Bryant bids to be David to Bentonville’s Goliath

File photo by Rick Nation

As was the case the previous two times the Bryant Hornets traveled to Bentonville to play in the Class 7A playoffs (2010 and 2008), few prognosticators give the Hornets much of a chance against the Tigers tonight. In fact, a Bryant win in the quarterfinals would be considered an upset of Biblical proportions.

David and Goliath, no doubt.

After all, Bentonville has played in five of the last six State title games and won three times. Their share of the 7A-West Conference championship was their eighth in a row.

The Hornets have qualified for State an unmatched 14 years in a row but have never gotten past the quarterfinals. In their 16 post-season appearances since 1985, they’ve been knocked out nine times by teams currently in the West.

Of course, the West is a whole ‘nother brand of ball. For one thing, Bentonville has approximately the same attendance figures as Bryant and Saline County rival Benton combined.

One observer illustrated the advantage of such attendance as taking the best players on Bryant’s team and doubling them.

Beyond that, the schools in the West are so competitive in every sport that if, say Fayetteville hired a 12^th and 13^th assistant football coach, Bentonville or Fort Smith Southside, for instance, would have to hire a 14^th on its staff. If one school builds a new field house, you can bet the others will be trying to surpass them. It’s been called an “arms race,” one-upmanship to the nth degree. Officially, there’s no recruiting, of course, but the schools certainly do everything they can to make sure all a visiting athlete sees is state of the art.

They have enough coaches that nearly every position enjoys extensive individual instruction. And they are given an extra class period during the day for those coaches to work the sophomores to develop them further. Then they bring them back for regular practice at the end of the day.

They can do all that (and more) because they’re in financially thriving communities where the patrons of the school districts not only desire top-notch athletic programs, facilities and everything else, they insist on it.

Some have dubbed the Tigers’ school as the “University of Bentonville.”

Few schools around the rest of the state are supported to that extent. Bryant head coach Paul Calley was thrilled to be allowed to hire a sixth assistant a couple of years ago. Where Bentonville’s Barry Lunney Sr., actually coaches very little and mostly oversees and coordinates everything, Calley is in the trenches coaching the offensive line while overseeing and coordinating too.

North Little Rock has started to move toward the West model. To a lesser extent but certainly apparent, Conway and Cabot are as well and their communities are behind it.

All of which makes Bryant’s success even more impressive. The Hornets have great, faithful supporters but hardly close to the extent throughout the community that those schools do. Of course, every school district has its own challenges and the incredible annual growth in Bryant has made it difficult to keep up with the needed classroom space.

Still, for a growing town in which the single most unifying entity is the schools, there certainly seems to be quite a bit of reticence about fully funding them where they can not only keep up but thrive.

Anyway, kicking the soapbox aside:

The Hornets travel to Bentonville tonight after edging Springdale Har-Ber last week, unveiling an impressive passing attack against what Bryant coaches saw as a secondary with some holes in it. Senior Brandan Warner completed 25 of 35 passes for a career-high 336 yards and two touchdowns. He also led the team with 62 yards rushing. Most of the season

Bentonville, which lost its first four games of the season to the likes of Kansas City Rockhurst; Broken Arrow, Okla.; Bergen Catholic of Oradell, N.J.; and Southside, has since won six in a row capped by a 45-2 thumping of a Fayetteville team that is considered among the best in the state, a Bulldog team that outscored North Little Rock 43-33 earlier in the season.

“They’re playing really well,” acknowledged Bryant offensive coordinator Lance Parker. “They played a lot of tough competition and, as of late, they really haven’t been giving up many points. I just think they kind of had to find their way through that tough schedule early. But I think they’re probably the best defense in the state. So we’ve got a tall order.

“I think the kids are a little more confident in throwing,” Parker said. “Evaluating (Har-Ber) last week, we didn’t feel like we could move it very well on the ground just because they were so good inside. So we just kind of committed to it early in the week and told the kids. We were honest with them and they really seemed to take to the game plan and they executed it very well.

“Some people stepped up and made some plays,” he continued. “We thought the quarterback play was phenomenal. Brandan did a heck of a job. He’s going to have to do it again this week for us to win and we think he can.

“I think our kids believe so we can hopefully have a little success and move the ball,” he stated. “You get in one of these games and you just never know. We’re going to keep doing what we always do.”

Up until last week that meant mostly running the ball behind a stout offensive line and a solid stable of backs, working in some play-action passing to keep defenses honest. And that kind of describes what the Tigers like to do as well.

“Bentonville has a big, strong offensive line, a power running game that you always see out of those guys (in the West),” said Bryant defensive coordinator Steve Griffith. “They’ve got several running backs they work in and out. (Dylan Smith) has been the go-to guy this year. They do throw the ball. The quarterback (Kasey Ford) is a big kid, 6-5, 230. He throws the ball well. (Cody Scroggins) is an outstanding receiver, 50 catches and right at 1,000 yards.

“It’s going to be a challenge,” he acknowledged. “With the power running we’ve seen the last few weeks, hopefully we’re getting a little better at getting our run fits. I feel like the second half against Har-Ber, we were really where we were supposed to be. Of course, we forced them to throw the football and we made a couple of mistakes there. We feel like we can get better in that situation.”

He pointed to the Hornets defensive line of tackles Cameron Murray, Mario Waits and ends Ryan Hall and Hunter Fugitt along with swingman Hayden Knowles as a key.

“Our objective is, hopefully, we can play tough enough up front that we’re able to force some throws and make a couple of plays we failed to make last week,” Griffith said. “Then, give the offense a shot at having the ball in decent field position.”

Both teams have won the turnover battle his year. Bentonville is plus-7 (17 takeaways, seven giveaways) while Bryant is plus-15 (26-11).

When David stepped forward to the battle lines in the valley of Elah, his opponent Goliath “disdained” and “cursed” him. Undoubtedly there were many who predicted his doom. But David answered with faith and assurance.

“When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone, and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on the his face to the ground.” (Samuel 48-49)

It was certainly what we’d call today an upset.

But not to David.