By Mark Rico
Focus Sports Editor
Little Rock – If anybody thought Bryant was going to come back to the pack after losing key contributors off of last year’s juggernaut that captured the school’s first-ever championship win in 2019 – there’s no doubt that Saturday night’s performance will go a long way in dispelling those myths.
The reigning champs throttled Benton 48-7 in the annual season opener for both teams.
Bryant (1-0) remained unbeaten in the Salt Bowl match-up, which was played in front of one of the most subdued crowds in the game’s history.
It may have taken a little bit longer than expected, but once the reloaded Hornets got going, they proved to be too much for Benton to handle.
After coming up empty on their first three drives on offense, Bryant’s senior quarterback Austin Ledbetter found Joseph Young for an 18-yard touchdown, but the extra point was blocked giving the Hornets an early 6-0 advantage with less than three minutes left in the first quarter.
On their next possession, the Hornets increased the lead to 13-0 on Jamerian Bracey’s 63-yard touchdown run with only 37 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
From there, Bryant extended its lead to 20-0 with 11:53 remaining in the half on Anderson’s 23-yard touchdown run and the rout was on.
Another touchdown run from Anderson a few possessions later – this time from 18 yards out – afforded Bryant a commanding 27-0 lead and sent many of the Benton supporters in attendance to the exits earlier than expected.
“This is something we definitely build off of because we didn’t run the ball very well in our scrimmage.” James said. “We didn’t really have the ball a lot in the first half because they kept the ball from us. I don’t know the official stats but I will bet they had the ball 17 or 18 minutes (of first half). For us to be that explosive no more than we had the ball speaks volumes for our offense.”
Benton certainly had their chances early on as they charged downfield on their opening possession to the Hornets 1-yard line.
The Panthers were turned away on a fourth-and-1 as Bryant’s Koby Melton pushed forward and stopped tailback Casey Johnson behind the line of scrimmage for a 1-yard loss.
A few possessions later, another positive drive for Benton inside Bryant territory came up empty when quarterback Garrett Brown was sacked for a three-yard loss on fourth down by junior defensive lineman Brandon Jones.
Those two key defensive plays seemed to take the fight out of Benton (0-1) who only managed to cross midfield twice from then on.
Anderson paced the Bryant offense with 79 yards on eight carries for the Hornets while Bracey rushed for 71 and six carries.
“I have said it all along that I think we have three or maybe four of the best backs I have ever coached and those guys responded tonight.” said James. “When we can run the ball like that it’s going to open up our passing game for sure.”
And that it did.
Ledbetter threw four touchdown passes, with three coming in the first half, for the Hornets. He completed 8 of 14 passes for 232 yards.
Brown led Benton, completing 18 of 35 passes for 193 yards and a touchdown.
Bryant poured it on with 2:32 left in the second quarter as Ledbetter’s found Young on a 74-yard pass play on a fade pattern and Ledbetter’s ensuing two-point conversion pass to senior wide receiver Hayden Schrader that stretched the lead to 35-0.
Early in the second half, Ledbetter and Young connected once more for a 62-yard scoring play and a 48-0 lead with 11:19 left in the quarter.
Benton would finally get into the scoring column early in the fourth quarter as Brown tossed a 15-yard scoring strike to Cameron Harris.
Faulkner County Focus Sports 