By Rob Patrick
The Bryant Blue (Bethel) Hornets eighth grade team scored on six of their eight possessions as they rolled to a 46-6 thumping of the Rose City Chiefs on the muddy field at Bryant Stadium Thursday night.
Quarterback Dakota Besancon hit 6 of 9 passes for 108 yards and a pair of touchdowns, both to Davis Nossaman who had four grabs altogether for 94 yards.
Running back Bryce Denker rushed just eight times for 84 yards and two scores. Reserves Blake Nesbitt and Matt Mears also ran for touchdowns.
Bryant held Rose City to a net of 85 yards of offense with 54 of that coming on runs of 21 yards by quarterback Markevius Williams and 33 yards by running back Jamal Doss.[more]
Besancon and Nossaman’s first hookup was a 46 yard strike less than two minutes into the game.
After Bryant’s defense forced a three-and-out with Mears and Denker dropping Williams for a loss on second down and Scott Mead hauling him down for another loss on third down, the Hornets drove for another score with the 27-yard pass from Besancon to Nossaman the big play. Denker capped the drive with a 7 yard run. He then added a run for the two-point conversion for the second time to make it 16-0.
Rose City moved the ball from its own 44 to the Bryant 32 but Joshua Chiles sacked Williams then Chase Christy tackled Doss for a loss and the Chiefs wound up turning the ball over on downs with 5:02 left in the half.
They got a second chance, however, when Christopher Baker intercepted a Besancon pass. The Chiefs picked up a first down at the Bryant 39 but then went backwards. First Ian Shuttleworth and Mears tackled Williams for a loss then Doss was stopped for no gain by Tanner Gullett and Jacob Irby. On third down, Amador Gaspar tracked down the Rose City quarterback for a loss of 7.
And when the snap on the Chiefs’ punt attempt sailed over Martavious Strozier’s head, the result was a loss of 20, giving Bryant the ball just 29 yards away from another score with 1:17 left in the half.
On first down, Besancon pitched to Denker who pulled up and threw 18 yards to Nossaman. From the 11, Besancon hit Spencer Kilgore at the 4 and, from there, another throw to Nossaman got it in the end zone.
Another Denker run for two made it 24-0 with just 43 seconds left in the half.
Bryant got the ball to start the third quarter and drove 70 yards in four plays for more. Denker broke a 30-yard run to set up the touchdown which came on a 37-yard burst by the running back. He added another run for 2 and it was 32-0.
Rose City finally got on the board when Williams scampered 17 yards for a touchdown two plays into the fourth quarter, capping a drive that went 57 yards in 11 plays. The touchdown run came just moments after Daniel Castleberry, Josh Farnsworth and Mears sacked Williams.
The Chiefs’ try for two failed.
The teams then traded turnovers as Blue head coach Donaven Sims began to work in reserves. Derrick Holloway recovered a Bryant fumble at the Hornets’ 24 but, after two plays for losses courtesy of Tucker Dodson, Tanner Rich and Gullett, Trevor Ezell picked off a pass.
That set up Blake Nesbitt’s 40-yard touchdown gallop with 2:06 left in the game. Nesbitt added the two-point conversion run.
On the next play from scrimmage, Conner Wooten intercepted a Rose City throw and returned it to the 4. Mears scored the final touchdown of the game from there.
BRYANT BLUE 46, ROSE CITY 6
Score by quarters
Rose City 0 0 0 6 — 6
Bryant Blue 16 8 8 14 — 46
Scoring summary
First quarter
BRYANT BLUE — Nossaman 46 pass from Besancon (Denker run), 5:45
BRYANT BLUE — Denker 7 run (Denker run), 1:28
Second quarter
BRYANT BLUE — Nossaman 4 pass from Besancon (Denker run), 0:43.1
Third quarter
BRYANT BLUE — Denker 37 run (Denker run), 5:20
Fourth quarter
ROSE CITY — Williams 21 run (pass failed), 6:04
BRYANT BLUE — Nesbitt 40 run (Nesbitt run), 2:06
BRYANT BLUE — Mears 4 run (pass failed), 1:26
Team stats
Rose City Bryant
First downs 9 11
Rushes-yards 30-58 15-131
Passing 3-7-2 7-10-1
Passing yds 27 126
Punts-avg 1-19.0 0-00.0
Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-1
Penalties-yds 2-20 1-10
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Rushing: BRYANT, Denker 8-84, Nesbitt 1-40, Mears 2-9, Besancon 3-0, Reed 1-(-2); ROSE CITY, Doss 11-67, Strozier 7-(-1), Williams 12-(-8).
Passing (C-A-I-Y): BRYANT, Besancon 6-9-1-108, Denker 1-1-0-18; ROSE CITY, Williams 3-7-2-27.
Receiving: BRYANT, Davis 4-94, Denker 1-18, Christy 1-7, Kilgore 1-7; ROSE CITY, Holloway 2-17, Martin 1-10.
