For more photos of this event by Rick Nation, go here; by Kevin Nagle, go here
Cason Trickey scored three different ways and the Bryant Blue Hornets eighth grade team shut out their second consecutive opponent on Thursday night. Blue improved to 3-0 with a 35-0 rout of the North Little Rock Middle School Charging Wildcats at Bryant Stadium.
Trickey scored on a 6-yard pass from Gideon Motes, one of two TD tosses for the Hornet quarterback. In the third quarter, Trickey intercepted a pass by North Little Rock’s Jayden Sloan and returned it 38 yards for a TD. And to wrap up the scoring in the game, Trickey took a handoff on a jet sweep and laced his way 72 yards to paydirt.
Motes completed just five passes, but they went for 159 yards including a 39-yard toss to Aiden Hughes, who had a big game on defense as well.
The Hornets held the Cats to just 121 yards of total offense in the game, just 57 in the first half.
Bryant Blue plays next on Thursday, Oct. 3, at Conway Blue.
Neither team scored in the first quarter. Stops by Jackson Lammey and Hank Penfield halted North Little Rock’s first possession then Hughes intercepted a pass.
The Hornets had a touchdown run by Motes called back by a holding penalty and wound up punting for the second time. The Charging Wildcats, in turn, managed an 8-yard pass reception from Sloan to Javonte Harris but they still couldn’t manage a first down. On second-and-2, Hughes led a charge to dump Delkarai Davis for a loss. On third down, Sebastian Oltmans knifed through to haul down Sloan for a 6-yard loss.
The Cats punted it away and Jaden Ashford returned the kick 19 yards to near midfield. The Hornets drove for their first score, covering 53 yards in six plays. The key was a 33-yard completion from Motes to Ashford. On the first play of the second quarter, a fourth-and-goal at the 4, Motes ran it in for the touchdown. His pass to Hughes added the two-point conversion.
Again, Bryant forced North Little Rock into a three-and-out. Rafe Wallace stopped a run for no gain and, on third down, Hughes sniffed out a swing pass and tackled Davonte Harris for a loss.
Motes’ 22-yard run converted a third down then, moments later on a fourth-and-10, he found Ashford for a 42-yard completion. On the next play, Motes hit Trickey for a 6-yard TD.
A pass from Motes to Ashford tacked on the two-point conversion.
North Little Rock finally managed a first down on the next series. In fact, they picked up three moving from their own 31 to the Bryant 27. On first down there, however, Hayden Salling made a stop for a loss. Chelton Murdock limited a run to 2 yards and, eventually, the Cats faced a fourth-and-5 at the Bryant 22. A pass that would’ve picked up the first down was dropped, and Bryant took over on downs with :51 left.
Motes’ 44-yard run put them in position for another scoring blitz but on a play that actually started after time had expired, Motes found Tickey for 39 yards only to result in a fumble that North Little Rock recovered at the 5 as the half ended.
Trickey’s pick-6 came on the first series of the second half. North Little Rock’s second drive reached the Bryant 45 but, after a penalty cost the Cats 5, Brendon Bates stopped a third-down run for a loss and Ashford foiled a fourth-down run.
Taking over at their own 41, the Hornets couldn’t overcome a bad snap on first down that cost them 14 yards.
They added to their lead on the second play of the fourth quarter as Motes found Hughes for the 39-yard TD play, making it 28-0.
North Little Rock drove to the Bryant 40 where Penfield foiled a pitch sweep for a loss of 8. Hughes led a charge on a no gain bringing up fourth down. A pass interference penalty kept the drive alive, but it stalled at the Bryant 21.
A play later, Trickey went the distance. Jaime Perez kicked the extra point to make it 35-0 with less than a minute left.
