Hey, Hey, Haydens: Junior Hornets come back for 22-18 victory over Searcy
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
It was a heyday for the Haydens.
In the second half of their regular-season opener against the Searcy Lion Cubs at Bryant Stadium Thursday night, the Bryant Hornets freshman team rallied from behind twice for a 22-18 win.
Quarterback Hayden Lessenberry threw a pair of second half touchdown passes to Hayden Daniel to put the Hornets ahead then Hayden Stewart, with some help from Hunter Schelle, tackled Searcy quarterback Reed Haggard for a safety with 1:16 left to play to seal the victory.[more]
Jalen Bell rushed for 136 yards on 14 carries including the Hornets’ first touchdown. The 5-yard run, however, was one of just six plays Bryant ran in the first half when Searcy not only dominated time of possession but built a 12-6 lead.
The Cubs piled up 157 yards of offense in the first half but, in the second, the Hornets’ defense allowed just 62 yards, 41 of which came on one play.
“We told them they weren’t running to the football well enough,” said Bryant head coach Kenny Horn of the instructions to the defense at halftime. “We ran to the football better in the second half.
“We know we can score some points when we want to,” he added. “We’ve just got to get better running to the football and tackling. I think tackling was our biggest downfall tonight. We didn’t tackle well but we’ll work on that next week.”
The coach praised his offensive line and noted that a tight end formation that his team utilized failed to draw an adjustment by the Searcy defense.
“We guessed, going into the game, we were going to get a certain defense against a certain set and that’s what we got,” he related. “It gave us an advantage and we out-flanked them. Bell rushed 14 times and I believe we ran that play for 10 of those plays, just a tight-end set outside zone. They didn’t have an answer for it.”
Searcy used a double-wing formation with several impressive running backs, mixing options, wingback traps and double-hand-off reverses but it was nothing the Hornets weren’t prepared for, Horn said.
“They ran the same six plays all night long,” he noted. “We knew exactly what was coming. We had a good plan, we just weren’t getting to the football, weren’t getting to the right spot. We had a few mental breakdowns, not picking up our keys and we just weren’t running. If we had been running to the football, everybody as hard as they can, they don’t rush for half of what they got. We’re making the play at the line of scrimmage.”
The Cubs opened the game with a 15-play, 87-yard march to paydirt. The key play came on fourth-and-5 at the Bryant 23. Antwan Arnold, who led the Cubs with 69 yards on four carries, broke a 14-yard run. After Markel Harris drove for 8 yards to the 1, Haggard snuck it in for the score.
A run for 2 was foiled, however.
It didn’t take long for the Hornets to answer. On first down from their own 28, Bell broke a 67-yard run to the Searcy 5. He scored on the next play to make it 6-6.
Searcy, however, put together another long march for an answering score. Harris scored on a fourth-and-goal from the 4.
Again, however, a 2-point try failed.
It looked like Bryant had an instant answer when Daniel returned the ensuing kickoff right through the Searcy coverage for 83 yards and a touchdown. But a penalty negated much of the run.
Searcy forced a punt and got a long return of its own from Arnold in the closing moments of the half. The Cubs drove to the Bryant 37 where Brandon Caple dropped Arnold for a loss of 8.
Searcy was unable to make that ground up. So, on a fourth-and-8 from the Bryant 35, Haggard tried a long pass on the final play of the half only to have it intercepted by Bryant’s Stoney Stevens.
“We did make some plays when we had to,” Horn said of the defense. “I really thought even though they went up and down the field, we bowed up after the touchdowns and stopped those two-point conversions. That was big. They get two of those, it’s a tie ballgame. If they get all three, they win.”
The teams traded punts to start the second half. On their second possession, the Hornets started at their own 18 but, after Bell burst for 8, an offsides penalty converted a third-and-short. An 18-yard run by Lessenberry and a 16-yard bolt by Bell reached the Searcy 35. On the next play, Daniel got behind the secondary, made a nice adjustment on the ball and made the catch, sprinting the rest of the way into the end zone.
Josh Lowery added the extra point and Bryant held a 13-12 lead.he next play, Daniel got behind the secondary, made a nice adjustment on the ball and made the catch, sprinting the rest of the way into the end zone.
But a good return of the ensuing kickoff put Searcy in good field position at the Bryant 45. On the first play from there, Arnold, on a reverse, sprinted 41 yards before he was hauled out of bounds. From the 4, it took four plays but the Cubs just got in on a quarterback sneak by Haggard as time expired at the end of the third quarter.
Another two-point attempt was denied, however, with Stewart leading the defensive charge.
Searcy tried a bloop kick moments later and it looked like the Cubs had a chance to gain possession. But Bryant’s Lane Ricardo made a diving catch and held on at the Hornets 40.
A play later, Lessenberry found Richards for 14 yards. Later, the quarterback kept for 7 yards to convert a third-and-5. On second and 10 from the Searcy 35, Lessenberry shot a pass to Aronn Bell for 12 yards.
After a Searcy timeout, Bell crashed for 6 yards. On the next play, however, he was dropped for a loss by the Cubs’ Hal Niederbrach, setting up a crucial third-and-9 from the 22.
And the Hornets not only converted, they got points as Lessenberry dropped a pass into Daniel down the right sideline for the touchdown with 3:58 left in the game.
Lowery added the extra point and Bryant led 20-18.
An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the touchdown was walked off on the kickoff so Ian Shuttleworth booted from the Searcy 45 and a touchback results.
On the first play, however, Javien Reynolds was separated from the football and Dakota Johnson pounced for Bryant.
And it looked like the Hornets would punch it in for the clinching score when Bell picked up 8 and, on a pair of keepers, Lessenberry got the ball to the 3.
On the next play, however, a fumble was recovered by Searcy’s Deion Byrd, giving the Cubs one last chance.
On first down from the 4, Haggard dropped back into his end zone to pass, was flushed then sacked by Stewart for the safety that made it 22-18 with just over a minute to play.
To top it off, Searcy had to free kick to the Hornets. And behind the running of Bell and Lessenberry, Bryant picked up a first down on the way to draining the clock.
The Hornets return to action on Thursday, Sept. 10, against Little Rock Hall. The game was originally to be played at Scott Field in Little Rock but has since been moved to Bryant.
JUNIOR HORNETS 22, LION CUBS 18
Score by quarter
Searcy 6 6 6 0 — 18
BRYANT 6 0 7 9 — 22
Scoring summary
First quarter
SEARCY — Haggard 1 run (run failed), 1:37
BRYANT — J.Bell 5 run (run failed), 1:01
Second quarter
SEARCY — Harris 4 run (run failed), 4:37
Third quarter
BRYANT — Daniel 35 pass from Lessenberry (Lowery kick), 2:31
SEARCY — Haggard 1 run (run failed), 0:00
Fourth quarter
BRYANT — Daniel 22 pass from Lessenberry (Lowery kick), 3:58
BRYANT — Haggard tackled by Stewart in the end zone for a safety, 1:14
Team stats
Searcy BRYANT
First downs 12 10
Rushes-yds 36-219 23-178
Passing 2-7-1 4-9-0
Passing yds 10 83
Punts 1-24.0 2-28.5
Fumbles-lost 1-1 2-1
Penalties-yds 4-30 4-29
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Rushing: BRYANT, Ja.Bell 14-136, Lessenberry 9-42; SEARCY, Arnold 4-69, Haggard 12-39, Reynolds 4-39, Harris 8-37, Woodruff 2-14, Jo.Bell 3-12, Byrd 3-9.
Passing (C-A-I-Y): BRYANT, Lessenberry 4-9-0-83; SEARCY, Jo.Bell 1-2-0-5, Haggard 1-5-1-5.
Receiving: BRYANT, Daniel 2-57, Richards 1-14, A.Bell 1-12; SEARCY, Woodruff 1-5, Arnold 1-5.
Kathy and Tom
Way to go guys! Great way to start your season…. keep it up!
Kathy and Tom Daniel