Hornets hammer Grizzlies to open 7A-Central play
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).
For more photos of this event by Rick Nation, go here; photos also by Paul Dotson
FORT SMITH — It’s amazing, sometimes, what a difference one step can make.
For the offense of the top-ranked Bryant Hornets, that one step was a jab in one direction before running a play the other way. With the Fort Smith Northside Grizzlies’ defensive front seven shadowing that jab step, it wound up getting just enough out of position that the Hornets’ offensive line could gain leverage on them and open holes for the running game that weren’t available early in Friday’s 7A-Central Conference opener at Mayo-Thompson Stadium.
For the Bryant defense, that one step was at least how much quicker the Hornets were than just about everyone on the Grizzlies’ offense, position by position.
Bryant’s defense held Northside to a net of just 16 yards of total offense in the first half. Meanwhile, with the opening up of the running game, the Bryant passing game flourished. Austin Ledbetter threw for four touchdowns and ran for another all in the first half as, for the fourth week in a row to start the 2019 season, the sportsmanship (“mercy”) rule went into effect in the second half.
Bryant’s 42-0 lead at halftime wound up a 42-7 win after Northside managed a late TD on a 92-yard run by Tyheen Prosise as the Hornets’ coaching staff was trying to work in as many players as they could.
The Hornets scored 42 points in the first half even though they were forced to punt and turned the ball over on downs once in the first quarter.
“We had to see exactly how they were going to play us,” said Bryant head coach Buck James. “They played, really, a seven-man box against us.”
The Griz’ focus was on stopping the run after watching Ahmad Adams rush for 178 yards and three touchdowns in the first half against Fayetteville the previous week. They also wanted to blitz and pressure quarterback Austin Ledbetter. But that left everybody in the secondary on the proverbial island and the Hornets burned them repeatedly.
“First, you’ve got to be able to protect it to throw,” James noted. “Then, when you have to run, you’ve still got five blocking seven. Once Coach (Kirk) Bock, Coach (Shane) Clancy and Coach (Adam) Pendergrass and Coach (Julian) Jones saw what was going on, they did a great job. They found the mismatches and we were able to run the ball enough. Our offensive line kept plugging and Austin made some great plays and our receivers did too. We got into our rhythm and that’s what we do when we get into our rhythm.”
Regarding the defense, James complimented his assistants further.
“Coach (Quad) Sanders and Coach (Travis) Queck and Coach B.J. Schuller — those guys do a great job of relating to our kids, teaching them what other teams do, learning what they’re doing, and they have a good plan each and every week,” he said. “We replaced a lot of guys on that defense, losing Jakob Neel and three defensive linemen, lost a couple of d-backs. To be able to come in here and do what we’re doing is a testament to these kids and their ability and fortitude to want to be good then those coaches pushing them to understand that they’re not going to go out there and play less than their best.”
James had such confidence in his defense that, when the Hornets’ first possession led to them facing a fourth-and-3 at their own 34, he went for it. Though Adams came up a yard short on a straight-ahead run and Northside took over on downs, that defense got the ball back.
Northside picked up a first down with a 14-yard pass from quarterback Dre Norwood to Jackson King.
But safety Tamaurion Wilson blew up a speed sweep, dropping J.T. Thorne for a 6-yard loss. Corner Darrick Rose Jr., came up and cut down King for a loss of two. Rose’s hit on the senior receiver/return man, knocked King out of the game.
The Grizzlies wound up turning the ball back over to Bryant at the 30 after an incomplete fourth-down pass.
The first big play of a game full of them for the Bryant offense, started its second series. Ledbetter fired a pass down the middle that was hauled in by Joseph Young. After making his first varsity reception of the season, Young was twirled around and appeared to be headed down, but he wound up sitting on the Northside defender, never touching the ground. He whirled out of the tackle and sprinted to the Grizzlies’ 2, a 68-yard completion.
Still running straight ahead into the teeth of the Northside defense, Adams couldn’t get into the end zone on two tries. On third-and-goal from the 1, Ledbetter rolled out and found Hayden Schrader in the flat for the TD.
Brock Funk added an extra point.
The teams traded punts until the Hornets started a possession at their own 15. An 11-yard pass to Tre’vun Herron got them out of the field-position hole. Moments later, on a third-down play, Ledbetter found Jake Meaders on a drag route and he broke it for 34 yards. Ledbetter and Young followed with a 40-yard touchdown pass play that, with Funk’s PAT, made it 14-0.
On the second play of the second quarter, Northside punted it back to the Bryant 44.
The Hornets’ subsequent possession resulted in another touchdown. The drive featured a 27-yard bolt by junior Tanner Anderson, making his 2019 debut. (Anderson had played for Bentonville West as a sophomore.) The Hornets, by this time, had added that counter step to help break them loose.
Though a holding penalty set them back, Ledbetter found Meaders for a 30-yard touchdown play that, with Funk’s PAT, made it 21-0.
Another Northside punt, another Bryant score. Driving 63 yards in seven plays featuring the running of Adams. Young caught a 15-yard pass to convert a third down. A play later, Ledbetter scrambled to avoid a blitz and wove his way 29 yards for a TD that, with Funk’s kick, made it 28-0.
On the first play of Northside’s subsequent possession, Drey Norwood kept on an option, went down head first into the turf and somebody made it worse by falling on top of his head.
He came out of the game and, on the next play, J.T. Thorne, on a jet sweep, was cut down by Wilson for a loss of seven.
Before long the Grizzlies were punting it back to the Hornets, who covered the 40 yards in two plays. Adams burst 19 yards then Schrader made a fine leaping catch of a Ledbetter throw into the end zone and it was 35-0 with 5:12 still to play in the half.
The Hornets made it 42-0 with :08 left in the half. Given a short field after another stuff by the Bryant defense deep in Grizzlies territory, a short punt gave Bryant the ball at the 45.
A 33-yard pass from Ledbetter to Herron then a 15-yard strike to Herron got the Hornets to the 2. Anderson scored from there and, with another PAT by Funk, it was 42-0.
The clock ran in the second half. Northside moved the ball a bit better with the Hornets working in reserves. The Grizzlies marched to the Bryant 17 but stalled out. A mishandle on the holder resulted in a bad field-goal attempt.
Xavier Foote had runs of 14 and 13 yards and Meaders, the back-up at quarterback, completed an 11-yard pass to Myles Aldridge but the drive stalled and Cameron Scarlett, the senior linebacker for the Hornets, came on to punt. The kick went out of bounds at the 10. Despite picking up a first down, the Griz stalled out and punted it back to Bryant.
A second booming punt by Scarlett was fielded at the 10 and returned 44 yards by Montay Parks but most of it was wiped out by an illegal block penalty. Pushed back to its 8, senior quarterback Matt Hollenback, in for the injured Norwood, handed off to Prosise, who went the distance.
Meaders completed passes to three consecutive plays on the next series. His 17-yard strike to Rhylan Blevins started the ball moving. He threw to Clay Curtis for 5 yards then again for 12.
The drive, which soon stalled out, ended with a Scarlett punt that was downed inside the 10.
Northside couldn’t manage a first down. Pierce Kinley and Gavin Burton both made stops near the line of scrimmage for the Hornets.
Thorne wound up punting for the ninth time in the game.
Four games, four mercy-rule wins.
“Actually, I’ve done this a couple of other times when I was at Camden Fairview and we did it when I was at Monticello,” James related. “But it’s just part of our system and what we want to do. Every kid practices, and every kid gets a chance to get better every day and our coaches coach every kid. We treat the guys that don’t start for us the same as we do the guys that start for us.
“What that does, it starts creating competitive practices,” he continued. “Our guys have bought into competing at practice and bringing that to the game field. I’m excited that we’re figuring it out. That’s what good high school football is supposed to look like. That’s what a good football team’s supposed to look like.”
The Hornets return home next Friday against the Little Rock Catholic Rockets, who opened conference play with a 28-26 win over Cabot Friday night. They’re 3-1 overall.
So, just how good is this Hornets’ team?
“It’s hard to put into perspective,” said James. “But I believe this team (Northside) is going to win a lot of games, just like I think Bentonville West is and I think Fayetteville will as well.
“We’ve just got to keep taking care of ourselves — no off the field problems, no jealousy or descension in the team, stay healthy,” he added. “We’ve got a chance.
“At the end of the day, it’s going to be a team that holds it all together, plays well and keeps it the most consistent that’ll win the whole thing. I think our guys are hungry for it. But I think there’s a whole lot of people that are going to be equally as hungry to knock us off. That’s what we’ve got to prepare ourselves for each and every week.”
