Mustangs show promise
EDITOR’S NOTE: Because the look back at each day in Bryant athletic history has been so favorably received during the time when there was no sports during the COVID-19 shutdown, BryantDaily.com will continueposting past stories of Bryant athletics either posted on BryantDaily.com (from 2009 to the present) or published in the Bryant Times (from 1998 to 2008).
By ROB PATRICK
BRYANT TIMES
Bryant Mustangs head football coach Scott Neathery and his staff learned little they didn’t already know about the 2000 edition of the team when they hosted their annual jamboree on Monday, Aug. 21.
They knew, for instance, that the offense has the potential to be explosive with talent and depth at most every position and led by cool, confident and heady quarterback Scott Peeler.
They knew, as well, that the defense is still a work in progress but that it would be better than it looked at times on Monday when three sidelined starters return to action. And, with the season opener at Sylvan Hills still 10 days away, there would be plenty of time to make improvements and adjustments.
They knew, too, that the expanded Central Arkansas Junior High Conference will once again be challenging, particularly in the South division where Bryant is joined by Conway White, Conway Blue and Sheridan — all present at the jamboree — along with Benton and, new entry, Lake Hamilton. Searcy and Morrilton were also a part of the jamboree. Those two teams will be in the North division with Greenbrier and Vilonia, along with the new entries, Russellville’s two squads.
“We knew where we were,” Neathery said. “Defensively, we need to get a whole lot better and do a better job tackling. A lot of times, we were in the right spot but just didn’t make the tackle. Tackling is the main thing but that’ll come around.
“Offensively, I thought we looked good at times,” he added, “and didn’t look so good at times. But I thought we moved the ball well.”
Looking at the big picture, though, Neathery was optimistic. “Overall, I think we’re on the right track,” he said. “I was pleased with the effort I saw. I was pleased with a lot of things I saw. We still need to get better. We need to improve a lot between now and the first ballgame. Right now, we have a good team. I feel like we’ve got some good athletes. But if we want to be a great team, if we want to try to be a conference contender, we’re going to have to get a lot better, especially defensively.”
Actually, the perceptions about the defense’s shortcomings may be colored by the way things started and ended during the scrimmage. Bryant gave up some big running plays to Morrilton’s speedy backfield but the Mustang defense also forced a four fumbles, intercepted a pass and came through with an 11-yard loss on a sack by Jesse Nordman.
Morrilton scored a pair of touchdowns but Bryant still finished ahead, 16-14.
(Actually, scores in the scrimmage weren’t really tallied. Each offense ran 15 plays regardless of turnovers. Each time they turned it over or ran out of downs they’d start over at the 40. And the defenses couldn’t score.)
In the final scrimmage of the evening, Conway White struck for a pair of touchdowns utilizing a strong running game, particularly, it’s winged-T sweep. Again Bryant’s offense outscored the opposition, however, 14-12.
But in between those two workouts, Bryant’s defense shut out the offenses of Conway Blue and Searcy.
Searcy drove as close as the Bryant 5 but was stopped on a fourth-and-goal. An interception by Todd Bryan also thwarted the Lion Cubs.
Conway Blue, aided by a face-mask penalty, got as close as the 10 before being turned back. Later, linebacker Bryan Griffith dropped a Conway runner for a loss of 8 and, moments later, Phillip Cottingham forced a fumble that Nordman recovered.
Offensively, Peeler completed his first three passes of the night and went on to hit 14-of-19 on the night for 144 yards and four touchdowns. Bryan and Zach Cardinal each hauled in eight of those passes.
The ground game highlighted Brandon Spurr who rushed for 93 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries.
“For the first time to play a different opponent, I thought we looked pretty good offensively,” Neathery allowed. “Everything seemed to be clicking okay. No, we’re not where we want to be but we’re ahead of where I thought we’d be.”
Neathery likes the fact that he’s got some depth at most positions. It will give him a chance to use a rotation of players in several spots, particularly on the lines.
“At center, we have Trent Gephardt and, right now, an eighth grader Seth Lawson will back him up,” he said. “At the guard spots, Matt Cooley (out Monday due to a hamstring problem), Jesse Nordman, Kevin Carr and Kirk Williams.
“Kevin and Kirk played a lot of ball (Monday),” Neathery noted. “I think we’re going to have four good guards. We get a rotation going to keep them fresh.”
At tackle, Neathery listed Matt Hudson, John Dunaway and Brett Tracy. Like Cooley, Tracy was held out of Monday’s action due to injury. He was nursing a slightly separated shoulder.
“We’ve got a lot of solid linemen,” Neathery said. “We’ve got more than we’ve had in the past and we’ll just get a rotation going. That’s a good thing, especially in junior high.”
Peeler is the starting quarterback but Bo Lee and Bryan got some playing time Monday, as well.
At wide receiver, Neathery said, there’s Scotty Lawrence and Zach Cardinal with back-ups Lapaka Szabad, Corey Kitchens (slowed by a broken wrist), and Morgan Garner.
Bryan and Lee will deploy at the flanker spots with support from Korey Hunter and Cottingham.
Spurr will lead the corps of running backs along with Ronnie Thurley (held out Monday due to a slight knee sprain), Lee and Chris Drye.
“Don’t be surprised if you see any one of those guys back there at any time,” Neathery mentioned.
On defense, Nordman, Bryan Fewell, Dunaway, Tracy and Sean Barnes will rotate in the tackle spots. At the ends, Carr, Williams, and Cooley will form the rotation.
“Right now, we’re not sure about starters,” Neathery said. “On the line, the only one I’m sure about starting right now is Nordman.”
At linebackers, Thurley will be in the middle. Monday, Lawrence, Szabad and Spurr started with Griffith, Landon Bullock and Drye backing them up.
In the secondary, Kitchens, Lee, Garner and Cardinal started Monday with support from Cottingham, Andrew Moseley, Peeler and Bryan.
Warren Kuhn will be the punter with Peeler as a back-up. Bryan will handle the kickoff chores and has shown enough ability to give this year’s Mustangs a field-goal kicker.
“He can kick 35-yarders,” Neathery asserted. “On kickoffs, he’s kicking to the 10-yard line pretty consistently and that’s real good for junior high.”
