Hornets freshmen make the most of their few opportunities at Cabot for third straight win
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).
CABOT — To start their weather-delayed contest on Saturday, the Bryant Hornets freshman team did the Bryant thing and the Cabot South Panthers freshman team did the Cabot thing.
Bryant, after covering Cabot’s onside kick, set up in its spread formation and scored on the very first play as Hayden Lessenberry fired a pass to Hayden Daniel for a 49-yard touchdown.[more]
Using the swinging gate formation, the Hornets added a two-point conversion on Austin Powell’s pass to Ian Shuttleworth.
In turn, Cabot, deploying its usual dead-T, responded with a 63-yard drive in 14 plays, using almost every down and the rest of the first quarter. The lone pass came on the final play, a 4-yard toss from Brandon Boatright to Max Carroll.
Boatright kept for a two-point conversion and the game was tied.
The second half started much the same way except the Bryant defense made a stand and the Hornets scored on all three of its possessions to forge a 29-14 win.
After a rugged middle of the season, the Hornets have now won three in a row going into their annual season-ending showdown with Benton on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Benton, after defeating North Little Rock on Thursday, is locked in a three-way tie for first place and, as it turns out, the Hornets are the only thing standing in the Panthers’ way of grabbing a share of the South Division championship in the Central Arkansas Junior High Conference.
The Hornets improved to 7-2 overall and 4-2 in divisional play with the win over Cabot South.
The game, originally scheduled for Thursday, was moved to Saturday because of a thunderstorm that night.
As with all Cabot teams, a deficit can prove fatal for an opponent. The Panthers eat up yardage and clock with their grind-it-out offense.
Even in the loss to the Hornets, Cabot ran 48 plays on offense to just 18 for Bryant.
The Hornets, however, made the most of their opportunities particularly in the second half.
With the game tied 8-8, however, Cabot made a bid to get the ball right back and establish a lead. After the Panthers’ touchdown, they tried another onside kick and this time recovered at the Bryant 48.
On first down, Chris Luna bulled for 3 yards but, on second down, Daniel Richards and Jared Koon cut down Carroll after just a 1-yard gain. Then it helped that the Panthers were flagged for procedure turning a third-and-6 into a third-and-11, a difficult spot for most Cabot teams.
And, sure enough, Luna was piled up by Hunter Berry, Tim Kelly and Austin Wadley and the Panthers were forced to punt.
The Hornets went three-and-out, however, and Cabot was back in business from its own 43 after a good roll on Lessenberry’s punt.
The Panthers muscled their way to the Bryant 25 where they tried again to go to the air with time running out in the half. Boatright’s pass fell incomplete and, after Carroll picked up 5 yards on second down, two more throws were incomplete and, with :11 left, the Hornets took over on downs.
But Cabot got the ball to start the second half and picked up where it left off, pounding from its own 35 to the Bryant 28. That’s where Kelly made another stop for a loss of a yard on Carroll that threw the Panthers off. Though Luna followed up with a pair of 5-yard runs, the Panthers faced a fourth-and-1 at the Bryant 19. Carroll got the call again only this time Bryant’s Cordell Boykins knifed through to drop him for a loss.
So the Hornets had turned back the scoring threat and, in short order, the offense, which ran just seven plays in the first half, took advantage in short order.
After a long first-down pass was knocked down, Lessenberry scrambled for 39 yards. And when he was tackled by the collar, it added 15 on the personal foul penalty.
From the 26, Jalen Bell took a handoff and wove his way through the Panthers defense for the tie-breaking touchdown.
Though a try for two failed, the Hornets had the lead which put Cabot in a bind.
On the last play of the third quarter, Shuttleworth hammered Boatright for a loss. On the first play of the fourth, Boykins stopped Carroll for no gain and the Panthers were forced to go to the air again. Bryant’s Arron Bell stepped in front of Boatright’s throw and picked it off at the 42, returning to the Cabot 36.
Lessenberry and Arron Bell connected on a 25-yard completion and, two plays later, Devon Sears hauled in an 11-yard strike at the 2. On a fourth-and-1, Lessenberry sneaked it into the end zone to increase the Bryant lead.
Jalen Bell ran in the two-point conversion and Bryant led 22-8 with 4:57 left in the game.
Cabot used a halfback pass from Luna to Dakota Hampton to set up an answering touchdown. From the 24, Boatright kept on the option and laced his way to the end zone with 2:13 left to play.
Trying to cut the lead to 6, the Panthers tried again for a two-point conversion only to be denied twice. On the first attempt, the Hornets swamped Boatright in the backfield but a face mask penalty gave them another shot from inside the 2. But Carroll was stopped short on the second try and Bryant’s lead was 22-14.
Zach Cambron fell on the subsequent onside kick for Bryant at midfield. Lessenberry kept for 5 yards and had his face mask yanked on the first play from there. The 15-yard mark-off got the Hornets to the 31.
Lessenberry was shaken up on the play so Cambron came in at quarterback and was dropped for a loss of 5, fortuitously falling on his own fumble.
After a Cabot timeout, Jalen Bell slashed for 10 yards to set up a third-and-5 at the 26. The Panthers took another timeout with :40 showing but, on the next play, J.Bell went the distance to clinch the victory.
Josh Lowery added the extra point to set the final score.
BRYANT 29, CABOT SOUTH 14
Score by quarter
BRYANT 8 0 6 15 — 29
Cabot South 8 0 0 6 — 14
Scoring summary
First quarter
BRYANT — Daniel 49 pass from Lessenberry (Shuttleworth pass from Powell), 7:53
CABOT SOUTH — Carroll 4 pass from Boatright (Boatright run), 0:04
Third quarter
BRYANT — J.Bell 26 run (run failed), 0:36
Fourth quarter
BRYANT — Lessenberry 2 run (J.Bell run), 4:57
CABOT SOUTH — Boatright 24 run (run failed), 2:13
BRYANT — J.Bell 26 run (Lowery kick), 0:33
Team stats
BRYANT Cabot South
First downs 8 14
Rushes-yds 12-115 42-184
Passing 3-6-0 2-6-1
Passing-yds 85 31
Punts-avg. 1-42.0 1-38.0
Fumbles-lost 2-0 1-0
Penalties-yds 2-7 3-35
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Rushing: BRYANT, J.Bell 7-71, Lessenberry 4-49, Cambron 1-(-5); CABOT SOUTH, Carroll 20-76, Luna 13-57, Boatright 6-39, Hampton 3-12.
Passing (C-A-I-Y): BRYANT, Lessenberry 3-6-0-85; CABOT SOUTH, Boatright 1-5-1-4, Luna 1-1-0-27.
Receiving: BRYANT, Daniel 1-49, A.Bell 1-25, Sears 1-11; CABOT SOUTH, Hampton 1-27, Carroll 1-4.
