By Rob Patrick
BENTON — Finishing 7-3 is not what the Bryant Hornets freshman team had hoped for when the season began but the disappointment of those three losses including two in a row leading into Tuesday’s season-finale, was salved quite a bit on Tuesday night at C.W. Lewis Stadium.
The Hornets not only finished on a winning note, they did so by downing the arch-rival Benton Panthers, 16-0, on a soaked, frigid night at C.W. Lewis Stadium.
It’s the seventh year in a row that Bryant has won the freshman battle with Benton.[more]
“I thought we played well tonight,” allowed Hornets coach Kenny Horn. “We were reeling for a couple of weeks but we responded pretty well tonight and, of course, it’s always good to beat Benton, no matter what.
“Three losses at Bryant is never good,” he commented. “We always talk about going undefeated and losing one is not good at Bryant. We want to win everything we do. It could’ve gone south in a hurry and it started to a little but they responded tonight.
“We always tell our guys, ‘You’re going to be playing these guys for the next three years. From now on, don’t give them a breath of hope against you the rest of the time you’re going to be seeing them,’” Horn related. “We talked that up this week and they responded to it. They did not want to lose tonight and they played like it.”
Because of the conditions, the Hornets, who averaged 14 pass attempts a game this season, only threw two passes. Wesley Akers completed both of them to Austin Miller. Each had a part in Bryant’s scoring drives.
So the onus was on the Hornets’ offensive line and running back Madre London. On a night that might be more appropriate for London, England, this London thrived, rushing for 159 yards and both touchdowns on 21 carries. He finished the season just 31 yards short of 1,000.
“Madre ran like a stud tonight,” Horn stated. “He was the guy. We knew with it raining as bad as it was, we were going to have to tough it out a little bit and he responded.
As did the offensive line which went from being a source of concern for Horn and his staff at the beginning of the season, to being a key factor in Tuesday’s game.
“They’ve really come a long way,” Horn concurred. “Coming into the season, we had a couple of guys at center and we weren’t real sure. Jacob Ward had never really played center before. Last spring, he came down two mornings a week. I bet he snapped 100 times by himself. We wound up moving him there early in the season and, really and truly, we think that was the key to us. Not only was his snapping okay but he pretty much made all the calls up front for us.
“The rest of those guys, we moved some around,” he continued. “Seth Hoffmans wound up doing okay for us. He was the other center and we moved him to guard. Jordan Jones at left tackle was our mainstay and Tanner Rich has been unbelievable for us at left guard all year long. We kind of mixed and matched at right guard and right tackle. Tanner Gullett wound up playing at right tackle and did okay.”
That group also was abetted by tight ends Grey Orman and Austin May.
“They’ve still got a long way to go, but they got better,” Horn reiterated about the group. “Even if we messed up, they were going to roll somebody out of there if they could.
“We kind of put it on their shoulders tonight,” he said. “We told them going in, ‘Look, we’re fixing to pound them and it’s on you and Madre pretty much.’”
Benton got the ball first in the game and, behind quarterback Terek Beaugard, was moving the ball. He had a run of 14 yards to start and, a play later, broke a 15-yarder only to have it negated by a holding penalty. And the Panthers were unable to overcome that.
They wound up punting the Hornets back to their 22. Akers started Bryant’s drive with a 12-yard keeper then a 17-yard completion to Miller. London’s first carry went for 12 yards but a holding penalty pushed Bryant back.
Unlike the Panthers, however, the Hornets were able to overcome the mistake. On first-and-19, London slashed for 17. They got the first down when Akers used a hard count to draw the Panthers into the neutral zone — something the quarterback was able to do in key spots all season long. On Tuesday, it was the first of five such infractions suffered by Benton.
In fact, after London reeled off runs of 12 and 15 yards to get to the 9, Akers did it again. The penalty moved the ball to the 4. The quarterback was dropped for a 1-yard loss on first-and-goal but, the next play, London got the 6.
On the conversion, the Panthers jumped so Akers needed just a yard-and-a-half on his quarterback sneak to add the 2-point conversion.
“We wanted to score first,” Horn noted. “We got a big stop. They’ve got a pretty good offense. Their quarterback’s real good. But we made them punt that first possession and we wanted to go score and we did.”
The Hornets’ defense took their cue for the offense and stopped the Panthers on three downs. The key play was made by safety Jacob Irby who foiled a sweep on third down by dropping Samonte Wallace for a loss of 5.
Bryant was rolling again from it’s 29 to the 49 on consecutive runs by London when Akers dropped back to pass and just as he was getting ready to throw, Benton’s Shaun Carey, untouched on a blitz from the outside, blasted him. The ball came loose and Joe Griffith recovered for Benton at the Hornets 40.
The Panthers made their strongest bid to score at that point, driving to the Bryant 12. But, on first down, they tried an inside reverse to Beaugard missed connections with wingback Ryan Rodrigues. The ball hit the ground and May recovered for Bryant with 1:03 left in the half.
The Hornets got the ball to start the third quarter and, after May covered a short kick at the Bryant 40, their second scoring drive commenced. Miller made an eye-popping, diving catch of Akers’ pass on third down, getting just enough for a first at midfield.
From there, London carried on five straight plays. His 10-yard bolt converted a third-and-1 from the 41. He then ran for 4 yards but the Hornets benefited from a personal foul penalty against the Panthers on the play. The ball was moved to the 13 and, on the next snap, London rambled into the end zone.
Again, Benton jumped on the two-point attempt and Akers was able to sneak it in to make it 16-0 with 4:06 left in the third quarter.
Benton drove from its 34 to the Bryant 30, grinding it out with runs by Beaugard, Wallace and Rodrigues. But the Panthers faced a fourth-and-7 at the 30. Beaugard rolled to his left then had to scramble. He threw back to his right deep down the field but the pass was dropped at the 5.
Bryant took over on downs and ate up over three minutes of the clock before punting from the Benton 37. Despite slipping on the kick and taking a seat on his follow-through, Orman’s punt rolled inside the 10.
The Panthers made one more bid to break the shutout. Beaugard dashed for 17 yards then Wallace carried for 15. But, on first down at the 45, Beaugard tried to make a late pitch on the option and the ball hit the ground. Jason Browning recovered for Bryant with 2:50 left to seal the victory. The Hornets were 4-3 in the new 7A-Central Junior High Conference, good for third place. The loss dropped Benton to 3-4 and 6-4 overall.
“I hope the kids learned quite a bit this season,” Horn concluded. “Hopefully, they can carry good things forward up to the big night, the money games, and we can get a new group next year and get them going.”
BRYANT 16, BENTON 0
Score by quarters
BRYANT 8 0 8 0 — 16
Benton 0 0 0 0 — 0
Scoring summary
First quarter
BRYANT — London 5 run (Akers run), 2:56
Third quarter
BRYANT — London 13 run (Akers run), 4:06
Team stats
BRYANT Benton
First downs 12 7
Rushes-yds 27-149 25-108
Passing 2-2-0 1-3-0
Passing yds 22 5
Punts-avg. 1-29.0 2-44.0
Fumbles-lost 3-1 3-2
Penalties-yds 4-25 7-48
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Rushing: BRYANT, London 21-159, Akers 6-(-10); BENTON, Beaugard 11-62, Wallace 9-33, Rodrigues 5-13.
Passing (C-A-I-Y): BRYANT, Akers 2-2-0-22; BENTON, Beaugard 1-3-0-5.
Receiving: BRYANT, Miller 2-22; BENTON, Davis 1-5.
