Coming off a narrow defeat against Southside a week before, Har-Ber (7-2, 5-1) looked to bounce back against an even tougher opponent against Fayetteville Oct. 28.

“We came into the game knowing it was a must-win game, and we wanted a shot at winning the conference championship,” said junior safety Collin Richardson.

Fayetteville (7-2, 4-2), also a one-loss team entering the bout with Har-Ber, had only previously lost to Bentonville weeks prior.

“After losing to Southside, we just went back practicing, trying to get better, correcting our mistakes, and improving,” said senior quarterback Austin Mayfield.

And that’s just what Mayfield did.

He threw an early touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Michael Fine to open the scoring for Har-Ber, after a special teams mistake costing the Wildcats seven previously.

Mayfield would hook up with Fine three more times in the game, and another one of those for a touchdown.

“My success wouldn’t happen without our great receivers and outstanding blocking,” said Mayfield. “It’s definitely a group effort.”

Mayfield rounded his statistics with 139 passing yards on 15 completions, and three touchdowns.

As far as the defense is concerned, how would the high powered Fayetteville offense be slowed? The Bulldogs averaged 41 points a game heading into the showdown versus a young Wildcat defense.

“We played together as a defense, keyed in on their passing game, and continued to play hard all night long,” said Richardson.

After allowing 21 first half points, despite maintaining the lead by three, the Wildcat defense stayed focused and finished with a wall solid performance.

“We started working harder and we played with a chip on our shoulder,” said senior linebacker Luke Hanson.

Hanson also contributed to his teams scoring, taking his interception the distance, with a 48-yard return.

“It helped us gain a lot of momentum for the rest of the game, especially our defense,” said Hanson.

Har-Ber only allowed a mere three points the entire second half despite a potent Fayetteville offense.

As the Wildcat defense kept putting up zeros drive after drive, the Wildcat offense paced themselves to a comfortable 45 heading into next weeks’ showdown.

Har-Ber 45, Fayetteville 24.