Hornets secure share of conference championship by beating Central
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
LITTLE ROCK — Back in his basketball-playing days, Josh Hampton was a darn good rebounder. And he showed the same form when, early in the fourth quarter of the Bryant Hornets’ game at Little Rock Central, he walled off the opposition, reached up and plucked a flying football out of the air.
The ball had been knocked out of the arms of Central’s Cameron Smith. And once Hampton had claimed the ball at about the 28 yard line, he broke away from the pack and headed the other way. And, though he was running out of steam at the end, he made it all the way to the end zone for a clinching touchdown.
Bryant’s 21-0 win secured a share of the 7A-Central Conference championship, tying Conway and Cabot at 6-1 in the league. The Hornets are 8-2 overall.[more]
“It was a fitting end,” declared Bryant head coach Paul Calley. “I was happy for Josh. As much as he has meant to our team and our football program, and as
many big plays and contributions as he’s made — Josh is probably the single most dominant player on the line of scrimmage, either side — offense, defense — that I’ve had the opportunity to coach.”
Hampton, the team’s leading tackler on the year as a defensive end, added a team-high 10 to his total against the Tigers. Linebacker Collin Chapdelaine was in on eight, defensive tackle James Kidd seven and cornerback Dillon Winfrey six.
The Hornets last won a conference title in 2007. They shared one in 2004.
Calley had hoped to get through the game without using many of his injured players.
“Some of them gave us what they had early,” he noted. “It was enough, offensively, to get us over the hump, give us the lead. Then we played not to lose the second half. We didn’t want to put the ball in the air and risk turning it over.”
As it turned out, however, the Hornets finished the game with all four of their tailbacks nursing ankle injuries.
The game had originally been scheduled for Thursday but, due to an auto accident that took out a power line near the stadium leaving it with no electricity, the game was postponed about 30 minutes before it was scheduled to start.
“It was just one of those nights where there wasn’t a lot of atmosphere,” Calley said, referring to Friday. “It was just kind of blah. But we’re glad to get out of there with a win.”
Unfortunately, in this experimental season, the Hornets get the short stick in the tiebreaking procedures and power ratings that have been instituted in order to incorporate West Memphis into the league for post season after the Blue Devils spent the regular-season playing in the 6A-East. Initial reports are that Bryant, despite being a tri-champion will be relegated to a No. 4 seed for State. West Memphis has been awarded the No. 1 seed among a league of teams which they never played this year. Conway, whose only loss was to Bryant, will be seeded No. 2 with Cabot third.
As it stands, it looks like the Hornets will host Springdale, the No. 5 seed from the West this Friday at 7:30 p.m., a rematch of the first-round game in 2008. Bryant won then and advanced to play eventual champion Bentonville. The same would occur this year. If Bryant beats Springdale, they’ll travel to Bentonville to play the 10-0 Tigers, champions of the 7A-West, on Friday, Nov. 19.
The Hornets methodically claimed a 14-0 lead in the first half, using up all but about two minutes of the first quarter on its two possessions.
The opening drive began at the 26. Stephen Clark made an 11-yard run on the second play then hobbled off the field. Karon Dismuke sporting a padded cast on his broken left wrist, got dropped for a loss but the Hornets got 10 yards in penalties as Central’s defensive linemen jumped the gun on quarterback Hayden Lessenberry’s hard count. With a 4-yard run by Jalen Bell sandwiched between the penalties, the Hornets managed the first down.
After an 8-yard run by Bell, the Hornets faced a fourth-and-2 at the Central 45. Clark came back to crash 5 yards for a first down.
Lessenberry then completed three consecutive passes to Caleb Garrett. A 16-yard connection was the big play. After Central jumped into the neutral zone again, a 6-yard completion reached the 10. From there, Bell took it in, utilizing a nice block from wide receiver Sawyer Nichols on the edge.
Central picked up one first down but couldn’t manage a second. The Tigers’ Robert Emerson punted the Hornets back to their 26.
On first down, Lessenberry hit Garrett again for 2 yards. And when the Bryant senior was dragged down from behind, the Tigers were flagged for a “horse-collar” tackle.
From the 43, Lessenberry dropped back to pass and was eventually sacked as a flag flew in. In an instant, Bryant left tackle Colby Maness was left standing with his arms out-stretched as a Central player began to punch him in the head.
To his credit, the Hornet senior did not retaliate. At one point, he held out his arms as if to say, “Isn’t somebody going to stop this?” An official charged in and tried to do just that. He wound up on the ground and, eventually, so did the player that had been round-housing Maness. But not before he had yanked Maness’ helmet off. He wound up throwing the helmet toward the end zone.
When order was eventually restored, the Tigers player was presumably ejected, both coaches were conferred with then pulled their respective teams together to a talk about the situation.
When play eventually resumed, both teams were penalized. Bryant had a mark-off from the spot of a holding penalty. The official countered with a walk-off against Central for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Bryant lost three yards in the exchange but made up for that quickly. After Bell picked up 2 yards, Lessenberry found Garrett again down the left sideline. He made the catch, slipped a tackle and raced for an apparent touch
down. But a penalty was called for a block in the back at the 10. The touchdown was waved off and Bryant set up offensively at the 20.
Dismuke slashed for 9 yard and, a play later, got 2 more. Powell and Bell traded runs and, on third-and-goal at the 2 on the first play of the second quarter, Powell plunged in for the second touchdown. Jace Denker added the extra point and it was 14-0.
And the Hornets were on the verge of getting the ball back three plays later but, on Central’s third-down play, a scramble by quarterback Cole Westbrook the came up short of a first down, the Bryant defense was called for holding. Instead of fourth-and-5 at their own 25, the Tigers got a new lease, first down at the 29.
The Tigers drove to the Bryant 22 where they again faced a third down. This time, Westbrook got a throw away toward the end zone. The only person that could get to it was Winfrey, who made the interception.
But a few plays later, Bryant fumbled it back to the Tigers around midfield.
With the help of a face mask penalty, Central drove to the Bryant 3. But a procedure penalty cost them 5 yards then Hampton blew up a play and dropped Marvell Harris for a loss to the 12. And, on third down, Westbrook fumbled and Ben Seale recovered for Bryant with 2:43 left in the half.
The Hornets, behind the running of Powell and Clark, nudged out to the 40 but, on a third-and-2, Clark was dropped for a loss to the 39. Central called a timeout with :08 left to make sure Bryant had to punt it. But, when play resumed, the Tigers jumped offsides giving Bryant a first down. Lessenberry took a knee and it was halftime.
The Tigers got the first possession of the second half and drove to the Bryant 28 where, on a third-and-9, Cameron Price knifed through to drop Smith for a loss of 3. A fourth-down pass fell incomplete and Bryant took over on the downs.
The Hornets did not attempt a pass in the second half. From their own 31, they drove to the Central 40 as Bell, Dismuke and Powell took turns grinding out the yardage on the ground behind the Hornets talented offensive line. But a procedure penalty pushed the Hornets back to a third-and-15 from the 48. Lessenberry dropped to pass but was sacked by Zavier McDaniel.
Tolbert’s punt returned possession to the Tigers at their own 26 after a nice tackle by Winfrey made before the return could get started.
Mostly behind the running of Westbrook, the Tigers drove to the Bryant 32 where Smith’s airborne fumble led to Hampton’s TD jaunt.
In turn, the Tigers drove from their own 16 to the Bryant 44. But a bad snap forced Westbrook to fall on the ball back at his own 46. A play later, they faced a third-and-25 from the 46. They tried to set up a screen pass but Hampton crashed it, nailing Harris after he caught the pass from a loss of 7.
The Tigers punted the ball away but, three plays later, the Hornets were punting it back.
Central got the ball at its own 21 with 6:19 left to play. But they couldn’t quite get to midfield. On a fourth-and-1 at the 46, the Tigers went for it only to have Price step up and stop Westbrook for no gain.
The Hornets took over on downs with 4:19 left and ran out the clock. The big play came on a fourth-and-1 at the Central 36. Lessenberry sneaked for 8 yards to seal the victory.
BRYANT 21, LR CENTRAL 0
Score by quarter
BRYANT 7 7 0 7 — 21
LR Central 0 0 0 0 — 0
Scoring summary
First quarter
BRYANT — J.Bell 10 run (Denker kick), 6:45
Second quarter
BRYANT — Powell 2 run (Denker kick), 11:56
Fourth quarter
BRYANT — Hampton 72 yard fumble return (Denker kick), 11:38
Team stats
BRYANT Central
First downs 14 17
Rushes-yds 36-167 36-144
Passing 6-9-0 10-20-1
Passing yds 55 68
Punts-avg. 2-40.0 2-32.0
Fumbles-lost 1-1 5-2
Penalties-yds 10-70 9-86
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Rushing: BRYANT, J.Bell 11-56, Powell 10-46, Clark 6-22, Lessenberry 4-18, Dismuke 6-16, Pritchett 2-9; LR CENTRAL, Westbrook 17-61, Harris 11-45, Smith 6-30, Wilbourn 1-6, Anderson 1-2.
Passing (C-A-I-Y): BRYANT, Lessenberry 6-9-0-55; LR CENTRAL, Westbrook 10-20-1-68.
Receiving: BRYANT, Garrett 5-60, Daniel 1-(-5); LR CENTRAL, Adams 5-21, Tucker 3-43, Harris 2-0.
