Bryant overwhelms Lake Hamilton

BRYANT 56, LAKE HAMILTON 7

BRYANT — Bryant didn’t need any late-game heroics to knock off Lake Hamilton on Friday night.

Quarterback Ren Hefley completed 13 of 15 passes for 281 yards and 4 touchdowns — all in the first half — to carry the No. 2-ranked Hornets to a 56-7 blowout over the Wolves in front of a large crowd at Hornets Stadium.

The Hornets (3-0), who held off Saline County-rival Benton 49-42 in the opener and pulled out a 38-37 victory at Fayetteville last week, erased all doubt early.

“I thought we played well, I really did,” Bryant Coach Buck James said. “We didn’t necessarily play sharp all the time, but we played hard. We finally got going a little on offense, but Lake Hamilton had been scoring 40-something points per game.

“And for us to come out there and hold them to seven says a lot.”

Bryant trailed 7-6 in the first quarter before scoring 50 unanswered points.

Wide receiver Brandon Murray caught 4 passes for 139 yards and 3 touchdowns for the Hornets, who finished with 507 yards of total offense, never punted and scored on 8 of their 9 possessions.

Four different running backs also scored for Bryant.

The Hornets’ defense also contributed against Lake Hamilton, which came in averaging 45.5 points and nearly 400 yards of offense

Lake Hamilton (2-1) totaled 127 yards, 31 after the first quarter.

Andrew Hayes had two interceptions for Bryant.

“We’ve just got to continue to work,” Lake Hamilton Coach Tommy Gilleran said. “After that first drive, we just couldn’t get a push and move on them like we needed to. [Bryant] had a good game plan of stifling us and making us work. … They’ve got a great football team.

“This game won’t define the season for us, though, but it’s definitely something we can learn from.”

Hefley’s 25-yard touchdown pass to Ja’Kalon Pittman gave the Hornets a 6-0 lead 46 seconds into the game, but Lake Hamilton moved ahead on Jackson Johnson’s 22-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Utah Aitken with 8:33 left in the first quarter.