Bryant rolls over Fort Smith Northside

BRYANT 31, FORT SMITH NORTHSIDE 12

FORT SMITH — After building a 21-0 lead in the game’s first 17 minutes, it appeared as Bryant put its offense on cruise control the rest of the night.

No matter because the Hornet defense never really allowed Northside to get too close.

Though the defense allowed a big-play touchdown late in the game, Bryant was too much for Fort Smith Northside, opening 7A-Central play with a 31-12 victory Friday in Mayo-Thompson Stadium.

“Anytime you open a conference with a road win, that is huge,” Bryant coach Buck James said. “Northside has a great tradition and plays great football. They came to our place last year and beat us. This is a special win for us”

Latavion Scott rushed for 179 yards while quarterback Ren Hefley tosses three touchdown passes, including two to Brandon Murray, to pace the offense for the Hornets (4-0, 1-0).

The Bryant defense limited the Grizzlies (1-3, 0-1) to just 184 yards as quarterback Derrick Wise was under constant pressure and was sacked five times and lost a fumble.

“I thought the defense played great tonight,” James said. “We gave up a couple of big plays and there were times we did not get off the field on third down. That was really it. (Wise) is a great athlete and we knew that going in.”

It was after the first half that the Hornet offense seemingly lost its momentum. It was found, though, in the fourth quarter as Bryant got a field goal and touchdown to put the game away.

“I thought we played really well offensively in the first half,” James said. “We probably got caught up trying to run the clock in the second half and shorten the game. We don’t care how we do it, as long as the job gets done.”

It was easy to understand why James felt confident running the football with Scott and the rest of the Hornets backs combining for 205 yards.

“Our offensive line pushed them around and wore (Northside) down,” James said. “We’ve been doing that all year. Our line is the strength of our football team.”

The offense did dominate early on as Bryant capitalized on three scoring opportunities on its first five possessions. The other two non-scoring possessions both ended inside the Northside 50, one of which was a missed 26-yard field goal.

The first Hornet drive was 52 yards in five plays capped by a Hefley toss to Randy Thomas for a 22-yard touchdown for a 7-0 lead three minutes into the game.

Early in the second quarter, Helfey hit a wide-open Murray in the middle of the field for a 45-yard bomb and a 14-0 Bryant lead with 10:23 left in the first half.

On its next possession, the Hornets marched 34 yards in six plays, all runs by Scott, capped by a 12-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-1, for a 21-0 lead midway in the second quarter.