Horn pleasantly surprised by freshman offense, still concerned with defense
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).
By Rob Patrick
CABOT — The problem with playing any Cabot team in a timed scrimmage is, if they get the ball on offense first, they may just keep it for the entire time. They will grind it out and not leave your offense much time to counter.
But on Tuesday, Aug. 25, the Bryant Hornets freshman team didn’t need a lot of time. In fact, it took them just 2:44 to put together a five-play, 92-yard drive for the only score of the two-quarter timed scrimmage that concluded their workout against the Cabot North Panthers.[more]
Cabot used the rest of the 16 minutes on offense, most of it grinding out an all-too-familiar 17-play march from its own 20 to the Bryant 10 when the Hornets finally dug in and held. On a third-and-2 Cortez Williams and Logan Milks combined to stop Ian Thompson, Cabot’s leading rusher, for no gain. On fourth-and-2, Williams got penetration and Jared Koon and others cleaned up as Thompson was stopped inches from a first down.
The drive had eaten up over 11 minutes of the scrimmage. But the fact that it came up empty took the pressure off the Bryant offense which came flying down the field in response. Quarterback Hayden Lessenberry completed a 10-yard pass to Daniel Richards to get the drive started. Running back Jalen Bell slashed 19 yards then the Hornets got a bit of a break when Lessenberry’s pass over the middle ricocheted off the hands of wideout Hayden Daniel, then a Cabot defender and into the outstretched arms of Cameron Furton for a 23-yard reception.
Bell, who accumulated 82 yards on seven carries on the night, broke for 9 yards then Lessenberry found Marcus Wilson in the end zone down the left side for the touchdown. Josh Lowery kicked the extra point with two minutes left in the scrimmage.
Cabot attempted just one pass all night. The scrimmage included 10-play offensive series for each squad’s first, second and third teams before the timed quarters. The Panthers ate up the final two minutes sticking to its guns in their dead-T without picking up a first down.
“We moved the ball better than I thought we could,” stated Hornets head coach Kenny Horn. “We moved the ball a little quicker than I thought we could. I thought we did okay up front. We missed a few blocks here and there but I still think it’s stuff we can fix. I don’t think it’s anything outside of effort. So that’s good.
“We’ve got some questions on defense,” he added. “We’re not real sure about our d-line. We’ve got to find a couple of answers there, I think, to really shore us up, up front.”
That will be the focus of Horn and his staff as they prepare now for their season-opener at home against Searcy on Thursday, Sept. 3.
To open the scrimmage, Bryant’s offense used its 10 plays (actually they got 12) to score twice. After a rough start in which he had a pass deflected out of his hand and threw another behind his receiver on a tunnel screen, Lessenberry completed three passes in a row during the series then completed all three of his throws in the timed portion. In all, he completed 6-of-8 for 172 yards and two touchdowns.
The first of those came on a 74-yard strike to Daniel. Given another shot from its own 20, the Hornets drove 80 yards in four plays to score again. Bell rushed for 9 yards to start the drive and finished it with a 37-yard burst. In between, Lessenberry completed a 14-yard pass to Devon Sears and a 20-yarder to Daniel.
Austin Powell came on after that and completed 2 of 4 throws then Zach Cambron went 4-for-4 with the second team. Powell completed an 11-yard strike to Lane Ricardo to convert a fourth-and-11 to start the second team’s possession. Cambron came on and hit Ian Shuttleworth for 10 and Aronn Bell for no gain. He then kept for 26 yards to set up his 17-yard TD throw to Aronn Bell.
Cade Howard got into the act with the third team completing passes to Colton Giffin for 7 and 9 yards. Matt Holdcraft rushed six times for 23 yards during that series which fell short of paydirt.
Cabot’s first-team offense scored quickly too with runs of 45 and 30 yards on its second and third play, respectively. On a second series, the yards continued to come in chunks but lesser chunks, 16, 20 and 19 yards to get to the Bryant 25. But there the defense stiffened and kept the Panthers out of the end zone. Cabot reached the 12 and, on its last play, attempted its lone pass which fell incomplete.
Cabot’s second team turned the ball over on its first set of downs. Chance Phillips recovered the fumble for Bryant. Given a second try, Cabot picked up a first down but after Tyler Hamby dropped the quarterback for a loss of 2 on first down, the Panthers were unable to recover. Austin Wadley and Phillips stopped a third-and-7 play and Cabot ran out of downs.
The Panthers’ third team struggled on its first two snaps with Jake Hogue making a nice play. But on third down, the Hornets appeared to have the Cabot runner stopped on a dive play only to have him break out of the pack and race 75 yards for a score.
With their remaining seven plays, however, the Panthers’ third team managed one first down.
All told, Bryant piled up 234 yards passing with four quarterbacks combining to complete 14 of 21 throws. The Hornets rushed 17 times for 129 yards. That’s 363 yards of total offense to go with four touchdowns. Cabot amassed 51 snaps to Bryant’s 38 and the Panthers rushed for 358 yards, accounting for all of their offense. They scored twice.
