Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Add another ring
Hornets win record fourth title in row
Bryant quarterback Carson Burnett began his season with nerves, just ahead of the Hornets’ annual Salt Bowl game, at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
In a full- circle moment Saturday, he ended it with them, too.
The nerves he had before his first-ever start returned late Saturday night, but for different reasons. He and the Bryant offense took the field with 4:07 left in the Class 7A state championship game at War Memorial, down 38-35 to Fayetteville.
Much like in August against Benton, it didn’t take him long to settle in.
Burnett commanded a crucial drive — which included a 6-yard gain of his own, and two 30-plus-yard passes to Mytorian Singleton — that stymied Fayetteville’s comeback bid, giving the Hornets a 42-38 lead and the victory.
The win marked a record fourth consecutive championship, the longest title run for any football team in Arkansas’ largest classification in the modern playoff era, and it gave Coach Buck James his 200th victory.
“[It’s] almost an impossible feat, I think, and especially nowadays,” James said. “We didn’t play well, but Fayetteville had a lot to do with that. They played really good and they made some turnovers and mistakes. That game could have gone either way.”
Bryant (12-1) was outscored 15-14 in the final quarter, but managed to close Fayetteville’s late 38-35 lead on the Burnett-led drive that went 80 yards in 6 plays in 2:14.
While the final result finished with 80 combined points and 990 yards of total offense, it felt like a sleepier affair at intermission. The squads combined for 303 yards in the first half which Bryant led 14-13.
The Hornets managed to keep the Bulldogs out of the end zone early. Fayetteville got into Bryant territory on five of its eight first-half drives. Still, the Bulldogs were held to 13 points.
The Hornet defense also grabbed its three interceptions in the first half, two of which came with the Bulldogs in the red zone.
Defense and special teams was a crucial factor for Bryant’s win. That showed in defensive back and punter Malachi Graham’s night. Named the game’s MVP, Graham downed the Bulldogs inside their own 20-yard line twice, and he scored a big touchdown in the third quarter after a Fayetteville field goal attempt was blocked. He scooped the miss and returned it 68 yards to give the Hornets a 28-16 lead.
“He’s what you call a football player,” James said in reference to Graham.
Fayetteville Coach Casey Dick told his team, which had a chance to win as time expired on a potential Hail Mary touchdown, that they had nothing to be ashamed of after the loss.
“It was new to these kids, and it took them a little bit to settle in,” Fayetteville Coach Casey Dick said about the Bulldogs. “Obviously, Bryant’s not any stranger to the big stage, but they did a phenomenal job of settling in and once we settled in, we played good football.”
Fayetteville (10-3) outgained the Hornets with 558 yards of offense, 473 of which came from quarterback Bladen Fike, who finished 21-of-46 passing with 4 touchdown passes and 3 interceptions. His top targets, Isaiah Sategna and Jalen Blackburn finished with a respective 168 and 124 yards and combined for 3 touchdowns.
The Bulldogs, who pulled off comeback wins the past two weeks, looked sharper in the second. They generated 404 yards of offense, converted more than half of their third- down opportunities, and averaged 9.9 yards per play; more than double what they averaged in the first half.
For Burnett, the value of the victory wasn’t lost on him. His football career, he said, is essentially over.
“But I mean, we went out with the ring, and I couldn’t have done it without a better group of guys,” Burnett said.
For his coach, however, the title run is just getting started.
“You can’t get five if you don’t have four,” James said. “Is it realistic? This time last year, I said, ‘Hey, I’ll take 7-3.’ We’ve done some things that I didn’t think we could do.
“We’ve got some good kids coming up and, hopefully, it’s a program that’ll be contended with for the rest of time, in my opinion, but that’s all we can do, is dream and hope.”