The Bryant Hornets and the Little Rock Central Tigers find themselves in similar situations. Going into the final game before commencing on their respective conference wars — Bryant in the Central Conference, Central in the East — they’ve each blown out an overmatched opponent and been disappointed to varying degrees in games against teams that prevented more of a challenge.
For Bryant, a 49-21 romp over Little Rock McClellan was the former and a sour-tasting 14-14 tie with Benton was the latter. For Central, it was Dallas James Madison, a 38-0 win, and Fort Smith Northside, a 32-8 loss.
So as they get prepared for conference, both teams are trying to figure out where they stand. After tonight, they each hope to have another win and a little bit better idea.
“I think this will be a good running test and a good throwing test,” said Hornets offensive coordinator Lance Parker. “This is what we want going into the games that matter for the post-season. We want to play good competition, kind of see where we’re at, see who can play, see who can’t.
“Sometimes, against teams that you blow out you don’t really get to measure that,” he added. “Hopefully, this will give us a good gauge going into Russellville and Catholic, the early part of the conference season.”
Defensive coordinator Steve Griffith concurred, saying, “Good test going into conference, outstanding football team, going to Quigley (Stadium), an environment that’s tough to play at. Hopefully, it’ll go a long way toward getting us ready for the conference season.”
Injuries have already plagued the Hornets who were without their top offensive player, senior Brushawn Hunter, last week and may not have him this week. Another weapon on offense, junior quarterback Gunnar Burks, who has spelled senior starter Brandan Warner, hurt his foot on a play last week.
Central’s offense will rely heavily on senior quarterback Cooper Westbrook, a three-year starter who is 6-2 and weighs 235 pounds. He likes to throw the ball to senior Tom Coulter. But the Tigers are traditionally a run-first team.
“They’re a typical Coach (Scooter) Register team,” Griffith said. “They’re well coached. They’re very solid in the basics. They’re going to run a power running game. They’re going to have the ability to throw the football off that power running game with play-action.
“They will spread the field some and throw the football but Coach Register is comfortable in that power running game,” he continued. “If he can run that — we’re going to have to prove that we can stop it. So we’ve worked hard on making sure we get the proper alignment and that we’re aggressive up front and the ‘backers and the safeties know their fill points.
“You stand on alignment. You stand on assignment. And you stand on execution,” Griffith explained. “When you don’t get the alignment, it’s hard to do a whole lot on those others. I felt like, against McClellan, our alignment was better. We didn’t have the number of busts in alignment that we did against Benton and we played aggressive. So we hope to build on that, as we get ready for Central. They’re a quality football team.”
Defensiviely, the Tigers have a playmaker at middle linebacker.
“They’re a 4-2-5 team and basically what ends up being a 4-4,” Parker reported. “That’s what I expect against us. They have a really, really good linebacker (Malcolm Williams). He can find the football. He runs right through blocks. We’re going to have to get him taken care of if we want to be able to move the ball. They’ve got athletes and they’re pretty strong and physical.”
Parker feels like the Hornets have improved on offense.
“I thought we threw the ball much better last week,” he said. “Of course, the competition wasn’t quite as good but I think it went a long way for their confidence. We got a lot of people involved. A lot of people threw a ball. A lot of people caught a ball. As a group, I think we’re a little more confident in what we’re doing.”
Bryant has defeated Central seven years in a row dating back to 2007. Before that, the Tigers had won four of five.
