Photos by Rick Nation
The Bryant Hornets’ defense — first and second teams — combined on its ninth shutout of the season and fourth in a row on the way to the team’s 12th consecutive victory on Tuesday night at Bryant Stadium. The 6-0 win over the Sheridan Yellowjackets improved the Hornets to 13-4 overall and 11-0 in the South Conference going into a non-conference challenge against perennial Class 6A power Searcy on Thursday.
Houston Chavis (Photo by Rick Nation)
Bryant, the lone 7A entry in an otherwise 6A league, has dominated the conference, outscoring its opponents 68-5 in 11 matches. And that overwhelming success, according to head coach Brett Haugh, had allowed a little complacency to creep in. Haugh noted it after the Hornets’ 3-0 win at Little Rock J.A. Fair on Friday.
The coach challenged his team to regain their focus and intensity and Sheridan felt the brunt on Tuesday as the Hornets rolled to a 6-0 halftime lead invoking the mercy rule in the second half (cutting the 40 minutes in half). Five different Hornets scored led by Blake Reed’s two goals.
Haugh played reserves in the second half.
Still, he’s looking forward to his team taking on Searcy.
“Just for us to see where we are as a team and how we play against good competition as we get close to the State Tournament,” he related.
The Hornets played five Class 7A teams early in the season and went 2-3 though all were close matches, two of them decided by penalty kicks in a shootout.
Against Sheridan, Reed opened up the scoring eight minutes into the contest. He got the ball in when his shot deflected off a Sheridan defender into the goal.
Bryce Denker, the team’s leading scorer, made it 2-0 less than three minutes later with Reed assisting.
In turn, Denker picked up the first of his two assists on a goal by Dylan Wolf at 17:37. In short order, Houston Clifton made it 4-0 with a goal off a feed from Evan Caddy.
Reed’s second goal came with 5:01 left in the half. Wolf picked up the assist. And, at 1:45, Corey Laisure fired a shot past the keeper to set the final score. Denker assisted.
