As part of the countdown to the 10th Salt Bowl, BryantDaily.com is featuring the game stories published in the Bryant Times about the first nine. New ones are posted each day. Salt Bowl IV was the first for the Hornets with Paul Calley as head coach and because the two schools were no longer in the same conference, there was no overtime. The game was back at C.W. Lewis Stadium in Benton and played on Sept. 12, 2003. — Rob

By ROB PATRICK

BRYANT TIMES

BENTON — The only people that didn’t leave C.W. Lewis Stadium frustrated Friday night were the ones that didn’t care which team won. And it’s hard to imagine many folks like that.But for those few, it had been a highly entertaining evening as the Bryant Hornets and the Benton Panthers compiled almost 1,000 yards of offense between them while battling to a 34-34 stalemate, the first tie in the 30-year history of their vicious rivalry.

Benton, trying to reverse a four-game losing streak in the series which the Panthers dominated for most of the first 25 years, held the upper hand for much of the game. But Bryant wouldn’t go away. Despite trailing 34-24 going into the fourth quarter, the Hornets rallied to tie with 10 points in the final four minutes of the game. Todd Bryan, who kicked a fourth-quarter field goal to beat Benton in 2002, knocked through a 33-yarder with 1:10 remaining to tie it.

As part of the countdown to the 10th Salt Bowl, BryantDaily.com will feature the game stories published in the Bryant Times about the first nine. We’ll post new ones each day. Salt Bowl III was the first played at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock on Friday, Sept. 13, 2002. There were two stories. — Rob

By ROB PATRICK

BRYANT TIMES

LITTLE ROCK — Many was the time during the 2001 football season that the coaches and fans of the Bryant Hornets looked longingly at the Bryant Junior High Mustangs. You see, the Hornets struggled mightily with their kicking game in 2001 and the Mustangs had the answer, just a year short of high school eligibility.

Now a sophomore on the high school team, Todd Bryan fulfilled much of the promise he showed with the Mustangs by kicking three field goals including what proved to be the game-winner with 5:15 to play as the Hornets escaped the upset-minded Benton Panthers 16-13 at War Memorial Stadium on Friday, Sept. 13.

As part of the countdown to the 10th Salt Bowl, BryantDaily.com will feature the game stories published in the Bryant Times about the first nine. We’ll post new ones each day. Salt Bowl III was the first played at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock on Friday, Sept. 13, 2002. There were two stories. — Rob

By ROB PATRICK

BRYANT TIMES

The Bryant Hornets football program has come a long way in the last four years. All you have to do is look at the record and you can see that in a superficial way. But for those that followed the team through any part of the lean seasons before, it shows in more subtle ways as well.

The program went 13 years in a row without posting a winning record. And the winning season they managed in 1985 snapped a 12-year run without a winning mark. Losing was a habit that perpetuated itself. Despite their best efforts, the Hornets always seemed to be a victim of Murphy’s Law: Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. Losing seemed to stalk them.

As part of the countdown to the 10th Salt Bowl, BryantDaily.com will feature the game stories published in the Bryant Times about the first nine. We’ll post new ones each day. Salt Bowl II was played on Thursday, Nov. 1, 2001 at Benton’s C.W. Lewis Stadium. There were two stories.

— Rob

By ROB PATRICK

BRYANT TIMES

BENTON — In the 28 years that the Bryant Hornets and the Benton Panthers have been playing, Benton has won 22 times including 14 in a row at one point. Many times, it seemed, at least to Bryant folks, that Benton got all the breaks. The Hornets would be on the verge of victory but something catastrophic would happen.

On Thursday, Nov. 1, the Hornets finally got a few breaks against their arch-rivals and, for the first time in the series, won for a third straight season with a gut-wrenching, come-from-behind 28-23 victory at C.W. Lewis Stadium.

As part of the countdown to the 10th Salt Bowl, BryantDaily.com will feature the game stories published in the Bryant Times about the first nine. We’ll post new ones each day. Salt Bowl II was played on Thursday, Nov. 1, 2001 at Benton’s C.W. Lewis Stadium. There were two stories.

— Rob

By ROB PATRICK

BRYANT TIMES

BENTON — Adjustments — beyond the original gameplan and the day-to-day routine of practice, it’s probably a coach’s biggest challenge and most satisfying achievement when successful.

With a game ongoing, they have to be made on the fly. While trying to orchestrate the gameplan, problems have to be analyzed — what’s the other team doing to stop us or to move the ball so well? Why is our team being ineffective? — and the effective changes have to be not only thought out, they have to be conveyed to the players and executed.

As part of the countdown to the 10th Salt Bowl, BryantDaily.com will feature the game stories I wrote for the Bryant Times about the first nine. We’ll post new ones each day for the next nine days. Salt Bowl I was played on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2000 at Bryant Stadium. There were two stories.

— Rob

By ROB PATRICK 

BRYANT TIMES

Whatever people remember of the 2000 edition of the Bryant Hornets football team, there will always be at least one thing they can point to with pride. The very first result listed on the Salt Bowl trophy which will be handed out annually to the winner of the Bryant-Benton war will say this:

Bryant Hornets 44, Benton Panthers 17.

On every renewal of the Bowl presentation, hereafter, be it the fifth annual Salt Bowl, the 10th annual — shucks, the 50th annual — it will be the 2000 Hornets that will be especially invited back home for the game.

They won the first one.

As part of the countdown to the 10th Salt Bowl, BryantDaily.com will feature the game stories I wrote for the Bryant Times about the first nine. We’ll post new ones each day for the next nine days. Salt Bowl I was played on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2000 at Bryant Stadium.

— Rob

By ROB PATRICK

BRYANT TIMES

With a scenario reminiscent of their Homecoming romp over the Camden Fairview Cardinals, the Bryant Hornets overcame a deficit with a surge at the end of the first half then cut loose in the second half on the way to victory.

This time, it was a sweet 44-17 triumph over the rival Benton Panthers in the first Salt Bowl on Thursday, Nov. 2, before a large gathering at Hornets Stadium.

It was just the fifth Bryant win in the 27-year history of the rivalry, the second time Bryant has won back to back games.