There was a time, not too long ago, that the Bryant Hornets and the Little Rock McClellan Crimson Lions were conference rivals. They played every year from 1993 to 1999 then again from 2002 to 2005.
When it ended, the programs (and the schools) were headed in opposite directions. Bryant was establishing itself as a consistent winner and contender as the school district grew and grew. McClellan was starting to fall on hard times while enrollment started to dwindle. The Lions are now members of Class 5A-Central with Little Rock Mills, North Pulaski, Jacksonville, Beebe, Sylvan Hills, Pulaski Academy and, the newest member, Little Rock J.A. Fair.
Last year, the first under head coach Maurice Moody, the Lions were 1-9 and they opened 2014 with a loss at Sheridan, 33-14. Moody is trying to return the program to some semblance of what it was in its glory years (in which they defeated Bryant in 7 of 10 meetings before 2004.
It figures to be a successful night for the Hornets, who are coming off a disappointing 14-14 loss — er, tie — with the arch-rival Benton Panthers. The team, which may have been a little over-confident last week, doesn’t figure to be in that mental mode this week.
It’s third first game on their home field at Hornets Stadium and, for what the players and their coaches are looking for, the opponent is kind of irrelevant. It’s about the Hornets.
“We worked on alignment and assignment,” said Bryant defensive coordinator Steve Griffith of the team’s practices since the opener. “We had several busts in our alignment. If you don’t get aligned properly you open up the opportunity for gaps in the defense to occur. As luck would have it, a couple of those situations (the Panthers) were able to break big plays. We were supposed to have a guy in a particular area and we weren’t where we were supposed to be. That’s been a big part of what we’ve been working on this week.
“And also our base keys, making sure we get those down,” he continued. “We weren’t bad out of position. We were a yard or two out of position sometimes and that can make a difference.
“That was a little disappointing last week. We’ve worked hard on trying to get the mental aspect remedied.”
Offensive coordinator Lance Parker said of last week’s showing, “On the surface, it just appeared like it was bad but it was really just one guy here and one guy there. We’d have a play and the one guy that’s off would cause a loss of yardage and get us behind the chains. Our passing game wasn’t going well so it was hard to catch back up.
“I don’t think it was an effort thing,” he asserted. “We had some guys that could’ve gone harder on certain plays but I thought, as a group, we played hard. We just didn’t bust a big play and we were kind of counting on that.
“I think they learned from it. I think we’ll be better.”
Regarding McClellan, Parker said, “It’s the exact same scheme defensively. I don’t think they’re quite as aggressive as Benton. But that scheme creates a little bit of confusion in and of itself. I think being through a game working against it will work to our advantage. It’s a very similar look. We’ve learned our lessons from it from the last game so hopefully we’ll be able to take it and execute a little bit better than we did.”
Said Griffith, “In preparation for McClellan, just getting recognition of the variety of sets they’ll come out with and making sure our alignment is proper. We focus hard on our base set of keys and, if we get our alignment and follow those keys, we should be in position against most anybody.
“McClellan has a big offensive line,” he related. “They’re really tall and physical big guys. They do have some speed. They’re going to try to get to the outside and they do it in a variety of sets. So we need to make sure to get our alignment right so when they get to the line of scrimmage we’re where we need to be and give ourselves a chance to make a play.”
Last week, the Hornets rushed for 208 yards, led by Brushawn Hunter’s 94 yards on nine carries, but managed just 40 passing. The Lions rushed for 214 yards, led by Ezekiel Baldwin with 60 yards on 15 carries. Dalvion Childs and Raoshun Young had touchdown runs in the first half. Quarterback Pierre Strong threw only two passes, completing one for 17 yards.
