Bryant frosh dismiss Charging Wildcats, 34-6
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).
For more photos of this event by Kevin Nagle, go here; by Rick Nation, go here
So often, particularly in recent years, North Little Rock has provided the toughest competition the Bryant Hornets see in the Central Arkansas Junior High Conference. And the Charging Wildcats certainly looked the part as they warmed up on the Bryant Stadium turf on Thursday night.
But the Bryant Hornets’ freshman team treated them much like the other teams they’ve played this season so far, surging to a 34-6 victory to improve to 4-0 overall and 3-0 in league play.
“I was worried,” allowed Hornets coach Kenny Horn. “They were big and physical. They looked good. We executed though — fewer penalties, cleaned it up, threw the ball, caught the ball, ran the ball. The defense was lights out again. The kids competed. They were physical all night, forced turnovers.”
The Charging Wildcats turned it over four times, in fact. The Bryant defense extended its shutout streak to start the season to 15 consecutive quarters before, trailing 34-0, the Charging Wildcats managed a fourth-quarter TD to end that streak.
“That’s going to happen,” Horn said. “We’re not down about that. Somebody was likely to bust one. Credit those guys. They’re fast and they’re big. All it takes is one guy to miss and they’re going to the house with it.”
A 28-yard run by Torrence Moore set up the score. On a third-and-goal at the 2, Daontae Young got in the end zone with 6:13 left in the game.
“We were in prevent and they two-gapped us and a guy got leverage on us,” Horn said of Moore’s run. “That was my fault. I thought they might try to throw on second-and-15.
“But, man, we played good,” he reiterated. “We didn’t miss many tackles. We didn’t bust any assignments.”
Though Horn, now in his 11th season as head coach of the freshman team, downplayed it vehemently, the win was the 99th of his career. The Hornets will go for number 100 next week at Conway Blue, the only other CAJHC team that remains unbeaten after a 31-0 win over Cabot South Thursday night.
Of the 15 losses the Hornets have suffered in those 11 seasons, three of them have been to North Little Rock.
As usual, Bryant took the ball to start the game and a run of 24 yards by Martaveon Earle and 18 yards by quarterback Cory Nichols, reached the North Little Rock 19. But the drive was knocked off course by an offensive pass interference penalty. Though receivers got open deep twice after that, one pass was dropped and another one was overthrown.
North Little Rock took over on downs and picked up its lone first-half first down with a 15-yard run by Larry Wilbourn. Moments later, however, Bryant jarred the ball loose from quarterback Malachi Gober and Traylon Russ recovered.
Nichols ran for 11 yards then threw for 18 to Braylon Brown. A 26-yard scramble by the Hornets’ QB overcame a lost-yardage play. A play later, Earle was drilled and lost possession, but Braylen Montgomery covered it for the Hornets. From the 9, Malachi Graham, the team’s starting safety, got his first call of the season at running back and scored.
It was the first of two touchdown runs by Graham, who also played well defensively. He recovered a fumble and intercepted a pass.
“We really focused up after that first drive,” Horn noted.
Jaylon Brown recovered a North Little Rock fumble on the first play of the Cats’ next possession. A play later, Graham wove his way 20 yards to his second score, making it 12-0.
Ethan Primus made a nice play to break up a pass during North Little Rock’s next series. Again, they went three-and-out. A short punt gave the Hornets the ball at midfield.
And they scored on the first play there on a pass reception and run by Braylon Brown, but the play was negated by penalty. As a spot foul, the penalty pushed the Hornets back to a first-and-28 at their own 32. Yet, they were able to pick up a first down thanks to a 21-yard run by Nichols and a 7-yard burst by Graham on his final carry of the game.
An illegal block pushed them back again and, this time, they were unable to make it up. Nichols punted the Cats back to their own 32 and, three plays later, they were punting it back.
Taking over with 1:44 left in the half at their own 37, the Hornets used 1:04 of that, and put together a five-play touchdown drive. It featured a 39-yard gallop by Earle then a 25-yard pass from Nichols to Montgomery with :40 left.
Nichols ran in the two-point conversion and it was 20-0 at the half.
The first series of the second half ended when Graham recovered another North Little Rock fumble. Montgomery made a juggling catch of another deep pass from Nichols. It went for 49 yards and set up Nichols’ 2-yard touchdown run.
With Stephen Fuller’s extra point, it was 27-0.
Fueled by nice defensive stops by Primus, Graham and Tyler Mosley, North Little Rock was forced to turn the ball over on downs at the Bryant 49. Two plays later, Nichols found Montgomery again for a 44-yard touchdown that, with Fuller’s PAT, made it 34-0.
On North Little Rock’s next snap, Graham intercepted Gober’s pass and Horn started filtering in his reserves on offense. Xavier Curenton broke a 27-yard run to the Cats’ 40, but the drive stalled there.
Hoping to record their fourth shutout in as many games this season, the defense stayed on the field for Bryant. Traylon Russ made a stop for a loss but a 37-yard pass from Gober to Roshaun Simmons got North Little Rock into Bryant territory.
Still, Ivory Gilmore made a stop for a loss before Moore’s 28-yard run to the 4. (Graham’s tackle kept him out of the end zone.) Gilmore and Aiden Baker made a tackle for a loss but, two plays later, big Deontae Young powered in from the 2.
