After scrimmage against Pine Bluff, Horn still concerned about freshman Hornets’ offensive line
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).
By Rob Patrick
Photos by Rick Nation
In 16 plays by the Pine Bluff Robey Colts freshman first-teamer, the Bryant Hornets first-team freshman defense forced seven lost-yardage plays in a pre-season scrimmage at Bryant Stadium Monday night.
The result was a net of just 54 yards of offense for the Colts despite a 45-year run and 5 of 6 completions in the passing game for 32 more.
The scrimmage was held in advance of Bryant’s season-opening game at Lake Hamilton on Thursday, Sept. 2.[more]
Said Hornets head coach Kenny Horn, “Defensively, I thought we played okay. Usually your defense is ahead of your offense now anyway. We did well there, just a play here and there, but that kind of stuff’s going to happen. You’ve got to overcome that.”
Offensively, the Hornets’ first team had a four-and-out on its first possession, then drove from its own 24 to the Pine Bluff 12, overcoming a holding penalty along the way. But, a second holding infraction on a play from the 12, proved too much to overcome.
After the mark-off quarterback Dakota Besancon’s throw to the end zone to Grayson Giles was almost completed. A pair of incompletions later and the freshman portion of the evening’s scrimmage concluded.
Horn said he came into the game uncertain about the team’s offensive line and, apparently, the scrimmage didn’t change that.
“I think that’s our issue offensively, up front,” he said. “We’ve got to go to work up there. I didn’t think we did very well up there. If we can get that fixed, we’re going to be competitive.
“I think we can score,” Horn added. “We’ve got some guys that are capable of running. The pass protection didn’t look very good but I thought we threw and caught okay. We made some big plays.”
Bryant finished the full-scale half of the scrimmage with 82 yards of offense. Besancon completed two passes, both to Austin May, for 33 yards during the final drive. Running back Bryce Denker sparked the march with a 26-yard run. Madre London finished with 18 yards on five carries.
Defensively, the Hornets’ Cole Lewis had a couple of tackles for losses including a sack on a fourth-and-11 play that ended Pine Bluff’s first drive. May and Jason Browning combined on an earlier stop for a loss. Later, a Pine Bluff back broke the 45-yard gallop to convert a fourth-and-1 at the Colts’ own 35. Matt Mears made a touchdown-saving tackle on the long run. Pine Bluff still reached the 17 but Mears crashed through to make a tackle for a loss of 5 to set up the final play of the drive, a fourth-down pass into the end zone that Bryant’s Jacob Irby broke up.
To start the scrimmage, the teams’ B squads traded possessions and both put up points. Pine Bluff’s came at the end of a 70-yard drive to start the scrimmage. Bryant’s came late in that portion of the scrimmage. Thanks to a 10-yard run by Aaron Leonard and a 16-yard pass completion from Besancon to Grey Orman, Bryant got to the Pine Bluff 44. On a second down there, Leonard broke through and went the distance for the Bryant score.
Pine Bluff’s B team had one last possession. The Colts reached the Bryant 43 before Jake Johnson made a stop for a loss as that portion of the scrimmage concluded.
