Can the Bryant Hornets of 2010 do something that no other Hornets football team has ever done?
Can they reach the semifinals of the State playoffs or beyond?
If they’re going to, they’ll have to do so by beating the consensus No. 1 team in the state, the favorite to win the Class 7A title, the undefeated Bentonville Tigers in their home stadium, the “Jungle.”
The Tigers won the 7A championship in 2008 beating the Hornets in the quarterfinals, 34-14, on their way. This year’s team is averaging almost 45 points a game on offense, a total no Bryant team has surrendered since 1997 when Texarkana claimed a 49-7 win against a Hornets program still languishing in a 13-year stretch without a winning season.
Bryant, of course,[more] turned it around in 1999 with an unbeaten regular season but still hasn’t been able to win two playoff games in the same year. It’s a barrier they’d love to bust through this year.
Bentonville has become a perennial championship contender.
“They have a great system in place,” noted Bryant head coach Paul Calley. “Their sophomore program is tremendous. I don’t think they’ve lost a sophomore game in three or four years. Their JV program is solid. They’ve got a lot of coaches (10 compared to Bryant's six) and you can tell watching them on tape they’re very well coached, well disciplined. They play great technique, very rarely out of position. They do a lot of things right and very few things wrong.”
Added Bryant defensive coordinator Steve Griffith, “The reason that they’re ranked No. 1 and they’re undefeated is they have a big, strong offensive line and do the best job we’ve seen all year of what we call zone blocking, just trying to step as a unit together and provide a wall. The running back gets in it then he’s free to cut to one of two or three different gaps. They do a great job of it.
“The quarterback is real precise in the passing game,” he added. “They have two quality running backs. They’re young but they run extremely hard. And they’ve got outstanding receivers. They’ve got a lot of offensive weapons. If you shut one down, they’ve got several other things they can go to so that makes it a challenge to be prepared for them defensively.”
Of the Tigers' defense, Calley said, “They don’t have a lot of great athletes on defense. They just play smart. They’re a lot like us. They’re well coached. Their kids know how to play the game. They understand the game. It makes it difficult. It’s hard to trick them.”
Bentonville head coach Barry Lunney Sr., who led Fort Smith Southside to three State championships before taking the Tigers to the 2008 crown, agreed with Calley about the defensive similarities.
“You watch them and I think our defenses are very similar,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of speed, they tackle well.
“We’re not real big, probably one of the smallest as far as height and size of the defenses that I’ve had,” Lunney continued, “but they’re quick, they play exceptionally well and it’s just been fun to watch those guys too. Our kids have taken their coaching.
“We’ve given up some points — 41 against (Springdale) Har-Ber and 41 against (Fort Smith) Northside,” he mentioned. “But, you know, this day and time, you just have to realize — and it’s been hard on me — that scores are just going to be different. You’re not going to see many 17-14 games anymore because of the spread offenses and our league this year has really been stacked with great quarterbacks. Out of the eight conference teams, I think seven of them had returning quarterbacks that have been very good in this league. We’ve given up some points but out points given up per game has been pretty good.”
Actually, it was Bentonville that was the one that didn’t have an established quarterback but they have one now in junior Dallas Hardison who has completed 71 percent of his passes (120 of 169) for 2,190 yards and 25 touchdowns.
Despite the high-scoring figures, including a 64-point output against Rogers Heritage and 69 against Fort Smith Northside, the offense has been more balanced this season, Lunney related. “A lot more so than we have been the last few years. Our passing and running have been really good. The combination of them has been very close. I think that’s certainly given us an opportunity to move the ball and score points. We really feel good — we lost two really good running backs last year and we end up with two sophomores (Garrett Kaufman and Tearris Wallace) that are sharing time. You never know how 10th graders are going to respond but both of them have just played beyond their years.
“We also replaced four starters on the offensive line,” he continued. “Those guys have just done a great job. Coach (Aaron) Danenhauer, our offensive line coach, has just done — I mean really, it’s been amazing to watch those guys grow up and mature through spring football and summer camp and through the coarse of this year.”
The Hornets also have a highly-regarded offensive line with seniors Austin Johnson, Colby Maness, Landon Pickett, Justin Rausch, Steven Lecamu and Jordan Murdock. They got a lift from sophomore Kordell Boykins subbing for Murdock last week in Bryant’s 30-7 win over Springdale. That group, along with blocking back Marcus Harris, has helped the Hornets compile 2,038 yards rushing using four different tailbacks — Stephen Clark, Karon Dismuke, Jacob Powell and Jalen Bell — along with fullbacks Dylan Pritchett to account for most of that.
That’s taken some of the pressure off quarterback Hayden Lessenberry who has started all season as a sophomore. Still, he’s been efficient, completing 97 of 142 passes (68 percent) for 1,218 yards and six touchdowns.
“They run the ball well,” Lunney said of the Hornets. “They’re well coached. They don’t get out of position very much at all. You just see them play very fundamentally good, sound football. They don’t beat themselves. They’ve been very strong. They do a lot of things very well.
“Paul and his staff have done a great job with them as always,” he added. “You look at the number of wins that their program has had over the last five, six years and it ranks right up there with anybody in 7A. They have a really good, really solid football team.”
Asked about his own team’s success, Lunney related, “I think as much as anything, we just have a really good chemistry with this bunch. We were replacing 16 starters off last year’s bunch and we had a lot of unknowns coming in. We liked our younger kids but you never know how they’re going to mesh. I think the No. 1 thing is they really like each other. They enjoy playing with each other. They just come to practice every day and work hard. You get to lead this bunch. You don’t feel like you have to push them.”
