Published: October 20, 2007 01:21 am         

Fayetteville wins in battle of 10s

FAYETTEVILLE — Fayetteville went from the depths of despair to the top of the mountain in the span of 19.4 seconds Friday night at Fletcher Arritt Memorial Stadium.

Buffalo, which shared the WVSSAC Class A No. 10 ranking with the Pirates this week, appeared to salt the game away with a Tyler Hull 35-yard interception return TD with 45.5 ticks left, the Pirates displayed a resiliency that made second-year coach David Moneypenny proud.

On the ensuing possession, Fayetteville quarterback MichaelAngelo Hernandez — who had thrown the crucial interception to Hull on the previous play — tossed a screen pass to teammate Drew Weis out in the left flat. Weis hauled in the pigskin, got some blocking and waded down the sideline, eventually crossing the goal line on a 60-yarder to even the contest at 22-22.

Then, Moneypenny opted to put the game’s fortunes on the toe of Hernandez, and the sophomore responded with a down-the-pike PAT kick for a 23-22 margin.

The Bison — relying as they had all evening on the talented arm of signal-caller Nick Harris (22-of-47 for 355 yards, two scores and two interceptions) — put the ball in scoring position when a 46-yard completion from Harris to Schuyler Frazier moved the pigskin to the 5, but time expired, leading to a wild Pirate celebration.

“It’s high school football,” said a relieved Moneypenny afterward. “Kids are going to make plays, and kids aren’t going to make plays.

“That’s one of the things that is unique about it.”

“At halftime (which saw Fayetteville trailing 8-6), we told the kids we’ve had to fight back in every game, and this one wasn’t going to be any different,” he added. “We’re learning to overcome adversity.”

Hernandez put the Pirates back up, 9-8, on a 36-yard field goal midway through the third period (the 3-pointer was set up by Brian Trofy’s interception), Weis raced 36 yards for another six-pointer, and Hernandez’s PAT pushed the margin to 16-8 late in the third frame.

But, the Bison began to regain control. They knotted the contest at 16-all on a 3-yard TD pass from Harris to Cody Craig, then Hull stepped in front of a Hernandez pass on the Buffalo sideline and legged it to paydirt for a 22-16 Buffalo lead with less than a minute to play.

Weis’ game-tying TD was his third of the night. On the first, the sophomore took a shovel pass from Hernandez on third-and-seven and raced 57 yards to paydirt with 4:10 left in the second. All told, he caught two passes for 117 yards and rushed 19 times for another 119 stripes.

“Drew played very mature tonight,” said Moneypenny. “I learned a lot about him.”

Weis recorded a defensive interception that halted a Buffalo threat as the second quarter wound down. Other defensive standouts included Jacob Fernandez and Donald McDowell, who caused a fumble that forced a fourth-and-18 situation for the visitors late in the contest.

Harris picked apart the Fayetteville defense for a good part of the night, but he was particularly effective in the first half when he completed six of his first seven throws and wound up 12-of-25 for 147 yards as the Bison completed one pass after another across the middle. But, the Pirates still made it tough on him at times. “In our coverage, we knew the inside routes would hurt us,” said Moneypenny. “He’s the best quarterback we’ll play against. But we came up with some plays when we had to.”

“I’m really not in the mood to talk,” said Buffalo coach Mike Sawyer.

Fayetteville (7-2) finishes the regular season at Greenbrier West next Friday, while Buffalo (5-4) closes out its regular campaign at Matewan.

“We believe in these kids and they believe in us,” said Moneypenny. “This is the biggest game of my young coaching career.

“Of course, we’ve got another big one next week.”

— E-mail:skeenan

@register-herald.com



Fayetteville 23, Buffalo 22

B (5-4) 8 0 0 14 — 22

F (7-2) 0 6 10 7 — 23

First Quarter

B: Nathan Winterstein 23 pass from Nick Harris (Harris run), 9:50

Second Quarter

F: Drew Weis 57 pass from MichaelAngelo Hernandez (run fail), 4:10

Third Quarter

F: Hernandez 36 field goal, 6:37

F: Weis 36 run (Hernandez kick), 3:50

Fourth Quarter

B: Cody Craig 3 pass from Harris (Cameron Jones pass from Harris), 8:45

B: Tyler Hull 35 interception return (run fail), 0:45.5

F: Weis 60 pass from Hernandez (Hernandez kick), 0:26.1



INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — B: Harris 19-60, Hull 3-22, Thomas Davis 2-(minus-5), Craig 4-0. F: Weis 19-119-1, Hernandez 1-2, Jordan Roark 5-13, Troy Hopkins 5-23.

PASSING — B: Harris 22-47-2-355-2. F: Hernandez 3-8-1-114-2.

RECEIVING — B: Schuyler Frazier 5-115, Corey Good 3-54, Winterstein 6-68-1, Jones 4-71, Hull 3-44, Craig 1-3-1. F: Vernon Farrell 1-(minus-3), Weis 2-117-2.

TURNOVERS — B: Hull (int-td). F: Weis (int), Brian Trofy (int).