Horn unimpressed with Junior Hornets’ performance despite victory
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
Photos by Rick Nation
Through four games now, the Bryant Hornets freshman team has not been challenged.
They will be, asserts head coach Kenny Horn.
When you’ve outscored your opponents by a combined 155-19, it’s understandable that the intensity might wane a bit. It behooves such a team to start trying to measure itself against its potential instead of its opponent.
On Thursday, the Hornets eased past the Conway Blue Wampus Kittens, 35-0, in a disjointed contest marred by 20 penalties between the two teams.[more]
And head coach Kenny Horn was not happy after the game.
“Not very good,” he stated when he asked for his assessment of the game. “I don’t care if you score 35 and win or not, we looked like a bunch of goats out there playing — too many penalties, too many mental mistakes. That won’t happen against a good team or we won’t be able to get our 35 or whatever. If we play like that next week, we’ll probably lose. We’re not focused up right now.
“We’ve run through some folks,” he allowed. “But tonight was the first night I didn’t feel like we executed like we can. It doesn’t matter what the competition is, you’ve still got to play up to your level. The last three weeks, we’ve done that but tonight we didn’t.
“We may be getting the big head,” the coach asserted. “A big bubble, and I’m going to bust it come Monday.”
Offensively, the Hornets were led by running back Madre London who rushed just 10 times for 139 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterback Wesley Akers completed 10 of 15 passes with an interceptions, two touchdown tosses and 134 yards. Austin Miller caught four of those passes for 53 yards and one of the scores. Luke Howard also grabbed a TD strike.
Conway’s offense was bogged down by 88 yards in penalties (13) and, at least early, a mostly stifling Bryant defense which forced two turnovers in the first quarter.
The Hornets’ first score was set up by Jordan Jones’ fumble recovery on the second play of the game. Bryant took over at the Conway 26 and, on the first play, London slashed to the end zone for a touchdown.
Davis Nossaman booted the point-after and Bryant led 7-0 less than two minutes into the contest.
Conway’s next possession went backwards, due in part to three procedure or motion penalties. Facing a fourth-and-29 from their own 13, the Kittens punted it away and Bryant gained possession at the Conway 49.
It took just three plays to score from there. Akers completed his first pass to Grayson Giles for 8 yards, London sprinted 21 yards to the 20 then Akers and Howard hooked up for the touchdown to make it 13-0.
Conway finally picked up a first down on its next possession thanks to the hard running of Joseph Webster. The Kittens reached the Bryant 44 but on a third-down there, quarterback Josh Taber’s pass was picked off by Hornets linebacker Bryce Denker.
London broke a 15-yard run to get the ball into Conway territory. Akers and Miller teamed up for a 13-yard gain before London crashed for 11 yards to the 17. Colton Burton’s blast from fullback picked up 10 yards and, on first and goal from the 7, Conway jumped into the neutral zone and the Hornets picked up free yardage to the 3. A play later, London followed the Bryant linemen into the end zone for his second TD. He also ran in a two-point conversion and the Hornets held a 21-0 advantage just a minute deep into the second quarter.
Conway drove from its 35 to the Bryant 42 but, on a fourth-down play there, Taber’s pass fell incomplete and Bryant took over on downs.
A penalty-ridden drive followed. London streaked for 18 yards to the Conway 40. Akers passed to Miller for 7 yards but a holding penalty downfield pushed the Hornets back to the Conway 43.
Akers made up the lost yardage with a completion to Burton. London set sail for what appeared to be his third score, this time for 30 yards out, but another holding penalty negated the play. On the next snap, however, a pass interference flag against Conway gave the Hornets a new set of downs from the Kittens 26.
After an offsides penalty pushed it to the 21, Akers found Miller behind the defense in the right corner of the end zone for another score. Nossaman kicked it to 28-0 with 2:35 left in the half.
More penalties pockmarked the rest of the half. Conway appeared to have a touchdown on a second-down play from its own 47. Taber’s pass into a crowd popped into the air off a Bryant player and was plucked from the air by Conway’s Alex Reed who turned it into a 53-yard play only to have another holding penalty negate the play.
In the remaining time, Conway could only get to the Bryant 38.
The Hornets started the second half with a big kickoff return by Giles to midfield. Two plays later, Miller grabbed a pass from Akers and turned upfield. While fighting for extra yardage, he was separated from the ball and Reed recovered for the Kittens.
Conway then made its strongest bid to score driving from its 33 to the Bryant 6. The Kittens went strictly to the ground game with Tyler Garretson, a good runner, in at quarterback while Wyrick and Webster alternated. Wyrick had a 12-yard bolt and, a play later, Garretson picked up 12 more. A 15-yard carry by Webster reached the 15.
On the next play, however, Webster was dropped for a loss by James Gibson and Tanner Rich. Wyrick came back with a 10-yard run to the 6 to set up a third-and-1. But yet another penalty pushed the Kittens back. A play later, another motion penalty turned a fourth-and-4 at the 9 into a fourth-and-9 from the 14.
Garretson found Robert Oblesby to complete a pass but he was stopped short of the first down and Bryant took over at the 9 with 2:05 left in the third quarter.
A 34-yard pass from Akers to Howard had Bryant thinking touchdown again but a procedure penalty and a personal foul undermined the march after it reached the 44. Akers’ long fourth-down pass worked as well as a punt when it was intercepted by Wyrick at the Hornets 48.
Sparked by Garretson’s 26-yard run, the Kittens drove to the Bryant 11 only to be turned back when three straight passes fell incomplete.
With 5:06 left, Bryant took over on downs. On five running plays, the Hornets marched 88 yards to a final score. London contributed a 31-yard run to start the drive. Giles, in to give London a breather, ran for 11 more. Burton crashed for 18 and, a play later, sprinted 20 yards for the touchdown with 2:57 left.
Next week, the Hornets travel to play Cabot South.
BRYANT 35, CONWAY BLUE 0
Score by quarters
Conway Blue 0 0 0 0 — 0
BRYANT 13 15 0 7 — 35
Scoring summary
First quarter
BRYANT — London 26 run (Nossaman kick), 6:50
BRYANT — Howard 20 pass from Akers (kick failed), 4:00
Second quarter
BRYANT — London 3 run (London run), 7:00
BRYANT — Miller 21 pass from Akers (Nossaman kick), 2:35
Fourth quarter
BRYANT — Burton 20 run (Nossaman kick), 2:57
Team stats
Conway Bryant
First downs 10 17
Rushes-yds 31-196 14-198
Passing 5-15-1 10-15-1
Passing yds 32 134
Punts-avg 1-37.0 0-00.0
Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-1
Penalties-yds 13-88 6-57
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Rushing: BRYANT, London 10-139, Burton 3-48, Giles 1-11; CONWAY BLUE, Webster 9-67, Wyrick 13-55, Garretson 3-31, Jones 4-18, Clay 1-15, Oglesby 1-10.
Passing (C-A-I-Y): BRYANT, Akers 10-15-1-134; CONWAY BLUE, Taber 4-10-1-27, Garretson 1-5-0-5.
Receiving: BRYANT, Miller 4-53, Howard 2-54, Burton 2-21, Giles 1-8, London 1-(-2); CONWAY BLUE, Oglesby 2-16, Reed 2-15, Wyrick 1-1.
