Top photo couresy of Andrew Schroeder; for more photos of this event by Kevin Nagle, go here; by Rick Nation, go here
LITTLE ROCK — Though the crowd wasn’t at the heights of last year’s attendance of over 38,000, there were 26,178 at War Memorial Stadium on Friday night for the 20th Salt Bowl and the 45th renewal of the Bryant-Benton rivalry.
The game was delayed by 30 minutes because of lightning in the vicinity.
The pre-game featured the coaches who originally scheduled the two teams in 1974 — Dwight Fite, who coached at both schools but, after setting up the game for Bryant, was coaching in Texas when the contest was played; Bill Revis, who coached the Hornets that season and the late Max Graham, who coached the Panthers, was represented by his son.
Service awards were presented with Mark Knowles the recipient of Bryant’s Rob Patrick Award, and Jim Gardner receiving Benton’s Donnie Burks Award.
A flyover occurred after the National Anthem.
It was announced that the Bryant and Benton schools had collected over 22,000 pounds of peanut butter for the Arkansas Food Bank. Bryant Middle School collected the most among Bryant schools.
At halftime, the Bryant and Benton bands combined to perform and both school’s cheer and dance squads performed.
Two people kicked a field goal to win a year’s worth of chicken from Chick-fil-A and one person won a new GMC truck from Everett Buick GMC.
