SPRINGDALE -- Fayetteville passed its first test as the leader in the 7A-West Conference standings.
Isaiah Sategna made sure of it.
Sategna caught two touchdown passes of 43 yards from Bladen Fike and Fayetteville pulled away for a 49-21 victory over Springdale in one of the state's oldest rivalries. Dylan Kittell added two 4-yard touchdowns on short passes for Fayetteville (6-2, 5-0) which took over first place in the 7A-West last week with a 42-34 victory than ended Bentonville's 35-game conference winning streak.
Sategna finished with 9 catches for 176 yards, while Kittell added 6 receptions for 80 yards. Fike threw for 271 yards and sophomore Omar Murray added 115 yards rushing on 15 attempts.
Fans attending Friday's game at Jarrell Williams Bulldog Stadium got to see the track speed of Sategna, who repeatedly got behind the Springdale defense. Besides the two 43-yard scores, Sategna had a 34-yard reception to set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Uriel Espino to give Fayetteville a 28-14 at halftime over Springdale.
"Special player, great kid," Fayetteville Coach Casey Dick said of Sategna, an Oregon commit. "Somebody's going to get a great player next fall for sure."
Springdale hung tough for awhile and trailed only 28-14 at halftime. But Fayetteville scored on three consecutive possessions to start the second half and led 49-14 on a 1-yard run by Espino with 4:25 still left in the third quarter.
"Coach [Brett] Hobbs had his kids ready to play, which is a sign of a great coach," Dick said. "But our kids have done a great job of competing all year. We made some adjustments at halftime and they came out and played well. They're highly senior-led and they did a great job in the second half."
Springdale took a surprising 7-0 lead when quarterback Landon Phipps broke away for a 47-yard touchdown run on the third play of the game. Even more surprising, Springdale held on downs after Fayetteville reached the 2.
Fayetteville responded with three consecutive scores, including a 16-yard touchdown run by Murray, after forcing a three-and-out by Springdale. But just when it appeared Fayetteville was about to take control, Davon Sparks returned a kickoff 91 yards and Springdale scored on a 1-yard run by Phipps on fourth down to pull to within 21-14 midway through the second quarter.
Sparks had a 50-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to cut the Fayetteville lead to 49-21.
"I was proud of the way our kids came into the game and competed," Hobbs said. "We've got to learn not to hurt ourselves and help out a good team like that. But I knew it was going to be tough with how good they are and how deep they are."