With Northside being off last week, it gave coach Mike Falleur and his staff a chance to scout this week’s opponent.

And undoubtedly, they came away impressed with what they saw.

That team, No. 1 overall ranked and defending 7A state champion Bryant, comes to Mayo-Thompson Stadium on Friday night in the 7A-Central opener.

“We went and watched them play against Fayetteville (last week) and they have everything that you want to have to have a great football team,” Falleur said.

“They have big linemen, talented linemen, they have very talented skill people, their quarterback (Austin Ledbetter, a junior) is very good. ... He’s as good a quarterback as I’ve seen play this year all around. Defensively, they’re big, physical, they tackle well, they play man-to-man, they force you to try and do some things.”

The Hornets also had senior tailback Ahmad Adams have a big game last week against Fayetteville, rushing for 176 yards and three touchdowns in a game Bryant led 21-0 before the first quarter expired.

Falleur added the Hornets have size and depth on their defensive front seven, led by outside linebacker Catrell Wallace, a 6-foot-6 210-pound senior who is committed to play at the University of Arkansas.

“They have us in the line of scrimmages; they have bigger players,” Falleur said. “They probably go across the board on offense from 6-(foot) 3 to 6-5, 280 (pounds); we go probably 6-foot, if that tall, and 230, 240. And when you look at their defensive line, those guys are 240, 250, 260, our guys are 230, 220, whatever.

“Now it doesn’t always mean the big guy wins, but we’ve got to play good and we can’t turn the ball over, we’ve got to try to keep in on offense and then defensively, we’ve got to make them earn what they get, which was what we did in both games last year until late in the second half in the semifinal game.”

Falleur was referring to the fact that the Grizzlies played the Hornets twice last season, both games in Bryant. The regular-season game was shortened due to inclement weather, with Bryant being awarded the win; then the two teams had a rematch in the 7A semifinals, with the Hornets pulling away in the second half for the win en route to winning state the following week.

“They have the ability to rotate people on defense unlike most people; where we’ve got three, four, maybe five defensive linemen that we think can play at that level, they’ve got two full groups that they just roll in there every two or three plays,” Falleur said. “Same thing at linebacker, so they have that advantage on a lot of people that they have a lot of depth.

“It’s a big school, and right now they’ve got a lot of really good football players.”

Bryant’s defense will definitely pose a challenge to Northside’s rebuilt offense, featuring a new quarterback (junior Dreyden Norwood), two sophomore running backs (Seth Fields and Ty Massey) and four new starters up front.

“I think they’ve all gotten better; they’ve progressed each week but now there’s a difference,” Falleur said. “This is a whole other level caliber of people we’re going to play against, so they’re going to have to up their game a notch just like everybody else is.

“I think our sophomore running backs have done a good job, I think Dreyden’s done a good job and he’s gotten better every week. ... Our offensive line’s got to be ready, it’s going to be their biggest challenge by far.”


Falleur added the bye week came at a great time, which allowed the players to heal up along with getting in more work than normal focusing on playing Bryant.

“We’re going to have to play extremely well to be able to stay in the ballgame. ... They’re as good a football team as we’ve played,” Falleur said.

Norwood leads the Grizzlies with 205 yards rushing and five TDs, and has thrown for 153 yards and two TDs.

Fields has 148 yards rushing and two TDs, while senior Jackson King — who is expected to return after suffering a mild concussion two weeks ago against Van Buren — has caught seven passes for 107 yards and two TDs.

On defense, the four leading tacklers all play linebacker. J.J. Mills has 26 stops, Stetson Van Matre 16, Conley Bone 15 and Glenn Brewer 14. Bone and Van Matre each have three sacks as well, while Mills has four tackles for loss.


