By Rob Patrick
NORTH LITTLE ROCK — The Bryant White Hornets scored two second-half touchdowns while shutting out the Ridge Road Rams over the final 12 minutes to rally from a 14-8 halftime deficit and forge a 22-14 victory on Thursday.
Bryant White improves to 2-1-1 with the victory.
Quarterback Wesley Akers ran for a touchdown and passed for two to lead the Hornets. Austin Miller intercepted a pass inside the 5 to end Ridge Road’s last-ditch effort at gaining a tie with :41 left in the contest.[more]
Ridge Road had the lead and the football to start the second half but big defensive plays by Greyson Giles, Jimmy McCann and Austin May forced the Rams into a three-and-out.
Giles then returned the punt from the Hornets’ 24 to the Rams’ 49 to set the scoring drive that put his team ahead.
A 24-yard run by Giles got Bryant White to the 24 then Akers passed to Chase Tucker for 16 yards. From there, Jason Browning plunged to the 5 and Akers took it in from there on a third-and-goal keeper.
That tied it up and when Akers found Luke Howard for the two-point conversion, Bryant led 16-14.
The Hornets ahead forced a three-and-out by the Rams. A third-down pass was pressured by Brian Reed, forcing an incompletion and another punting situation.
But a bad snap sabotaged the kick. Though the punter got back on the ball, Reed pulled him down at the Rams 37.
From there, Akers kept for 8 then passed to Miller for 9 yards to the 20. A short completion to May had a face mask penalty tacked on moving the ball to the 9.
On the next play, Akers found Tucker for the touchdown that extended the lead with 3:54 left to play.
Akers finished 8 of 16 for 61 yards.
But Ridge Road wasn’t done. Bryant’s two-point conversion attempt failed, leaving the door open for the Rams to tie it with a touchdown and a two-point conversion.
Deion Tidwell, a one-man wrecking crew for the Rams, led the answering drive. His 31-yard completion reached the Bryant 21. After Tidwell ran for 2 yards, he went to the air again with just over a minute left and Miller intercepted at the 3, returning to the 25 with :46 showing.
Tidwell rushed for 140 yards on 14 carries for the Rams.
Bryant had opened the game with a big return of the kickoff by Giles. The 51-yard runback put the Hornets 35 yards away from paydirt. Though it took them 10 plays, they got it done. Giles, who rushed for 80 yards on eight tries, converted an early fourth-and-4 with an 11-yard run to the Rams’ 18.
Moments later, it was fourth-and-3 at the 11. Giles got the call and got close to the first down before fumbling. Thanks to Tucker’s recovery at the 5, the Hornets not only retained possession, they picked up the first down.
A play later, Akers threw to May for the 2-yard touchdown pass. Akers threw to Howard for the two-pointer and it was 8-0.
But Ridge Road scored on the very next play from scrimmage. After a squib kick, Tidwell bounced off a pair of Bryant tacklers and sprinted 68 yards for the touchdown. Tidwell also ran in the two-point conversion to tie the game at 8.
A 39-yard run by Giles had the Hornets thinking about more points as the second quarter began. But he fumbled on the next play and North Little Rock took over at its own 25.
The Hornets forced a punt, however, when, on a third-and-2, Jordan Jones knifed through to drop Tidwell for a loss of 6.
Bryant got the ball back at its 34 but faced a third-and-3 from their 41. Browning fell on a bad pitch at the 38 to bring up a fourth-and-6 with 1:32 left in the half.
The Hornets decided to go for it but Akers’ pass fell incomplete and Ridge Road took over on downs at the Bryant 38.
Two plays later, Tidwell broke a 24-yard run to the 8 and, on the next play, quarterback Michael Casey faked to Tidwell and threw over the middle to tight end Josh Cotton for a go-ahead touchdown with :38 left in the half.
A two-point conversion attempt failed and it was 14-8 at the half.
