Photo by Kevin Nagle
Desperately seeking their first win of the season, the Little Rock Central Tigers arrive in Bryant tonight as both teams finish up their pre-conference schedule. The home-standing Hornets are 2-0 and playing on their home field for the first time.
The Tigers are coming off a 35-14 loss to the Fort Smith Northside Grizzlies. Though disappointing, that wasn’t a surprise result. But, to open the season, they were stunned by the Hot Springs Lakeside Rams (coached by former Bryant offensive coordinator Jared McBride), 44-42.
Central opens the 7A/6A-East Conference next week against Searcy but doesn’t play a 7A member of the league until an Oct. 16 trip to Cabot.
On the other hand, the Tigers are the first 7A team Bryant has faced. Of course, classification, records, expectations and everything else kind of goes out of the window when the Hornets play the Benton Panthers and, this year, they spanked their rivals 37-13 in the annual Salt Bowl, which opened the season.
Last week, the Hornets whipped Little Rock McClellan, 27-8, but, like the game against Benton (Bryant down 13-10), it was close at halftime (Bryant up 10-8). The Hornets have dominated the second half, outscoring their two opponents 44-0.
Bryant has defeated Central eight years in a row, since a 23-14 loss to the Tigers in 2006. But it hasn’t been easy for Bryant ever since except in 2009 and 2010 when veteran head coach Ellis “Scooter” Register (McClellan, El Dorado, Catholic) took over the program. Register has since gotten his system installed and the Tigers have been tough.
“It’s going to be a challenge like it always is when you play Central,” said Hornets defensive coordinator Steve Griffith. “They’ve got great tradition. They’ve always come out here and played hard so that’s what we expect. And we better be ready.”
The Tigers return tailback Richard Hayes, who rushed for 114 yards in last year’s meeting at Quigley-Cox Stadium, a 28-10 Bryant victory. The only other offensive player that started that game was left guard Jeremiah Nelson (6-2, 285). The Tigers had to replace a three-year starter at quarterback and, according to Register, sophomore Caleb Dallimore will get the start tonight. He may be young but he’s little. He’s listed at 6-2, 235.
“It’s a typical Scooter (Register) team,” Griffith stated. “They’re going to be hard-nosed. They’re going to come off the ball and hit you. Their offensive line is always big and physical. They love to run the ball downhill with a variety of sets. They run a lot of I formation, two-back sets. He’ll spread the field some and run some doubles and trips. They’re going to play extremely hard. That’s one thing you can always count on.
“They’ve suffered a couple of injuries but they’ve got very capable guys in there,” he added. “They had two guys competing for the starting job at quarterback. One of them went down last week and the other kid stepped right in, looked good. He’s a very good football player. I know one of their running backs banged an ankle. But they’ve got two other guys and there’s no letdown with those guys. They all run hard.”
Offensively, the Hornets get some help on the offensive line with the return of center Zach Knapp, who was injured in the Benton game and missed last week’s contest.
“That’ll allow us a little more depth on the offensive line,” acknowledged Hornets offensive coordinator Lance Parker. “Adding another lineman helps us tremendously.”
Of the 11 players that started for Central on defense against Bryant last year, none of them are back, though some started later in the season (five defensive returnees were listed in preseason information).
“They’re kind of a base team,” Parker related. “They don’t do a lot of whacky stuff. I think their strengths are that they have really quick linebackers inside and their interior defensive linemen are pretty good.
“We’ve played them several years and they like to stay in their base defense and make us snap a lot of plays on a drive to score a touchdown,” he continued. “We’re going to try to have a balanced attack against them, try to do the things that we’ve done, that we’ve had success with in the past. It comes down to match-ups, physical match-ups, more than what we’re doing schematically. We’re going to try to attack and either we can block and run and throw and catch or we can’t.”
Newly released statistics for 7A/6A-Central Conference teams show that the Hornets are third in the league in average yardage gained per game on offense (342 yards) behind Greenwood and Conway. The defense is also third in fewest average yards allowed (247.5) behind Siloam Springs and Russellville.
After his best night throwing the ball last week, quarterback Gunnar Burks (who was 17 of 21 for 200 yards) has accounted for 333 yards of total offense in two games. Senior running back Savonte Turner is fourth in the league in rushing yards with 159 on just 19 carries. League-leader Jordan Green of Greenwood has picked up 371 yards on 45 attempts. Aaron Orender, who caught eight passes for 156 yards this season is tied for sixth in the league. Greenwood’s Ryan Padilla has already caught 20 passes for 323 yards.
