By Kirk Stewart

At the end of the day, Saturday, Feb. 21, two teams from the 5th/6th grade boys division advanced to the next round. They were Team Ruple defeating Team Cason 42-32 and Team Hurt defeating Team Chumley 50-47. Teams Cason and Chumley were eliminated from tournament play.

Advancing Monday night in the 3rd/4th boys’ division, Team Sahr defeated Team Eley 23-13 handing Team Eley their first loss of the tournament.In the 5th/6th grade girls division, Team Bluemmel defeated Team Rasburry 32-18, which eliminated Team Rasburry from tournament play. Also, Team Patton defeated Team Ramsey 28-22, which gave Team Ramsey their first loss on the tournament.

Tuesday night had a pair of 3rd/4th grade girls’ games with Team Cullen defeating Team Blend 8-6, ending Team Blends championship bid. Team Hill defeated Team Rowland 8-3, giving Team Rowland their first loss in the tournament.In the nightcap, the 5th/6th grade boys squared off with Team Hurt defeating Team Ruple 37-30 ending Team Ruple's tournament run.

On tap for Thursday night, Feb. 26, two games in the 3rd/4th grade boys division with Team Sandidge and Team Sanders matching up at 6 p.m., followed by Team Pringle and Team Dupree at 7. The final game of the night at 8, matches the regular-season champion Team Price facing off with league runner-up Team Warner. If both teams remain healthy, look for a shootout!

Friday night is loaded with 3rd/4th grade talent, three games starting at 6 p.m. First will be 3rd/4th grade girls Team Rowland playing Team Cullen. At 7, Team Eley plays the winner of Thursday night Team Sanders-Team Sandidge game. At 8, Team Vail awaits the winner of Thursday’s game between Team Pringle and Team Dupree.

Saturday will see the culmination of the tournament, with semifinal games and the finals. Games begin at 9 a.m., with the finals starting at 2:30 through 6 p.m.

Thanks to Richard Chumley for the tournament update.

The Bryant Soccer Association donated $500 checks to the Bryant High School boys and girls programs. Accepting the checks were, from left, Hornets coach Jason Hay, volunteer assistant Bob Williams and Lady Hornets coach Doug Maxwell. 

By Kirk Stewart

The Bryant Soccer Club will begin league play Saturday, Feb. 28. The season will run through April 25.

Soccer in Bryant continues to grow and its popularity increases each year.

“We have almost 600 players not including our players that are currently on the high school teams,” said Bryant Soccer Club board member Michelle Alverio.

League participants are from 4 through 15 years old. All home games are played at Midland Soccer Complex on Midland Road.

Saturday, Feb. 28 games:

By Rob Patrick

On Friday, Feb. 27, Bryant Lady Hornets coach Blake Condley will be in Springdale. That's where the Springdale Lady Bulldogs will be battling the cross-town rival Har-Ber Lady Wildcats.

Condley will be there to scout the Lady Hornets' first-round opponent in the Class 7A State Tournament. It's a first for Condley in his brief stint at head coach of the Bryant girls, the first for the program since the 2005-06 season.

And the Lady Hornets will be going into the tourney on a winning note. They hit just enough of their free throws in the late stages of their regular-season finale against the Little Rock Central Lady Tigers to forge a 46-43 victory on Tuesday, Feb. 24, that snapped a three-game skid.

Bryant takes a 19-6 record into the post-season, never having lost back-to-back games until those three in a row. As had been during better stretches for the Lady Hornets, they found a way to win.

Anna Simpson, Hannah Goshien, Alana Morris and Haley Montgomery all converted at the line in the final 1:35 of play, turning a 41-40 deficit into the winning margin.

By Rob Patrick

Sure, it may be seem like a difficult case to make with the Bryant Hornets finishing 1-13 in the 7A-Central Conference this season but they really weren’t that far from making their third straight trip to the State tournament.

After starting 1-1 in the league, if the Hornets had only been able to hang onto the late lead they had at Russellville instead of suffering a tough 62-60 loss who knows what else might’ve gone their way with the added confidence?

It might’ve been enough to beat North Little Rock twice instead of losing to the Charging Wildcats twice, once in overtime. And if, after scorching the nets at an 80 percent clip to open the game at Van Buren, if they’d followed up with more than 10 points in the second half . . . well, that’s five wins right there and they’d gone into the final game of the season against the Little Rock Central Tigers not only headed to State but battling for a chance to finish as high as fourth in the league.

But that’s not the way it went. So, seniors Tim Floyd, Dijon Benton and Cameron Whaley played their last game as Hornets on Tuesday, Feb. 24. And, in much the same way that it did the whole season, the breaks just didn’t go their way as Central put together a 10-0 run to finish the game, turning a 36-35 edge with 2:40 to go into a 46-35 victory to sew up a State bid.

The Bryant Hornets will compete in the 5A-7A State Indoor Track Championships this Saturday at the Randall Tyson Indoor Track Center on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville.

Junior Tanner Tolbert leads the way for the Hornets in several sprint and jumping events. Tolbert won the 60 meter dash at the ATCA Indoor meet three weeks ago, but will probably have to improve on his time to have a chance to repeat that feat this week, as several schools who were absent three weeks ago will be present Saturday.Tolbert also scored in the long and triple jump for the Hornets.

Other key competitors for the Hornets are Chris Brooks and Stanley Oxner in the sprint events, Troy Smith in the high jump, and Drew Persinger in the pole vault.

"We should have a chance to score some pretty good points at this meet,” said Hornets coach Steve Oury. “It's always guesswork this early in the year because we haven't seen all of the competition, but we have been working hard and are ready to compete. If we can make some improvement over the performances from three weeks ago, then I think we will be on the right track for the outdoor season, which starts in just a couple of weeks."

The Bryant track teams will travel to Fayetteville Saturday for the 2009 Indoor Track State Championship.

For the Lady Hornets, who have previously won two indoor state titles, this year’s meet holds some big question marks. At the ATCA indoor invitational two weeks ago, the Lady Hornets scored 19 points tofinish in eighth place. The question marks come from the fact that several team members did not participate in that meet.

“Our cheerleaders were in Orlando and we had several team members taking the ACT that day, so we were not full strength by any means,” noted coach Danny Westbrook. “I don’t know that we can contend for the title, but I do think we can score a lot more points this time.”