By Rob Patrick
The Bryant White Hornets eighth grade team limited their counterparts from Lake Hamilton to just 54 yards of total offense and three first downs in their game at rain-soaked Bryant Stadium Thursday evening.
The Wolves managed only two forays into Bryant territory and never got closer than the 40 to paydirt.
Unfortunately for the Hornets, despite three second-half drives that got inside the Lake Hamilton 15, couldn’t get across the goal line either as the two teams battled to a scoreless tie.[more]
The game ended with Bryant White at the Lake Hamilton 6. A fourth-down pass into the end zone by quarterback Wesley Akers fell incomplete.
Bryant racked up 210 yards of offense including 183 through the air as Akers went 11 of 23 with one interception.
The Hornets got their first good chance to score after Gray Orman intercepted a pass at the Wolves’ 34 with 3:30 left in the third quarter.
Akers completed a 13-yard pass to Austin Miller but, on second down, Miller, running a reverse, was dropped for an 8-yard loss. Akers got within a yard of a new set of downs with a 17-yard completion to Greyson Giles. But, on third down, Giles took a pitch and was hauled down for a 4-yard loss. On fourth-and-7 from the 16, Giles managed to get those 4 yards back but no more and Lake Hamilton took over on downs.
But, moments later, Austin May snuffed out a third-and-6 run by Malik Blevins for a yard pickup and the Wolves were forced to punt it to the Hornets.
On the return, however, a fumble occurred and Lake Hamilton recovered at the Bryant 48. Aided by a pair of penalties and a tackle for a loss by Orman, the Hornets’ defense pushed the Wolves back. On second-and-21, a pass was intercepted by Miller.
Though he returned it to the Wolves’ 40, a penalty pushed the Hornets back to their own 47. But Akers found Miller on a 39-yard completion that nearly broke for a score. Akers followed with an 8-yard completion to Luke Howard but, from the 12, a throw into the end zone was picked off by Lake Hamilton’s Logan Steed.
In turn, the Wolves picked up their only first down of the second on a 10-yard run by Blevins. On the next play, however, Blevins was dropped for a loss by Bryant’s Jimmy McCann and, moments later, the Wolves were punting it back to Bryant.
With 2:19 left, the Hornets made one more run at scoring the game’s only points. A 37-yard pass from Akers to Howard got the Lake Hamilton 23. The next two plays, however, lost yardage. Even with a face mask penalty, the Hornets still needed an 18-yard connection from Akers to Howard to get to the 5 with :24.9 left.
After the Hornets took their final timeout, Akers’ pass to May at the goal line was knocked down. A second-down scramble managed just 1 yard and the Hornets hurriedly got to the line to give Akers a chance to spike the ball to start the clock.
He just barely made it. There was time for one last play and Akers took a shot at getting the ball to Chase Tucker only to have it knocked down in the end zone as the game concluded.
Bryant White will return to action at North Little Rock against Ridge Road on Thursday, Oct. 8.
