The Bryant Hornets have produced some considerable accomplishments already in 2015. Most noteworthy, they became the first Bryant team since 1999 to start a season 6-0 and only the second in the history of the program. Then they captured the 100th victory in the career of head coach Paul Calley.
Just last week, in a 30-0 win over the Van Buren Pointers, the Hornets clinched the program’s 15th consecutive trip to the playoffs and 16th in the last 17 years. The offense eclipsed 500 total yards for the first time since a 58-0 win over Sheridan on Oct. 12, 2012. The rushing total of 383 yards was just 4 yards off the school single-game record of 387 set in 1963 against Magnet Cove. The defense turned in its first shutout since a 28-0 win over Texarkana on Oct. 25, 2013.
No doubt, they have more planned over the next three to six weeks.
It’s Senior Night as the Siloam Springs Panthers come to town tonight and, with that in mind, a win would be the 25th in three years for those seniors, tying the 2011 and 2010 senior classes for most in the history of the program with at least two more games to play.
The Hornets also have a shot at the school record for rushing yardage in a season. They’ve accumulated 2,009 yards so far. The record of 2,671 was set in 1997.
But it may be a challenge to reach their rushing average of 251 yards per game against the Panthers’ defense, which has been among the toughest against the run. They’ve allowed 1,363 yards on the ground, third behind Bryant (981) and Greenwood (1,049).
“They are a pretty physical team,” noted Hornets offensive coordinator Lance Parker. “They’re similar to our defense schematically. They run a 4-3 but they’re going to do a lot more twisting and stunting, trying to create some confusion. We’ve just got to make sure we’re following our rules, got our eyes up and we do what we’re supposed to do. If not they can turn us and get us behind the chains.”
The game features the top two running backs in the Central Conference in the Panthers’ Ricky Hughes, who’s picked up 721 yards on 129 carries, and the Hornets’ DeAmonte Terry, who’s rushed for 663 yards on 103 attempts. Hughes has carried the load all season for the Panthers. Terry has had to take on the load after the Hornets lost Savonte Turner against Russellville then Cameron Coleman against Alma to season-ending injuries. (Ominously, both injuries came in games against 6A league opponents).
The second leading rusher for both teams is the respective quarterbacks. After a big night last week, Bryant’s Gunnar Burks (15 for 154) has rushed for 417 yards on 85 carries. Siloam’s Jordan Norberg has picked up 268 yards on 76 tries.
“With the injuries at running back, we’ve kind of had to create other guys as running backs,” Parker noted. “We had lots of guys handling it last week and I thought they did a good job. Everybody’s running it and hanging onto it. That’s the thing you worry about with a guy that hadn’t run the ball a lot but we’re doing a good job hanging onto it and, hopefully, we continue to.”
Ten different players ran the ball in the win over Van Buren.
“They’re running back is very, very solid,” said Bryant defensive coordinator Steve Griffith regarding Hughes. “They do a good job with the power read and the buck sweep that we’ve seen from several teams throughout the year. They have a solid offensive line. They do a lot of misdirection, a lot of pulling of guards. We’ve just got to do a great job of reading keys to put ourselves in a position to be where you need to be.”
Norberg is the conference’s fourth-leading passer with a league-high 116 completions in 196 attempts for 1,158 yards. Coby Roach is the team’s leading receiver with 29 catches for 293 yards.
“They don’t tend to the throw the ball down the field a long way but their intermediate, their short passing game and their screen game are all pretty good,” Griffith said. “That’ll present a challenge to be prepared for.
“Our hope for us is to continue to play with good intensity like we had last week and the first quarter or two at Greenwood,” he added, referring to Bryant’s game two weeks ago, which resulted in the lone loss of the year, 38-7 but was just 10-7 until late in the first half.
The Hornets are led in tackles by senior safety Jaelyn Jones with 65 stops. Defensive tackle Mario Waits is second with 55 and defensive end Madre Dixon third along with linebackers Marvin Moody and Phillip Isom-Green with 50. It’s not every year that linemen are among the top tacklers on the Bryant defense but this year there are two in the top five.
“The defensive line continues to play well every week,” Griffith acknowledged. “Our linebackers played better last week and the secondary is continuing to improve. It was probably our best week against the pass last week — in fact, the last two weeks we defended the pass a little bit better. Hopefully, we’re making improvements at the right time of year.”
Van Buren came into last week’s game among the best in the league at throwing the ball but they were held to 10 of 25 through the air for just 69 yards.
The contest tonight is the final time both Class 7A Bryant and Class 6A Siloam will be playing a conference game that doesn’t count towards qualifying for their respective State playoffs. The Hornets will compete in the revamped 7A-Central next year and Siloam Springs will compete in the new 6A-West.
