The Bryant Hornets are the Central No. 3 seed after shutting down the Conway Wampus 21-7 on Senior Night in Bryant last week. The Hornets finish the regular season with a 7-3 record overall, 5-2 in conference play and will take on the West No. 6 Springdale Bulldogs (4-6, 2-5) Friday at Hornet Stadium.
The Hornets' tandem quarterback system of senior Beaux Bonvillain, who signs to play baseball for the University of Central Arkansas today, and sophomore Ren Hefley has been effective. Hefley threw for 122 yards and a touchdown last week, while Bonvillain threw for 94.
"Those guys compete," Bryant Coach Buck James said of his QBs. "They are good friends and they work extremely hard. There is nothing wrong with a guy coming in to give another guy a break when he is not on top of his game like he should be."
Senior receiver Reece Coates had seven catches for 75 yards, while senior running back Cameron Coleman had 10 carries for 42 yards and a TD.
Springdale is led by junior quarterback Layne Hutchins, who has thrown for over 2,200 yards and 18 TDs vs. 12 interceptions, and has almost run for 200 yards. Senior running back Erick Mendez leads on the ground with 571 yards and nine TDs, while four receivers have at leas 24 receptions with Alex Thompson catching 37 for 661 yards and four TDs.
On defense, Bulldog senior Jayden Minchew leads the team with 97 tackles, four sacks and four interceptions.
The Hornets will look for win No. 8 when Springdale comes to town on Friday. Kickoff is 7 p.m. There will be a ceremony for Chicago Cubs reliever and World Series champion Travis Wood at 6:30 p.m.
"That is big," James said of getting the eighth win. "We haven't won a lot of playoff games here so to be able to win eight games would be huge for our program."