yards and five touchdowns to guide Fayetteville in a 36-20 victory against Fort Smith Southside in the championship game of the Alma 7-on-7 tournament at Airedale Stadium.
“There is growth and consistency he’s got to continue to evolve and get better at,” Fayetteville coach Casey Dick said. “This was a big game for his confidence. This was big for all our guys. We are proud of him and all the guys. We made a lot of plays today.”
Fike missed on his first attempt in the title game, but he only missed three more times the rest of the game. He completed a pass for 34 yards then Fayetteville took a 6-0 lead on a 6-yard touchdown toss.
After Fayetteville got a pair of points for a defensive stop, Fike connected again with a 13-yard touchdown pass and connected on a two-point conversion for a 16-0 lead.
Southside quarterback David Sorg got the offense going after that. He guided the Mavericks down the field for a touchdown, cutting Fayetteville leads to 16-6. But the Bulldogs got another touchdown before halftime, a 26-yard toss, to take a 22-6 halftime lead.
The Fayetteville offense used two efficient drives to help put the game away in the second half. Southside used a nine-play drive to cut the lead to 22-14 after a touchdown and two-point conversion. Fayetteville answered with a one-play 40-yard touchdown pass and a 29-14 lead.
After Southside bounced back with a 40-yard touchdown pass of its own, Fayetteville responded with another 40-yard touchdown pass for a 36-20 edge.
Fayetteville was one play away from playing in the title game at this event in 2019, but they were stopped on offense. That didn’t happen Friday. The Bulldogs finished pool play 4-0-1 and got a bye heading into bracket play and rode that momentum.
“We come to win the game and you come to play the game,” Dick said. “That’s kind of the motto we have adapted this year. We want to be aggressive and not leave anything out here. They showed that today.”
Sorg finished 18 of 32 passing for 184 yards and three touchdowns for the Mavericks. Fort Smith Southside coach Kim Dameron said he couldn’t be more proud of his quarterback playing a big role in getting the team to the finals despite a lack of experience with the offense.
“He is running a brand new offense and has had just 10 practices with it,” Dameron said. “This was a fantastic day to learn the offense. The number of reps he got today were invaluable. We have it all on film and can go back and look at it. Today was awesome, and it will be a good teaching tool.”
Fayetteville, as the No. 2 seed in the tournament after pool play, got to the finals by beating Springdale Har-Ber and Rogers High. Southside got to the championship by beating Farmington, the No. 1 seed Bentonville High in overtime and Conway in the semifinals.
Dameron, a longtime college coach, had never been to a 7-on-7 event prior to this one. He learned on the fly along with his players to make a deep run.
“This was my first event like this and was for a lot of these kids,” Dameron said. “By the end of the day, we had gotten down to sophomores stepping up. I felt like we got better each game. These guys are learning how to compete at a high level. The most important thing I want these guys to learn is there is nobody on our schedule we can’t beat.”
Although Rogers High fell just short to Fayetteville in the semifinals, coach Chad Harbison loved the growth he saw from his team.
“We made a nice run, but we wanted to win this,” Harbison said. “We got better. We got a lot of new faces out here and the defense is new for us with a new coordinator and scheme. The whole objective is to be a competitive practice. We accomplished that today.”
The Mounties were guided by Noah Goodshield, who is making the transition from wide recover to quarterback. He had 40 catches for 662 yard and three touchdowns last fall.
He was good enough Friday for Rogers to make a deep run. But Harbison said Good-shield wasn’t alone out there making plays.
“This was a big day for him,” Harbison said. “There is a lot to learn for him. But he just got better all day. We had a bunch of guys out there who didn’t play for us last year. They got better. There were some miscommunications. But we get to learn from those. We did a lot of good out here. They competed hard and we are proud of them.”
At a glance
ALMA 7-ON-7 TOURNAMENT
at Airedale Stadium Friday’s results
BRACKET PLAY
First round
Springdale Har-Ber 29, Greenwood 22
Alma 29, Coweta (Okla.) 15
Rogers High 16, Fort Smith Northside 14
Fort Smith Southside 18, Farmington 14
Bentonville West 31, Green Forrest 6
Conway 34, Van Buren 14
Second round
Fort Smith Southside 30, Bentonville High 24, OT
Conway 17, Bentonville West 8
Fayetteville 25, Springdale Har-Ber 24
Rogers High 25, Alma 9
Semifinals
Fayetteville 24, Rogers 20
Fort Smith Southside 25, Conway 15
Finals
Fayetteville 36, Fort Smith Southside 20