Post-season honors announced for 2017 Hornets football team
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).
Photos by Rick Nation and Kevin Nagle
With a 10-2 season and a march to the semifinals of the State playoffs comes honors for the players. In all, 27 players for the 2017 Bryant Hornets football team earned post-season accolades, led by all-State honorees Cameron Vail and Brandon Murray, both seniors, and juniors Latavion Scott, Blaise Smith and Jakob Neel.
All-conference selections were seniors Ja’Kalon Pittman, Luke Curtis, Zak Kemp, Antonio Todd, Antonio Rice and Johnny Wallace with juniors Ren Hefley, Kajuan Robinson and Andrew Hayes as well as sophomore Jake Meaders.
Earning second-team all-conference were seniors Joseph Wyllia, Bryce Thomas, Rondale Messer, Nick Smith, Preston Kyzer and Mike Jones along with juniors Nate Wallace, Clay McElyea, Logan Burton, Kris King, Randy Thomas and Josh Salguerio.
Vail was Mr. Do-it-all for the Hornets. Along with playing safety, he punted for the Hornets and played short-yardage quarterback and some at wide receiver on offense. He also returned punts some. He finished with 94 yards on 28 carries with seven touchdowns. Defensively, he was in on 51 stops with two for losses. He forced a team-high six fumbles.
Murray was the Hornets’ big-play receiver. He was second on the team with 40 receptions but picked up 823 yards for a 21-yard per catch average. He also led the team in scoring with 96 points on 16 touchdown receptions.
Scott was the team’s leading rusher with 1,423, just shy of Bryant Sports Hall of Honor member Chris Rycraw’s school record of 1,565 yards set in 2009. He was the team’s second leading scorer with 72 points on 11 rushing touchdowns and a TD reception. He caught 38 passes for 369 yards.
Smith was the starting right tackle for the Hornets and helped pave the way — along with fellow tackle Kemp, guards Wyllia, McElyea and Burton plus center Kyzer — to a school record 5,038 yards of offense, breaking the old record of 4,921 yards, set in 1999.
Neel, at middle linebacker, was the team’s leading tackler for the season with 136 stops including five sacks and five tackles for losses. He was second on the team as a sophomore in 2016.
Pittman was the team’s leading receiver with 49 grabs for 582 yards and two touchdowns.
Curtis, who played tight end, wide receiver and H back, hauled in 29 receptions for 335 yards and two touchdowns. He also served as a lead blocker on many of the Hornets’ running plays.
Todd, though injured early in the season, came back to get in on 69 tackles including two sacks and 11 tackles for loss as a linebacker.
Rice, a cornerback, broke up 14 passes and intercepted one. He made 45 tackles with an interception.
Johnny Wallace played on the defensive line and helped answer a pre-season question mark positively. He finished with 95 tackles including a team-high 15 for losses to go with four sacks. He also had two interceptions this season.
Hefley, despite a broken clavicle, passed for 1,896 yards and 19 touchdowns for the Hornets. His replacement was Meaders who threw for 1,082 yards and seven TDs. That was a first for Bryant, having two quarterback pass for over 1,000 yards and perhaps in the state.
Kajuan Robinson was the force inside on the defensive line for the Hornets. He finished with 31 tackles that included nine for losses and four for sacks.
Hayes tied Rice for most pass break-ups with 14. He forced a fumble and recovered two. He made a team-high four interceptions and got in on 39 tackles including one for a loss.
2017 BRYANT HORNETS STATS
Final, unofficial, through 12 games
Score by quarters
BRYANT 90 122 70 107 7 — 396
Opponent 88 87 37 63 6 — 284
TEAM STATS
Bryant Oppt
First downs 252 170
Rushes-yds 475-2060 407-1625
Passing 216-371-8 141-293-10
Passing yds 2978 1859
Fumbles-lost 20-7 20-7
Penalties-yds 79-648 77-481
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Rushing: Scott 272-1,423, King 49-190, Adams 28-184, Vail 28-94, Hudson 8-72, Butler 13-59, Meaders 40-19, Hefley 27-14, Mobley 4-3, Murray 1-2.
Passing (C-A-I-Y): Hefley 132-225-5-1,896 (19 TD), Meaders 84-145-3-1,082 (7 TD), Vail 0-1-0-0.
Receiving: Pittman 49-582, Murray 40-823, Scott 38-369, Thomas 30-432, Curtis 29-335, Robinson 8-143, Sandidge 6-89, King 8-64, Wallace 2-48, Adams 1-14.
Scoring: Murray 96 (16 td-rec), Scott 72 (11 TD-run, 1 TD-rec), Ramirez 60 (44 of 45 PATs, 6 of 9 FG-30, 25, 29, 28, 23, 32), Vail 54 (7 TD-run), Thomas 30 (5 TD-rec), King 26 (4 TD-run, 1 conv.-rec.), Adams 12 (2 td-r), Pittman 12 (2 td-rec), Curtis 12 (2 TD-rec), Scoles 7 (7 of 7 PAT), Hefley 6 (1 TD-run), Hudson 6 (1 td-r).
Tackles: J.Neel 126, R.Messer 76, J.Wallace 76, N.Smith 57, A.Todd 56, C.Vail 49, N.Wallace 48, A.Rice 45, J.Wright 43, A.Hayes 38, J.Polite 28, B.Ellis 27, K.Robinson 25, J.Salguerio 24, M.Jones 22, A.Bailey 21, C.Wallace 20, A.Coleman 14, T.Sehika 8, B.Thomas 8, C.Davis 7, D.Rose 7, T.Wilson 4, T.Woods 2.
Sacks: J.Neel 5, J.Wright 4, K.Robinson 4, J.Wallace 4, N.Wallace 3, C.Davis 2, A.Todd 2, A.Bailey 1, N.Smith 1, Messer 1.
TFL’s: J.Wallace 15, A.Todd 11, J.Wright 9, K.Robinson 9, N.Wallace 8, C.Wallace 6, J.Neel 5, A.Bailey 3, B.Ellis 3, M.Jones 2, C.Vail 2, N.Smith 2, A.Hayes 1, J.Salguerio 1, B.Thomas 1.
Interceptions: A.Hayes 4, R.Messer 3, J.Wallace 2, A.Coleman 1, J.Salguerio 1, A.Rice 1, J.Wright 1.
PBU’s: A.Hayes 14, A.Rice 14, C.Vail 5, R.Messer 4, J.Neel 3, J.Wright 3, J.Wallace 2, N.Smith 1, A.Coleman 1.
Forced fumbles: C.Vail 6, A.Hayes 1, N.Wallace 1, J.Wallace 1
Fumble recovery: A.Hayes 2, A.Coleman 1, J.Salguerio 1, N.Smith 1.
