It didn’t start well for the Bryant Freshman Hornets on Tuesday night.
The Benton Freshman Panthers hosted county rival Bryant not only for bragging rights, but also for the Central Arkansas Junior High Conference Championship. Both teams entered the game with identical 8-1 overall records and 7-1 in CAJHC play.
The Hornets received the game’s opening kickoff, and after losing 4 yards on their first two plays, attempted a pass that was intercepted by Peyton Pallette at the Benton 34-yard line.
On Benton’s first offensive play of the game, Colen Morrow raced 62 yards to the Hornet 4-yard line. Three plays later, Morrow reached the end zone. Taylan Akdamar’s PAT gave Benton an early 7-0 lead just 3:00 into the game.
But that would be it for Benton as it was all Bryant after that.
The Hornets ripped off 40 unanswered points to knock off the Panthers 40-7 and capture the CAJHC conference crown.
Bryant’s one-two tandem of quarterback Randy Thomas and running back Keethan Hudson accounted for 327 yards and six touchdowns, all on the ground. Jaylon Dickson added 34 yards and a touchdown for Bryant.
The Hornets’ explosive run game led to some season highs for Panther defenders. Hunter Hogue (9 solo tackles) and Robert Langford (7 tackles) recorded single game-highs in tackles and earned the Fox Sports Arkansas co-defensive-player-of-the-game award.
Offensively, Benton turned the ball over an uncharacteristic four times with two fumbles and two interceptions. Morrow led the Panthers with 8 carries for 72 yards, but completed only 5 of 17 passes for 75 yards. Logan Easterling added 24 yards on 6 carries for Benton while Brayden Hendrix (2 catches, 54 yards), Michael Allison (1 catch, 9 yards), Zak Wallace (1 catch, 9 yards) and Easterling (1 catch, 3 yards) caught passes for the Panthers.
Benton 8th finishes undefeated
The Benton 8th grade Panthers finished off an undefeated season with a 49-0 win over the Bryant Blue Hornets from Bethel Middle School. The Panthers dominated the Hornets totaling 305 yards of offense to Bryant’s 12.
Sean Thornton recovered a Hornet fumble on the first possession of the game. Two plays later, Peyton Hudgens connected with Gavin Wells on a 12-yard touchdown strike. Alan Vargas connected on his first of five extra points to give Benton a 7-0 lead.
Benton scored again 1:54 later after covering a muffed punt attempt by Bryant. This time, Hudgens scored on a 31-yard run.
The Panther defense would hold Bryant on a fourth-down try on their next possession to set up Daeshawn Ward’s 27-yard touchdown run to give Benton a 20-0 at the end of the first quarter.
The Panthers scored against 40 seconds before halftime on a 52-yard pitch-and-catch from Hudgens to Ward to take a 27-0 lead.
The lone score in the third quarter came at the 3:46 mark when Hudgens found Cade Clark for a 31-yard touchdown pass. Benton’s 2-point try was successful when Wells reached the end zone to push the Panther lead to 35-0.
The Panthers would score twice in the fourth quarter, both on fumble returns. D’Anthony Harper scooped up a fumble and ran 42 yards for a score, while Jaden Woolbright scored on a 20-yard play when he ripped the ball away from the Hornet quarterback.
Not only did the 8th grade Panthers go undefeated this season (9-0), they did so in convincing fashion with their closest game being a 14-point win over Conway White in the second game of the season.