New-look Bryant gets same results
SALT BOWL BRYANT 42, BENTON 3
A new cast of characters produced similar results in the Salt Bowl for top-ranked Bryant.
The Hornets hit Benton with big plays on offense and slowed down the Panthers with an aggressive defense to stroll to a 42-3 victory Saturday night at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
Running back Chris Gannaway rushed for 120 yards and two touchdowns for Bryant (1-0), which was its usual dominant self despite trotting out first-year starters at nearly every position on defense as well as at key spots on offense. That didn’t seem to matter to the three-time defending Class 7A state champions in front of a crowd of 23,186.
The Hornets, who have beaten their Saline County rivals in 15 of their past 16 meetings, finished with more than 550 yards of offense and registered six sacks against Benton quarterback Stran Smith.
“Defensively, I thought we played great,” Bryant Coach Buck James said. “To hold those guys to three points … they played their starters almost the entire game. And for us to do that, I think is awesome.
“We have 10 new starters on that side of the ball, and we just didn’t know what would happen. But I thought they did a great job.”
Bryant was just as effective on offense.
Quarterback Carson Burnett completed 12 of 14 passes for 227 yards and 2 touchdowns while rushing 12 times for 42 yards and a score. Gannaway added 3 catches for 100 yards; Mytorian Singleton accounted for 127 yards of total offense and a touchdown; and Tyler Pinney had 85 yards rushing, including a 75yard touchdown run with less than three minutes remaining in the game.
Smith finished 14-of-29 passing for 207 yards for Benton (0-1), which couldn’t get much accomplished against a Bryant team that’s won 31 consecutive games.
“You’ve got to give it to Bryant,” Benton Coach Brad Harris said. “You see why they’ve won three [state titles] in a row. They’re good again this year. They played harder than us, they outcoached us, outplayed us on offense and defense and everything.
“We made more mistakes than they did, and that’s the ballgame right there.”
Casey Johnson carried 10 times for 85 yards and Cam Harris caught 4 passes for 86 yards for the Panthers, who avoided being shut out for the first time in their last 49 matchups against the Hornets when Lucas Wilbur nailed a 25-yard field goal with 3:47 left in the fourth quarter.
Benton enjoyed some success moving the football in the first half but couldn’t find a way to finish off drives. The Panthers were turned away on fourth and 1 twice, with their running backs having a hard time finding clean lanes to run through.
“It had a lot to do with those guys,” Harris said about Bryant’s defense. “They created a lot of those problems. They’re rotating eight defensive linemen in and wearing our five guys out. And they’ve got two dudes playing outside linebacker that can probably run on a 4x100 relay team. Bryant is just very talented.”
Bryant didn’t do much on its first series , but reeled off touchdowns on its next three drives to put Benton in a 21-point hole.
Gannaway finished off an 8-play, 57-yard march with a 5-yard scoring run to give the Hornets a 7-0 lead with 2:40 left in the opening quarter. After forcing a Panthers’ punt – one that was downed inside the 1 – Bryant needed seven plays to move 99 yards, with Singleton accounting for the final 67 after taking a quick slant pass from Burnett and running untouched for a touchdown.
The Hornets had another touchdown called back not long after recovering a Benton fumble on the ensuing kickoff, but they made up for it one possession later when Gannaway raced down the right sideline for a 58-yard touchdown with 5:16 to go in the second quarter.
Bryant made it 28-0 early in the third quarter on Burnett’s 90-yard touchdown pass to Gannaway. Burnett, who was taking over for last year’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette All-Arkansas Preps Male Athlete of the Year and current Arkansas Razorback baseball player Austin Ledbetter, scored on a 5-yard run at the 4:17 mark of the period.
“I think Carson did OK,” James said of his new senior quarterback. “He left some things out there. Carson’s got to let the game come to him, can’t overthink it … just play football. When he does that, he’s a dude for us. I think people are used to seeing what Austin did, but [Carson] is a different kind of quarterback.
“He can run the football, he can throw the football. We’ve just got to get him in successful plays, do the things that he’s good at and let our big offensive line lean on people.”