Bryant has no trouble with Southwest
BRYANT 70, LITTLE ROCK SOUTHWEST 0
Senior quarterback Austin Ledbetter completed 11 of 15 passes for 208 yards and 3 touchdowns in Bryant’s 70-0 7A-Central victory at Little Rock Southwest on Friday night at Gryphon Stadium.
The Hornets (6-0, 3-0) led 56-0 at halftime in extending their winning streak to 23 games. Bryant, the two-time defending Class 7A state champion, used reserves in a second half played with a running clock.
Bryant was coming off an open date because of a covid-19 no contest. Southwest, a firstyear program playing for the first time since Sept. 11 (an open date and three covid-19 no contests), offered little resistance after losing a fumble on the game’s first play from scrimmage. The Gryphons (0-4, 0-1) were making their 7A-Central debut.
“We tried to play our starters, guys who were going to play, as much as we possibly could and get as many plays as we could in,” Hornets Coach Buck James said. “We have to take care of our football team and they have to do what’s best for their football team. If we sit there and didn’t play at least a half, then we go three weeks without hardly playing. We just have to do what’s best for us.”
Bryant amassed 284 firsthalf yards on just 23 offensive plays, scoring touchdowns on all six possessions. The drives — five plays or less — covered 26, 70, 40, 37, 52 and 59 yards.
Leading 42-0, Ledbetter directed a four-play, 59-yard drive in the final 90 seconds. He completed passes of 38 and 12 yards before senior tailback Jamarien Bracey ran 6 yards for a touchdown with 24 seconds remaining in the first half.
Bryant recovered the ensuing kickoff, which was muffed, in the end zone for another touchdown and its 56-0 halftime lead. It was the second of three special teams touchdowns for the Hornets, who limited the Gryphons to 48 total yards in the first half.
Ledbetter completed touchdown passes of 40 and 12 yards to senior wide receiver
Hayden Schrader and 12 yards to junior wide receiver Blake Everett. Senior tailback Xavier Foote added touchdown runs of 17 and 8 yards in the first half.
“Our kids played hard,” James said. “I thought we played well. We did some good stuff. We probably only had around 20 snaps in the first half. We’ve got some big games coming up. We’ve got Cabot coming up, we’ve got North Little Rock coming up, we’ve got Conway coming up. We’re in the meat of our schedule and we need to play. You don’t know who is going to play from week to week or what’s going to happen. We just tried to get guys as many reps as possible to do the things to help our football team.”