CABOT – In Friday night’s matchup with No. 6 Cabot, the top ranked Bryant Hornets hadn’t lost to an opponent in the 7A Central Conference in more than 1,000 days – 2 years, 11 months and 27 days to be precise.
The streak will see another week.
Bryant defeated Cabot 45-20 at Panther Stadium.
“I thought we played really well on offense,” said Bryant coach Buck James. “I mean, we really hit all of the cylinders.”
Overall, Bryant (7-1, 5-0) finished with 577 yards overall offensive, but most of all, it went with efficiency on the offensive. The Hornets ran fewer games than the Panthers, despite overtaking them by 256 yards.
Bryant amassed a number of efficient notables in the boxing score. The Hornets were 6 out of 7 in both Third Down and Red Zone attempts. It held the ball for just under a minute less than Cabot and averaged 4.6 meters more per game. And of his 61 games, 30 of them were first downs.
“They have a good plan offensive,” James said of Cabot. “You are executing. You just don’t do that well in defense and that was the disparity.”
The Hornets’ offensive attack was remarkably even – it ended with 299 yards through the air and 278 rushing yards – but the approach to each element was different. Carson Burnett stared at the quarterback for Hornets while a stable of rushers did the job on the spot.
Seven different players finished with a carry for Bryant and six of them finished with a positive net yardage. Chris Gannaway led the Hornets, reaching 73 yards total on 12 carries, despite leaving the game at halftime with an injury. Sophomore Jaden Ashford had 61 yards and a touchdown, and Junior Kam Sams and sophomore James Martin finished 56 and 54 yards, respectively. Martin also scored one of the Hornets’ two dazzling touchdowns.
Martin left the game shortly after Gannaway in the first half but returned in the third quarter. James said Martin twisted his knee but is expected to be fine. Gannaway’s status is pending clarification, James said.
Burnett – who made 20 of his last 25 passes with 362 yards and 7 touchdowns on the night – continued his recent successes by finishing night 15 of 19 for 299 yards and 4 touchdowns.
“He’s done a hell of a job this year,” said James. “We went behind the sticks twice tonight and he made great throws and we had great catches that … kept our momentum going.”
Burnett’s standout target was Senior Robert Hendrix, who had four passes for 83 yards, averaging 20.75 yards per catch. His first three receptions were all touchdown catches from 6, 21 and 44 yards.
For Cabot (6-2, 3-2), the defeat on Friday was one that came off quickly. After halving Bryant’s lead in the second quarter with a Braden Jay touchdown that made the score 14-7, the Hornets ran 4:48 behind the clock before Martin’s only touchdown made the score 21-7.
From there, the Panthers wouldn’t score again until the first game of the final quarter, and by then the Hornets had expanded their lead to 31 points.
“We were kind of beaten,” said Cabot coach Scott Reed. “They took us into space and we lost in some places … We don’t seem to be playing explosive enough games against a team that is doing this well, so we have to do a lot of things right.”
The Panthers had a decent night on the ground, rushing 207 yards as a team. Evion Jimerson had a team lead of 84 yards for 14 carries. Jay, who finished second in receiving yards on Friday, finished the race 58 yards and 2 touchdowns.
