Bryant faces off with the Central High School Tigers in a road matchup this week. The Tigers have only won one game this season and haven’t scored more than 20 points in a game. Their schedule is pretty tough and Bryant coach Buck James thinks they can be a tough out.
“If we get the same Central that Benton and North Little Rock played,” James said. “We’re in for a fight.”
The Central Tigers (1-4, 0-2 Central) deploy an aggressive defense. They play man coverage on the outside, which frees up their linebackers to blitz. The offensive line will have to play well to pick up the blitzers, but the quarterback will need to make good decisions with rushers in his face.
“They like to blitz their linebackers and be aggressive, and try to keep you in bad situations,” James said. “They’ve got a lot of athleticism. They’ve got a really good defensive end. Their linebackers are athletic and do a good job. And they’re long on defense.”
The Hornets (5-0, 2-0) defense will need to play sound football to keep the Central offense in check. James calls their offense a spread run.
“That’s what they’re doin’,” James said. “I mean, they throw it a little bit, but they’re basically spreadin’ the field to run it. That’s what they wanna do. They’ll throw screens and short passes. The D-line’s gotta play well. They’ll have a bunch of 50-50 balls and we’ve gotta win those. The secondary will be in a lot of one-on-one situations, so our D-line and our linebackers have gotta play well.”
James said that the Tigers play well at home. He’s telling his team to expect that team on Friday. Some teams might get complacent, but the Hornets tend to stay on an even keel and treat each week like a new season.
Kickoff is 7 p.m. at Quigley Stadium in Little Rock and the game can be heard on 93.7 FM/690 AM.