The 2010 football season finally kicked off last Thursday night with the renewal of the White River Bowl shootout between Newport and Batesville.
Unfortunately for Coach Greg Brannon, the game went as he was afraid it would as injuries, fatigue and the sheer size of the Pioneers eventually wore out his squad as Batesville pulled away for a 41-14 victory.
Newport scored on a one-yard run by senior Quadarius Ross right before halftime to trim a 21-0 Batesville lead to 21-7 at intermission.
The upbeat lockerroom was tempered somewhat as senior All-State tailback/defensive back Artez Brown iced an injured ankle and his availability for the outmanned Greyhounds became more uncertain.
Brown, the Ole Miss commitment, returned to the field in the third quarter before it became obvious his night should soon be finished.
With only 30 players on the roster, a number of players were required to play on both sides of the ball which led to cramping issues for a number of Greyhounds.
But in the end, Brannon noted, Batesville was just too big and deep for his Hounds.
“That is a good football team over there,” he explained, “they may have a shot at a state championship. Batesville may very well be the best team we see all year.”
He continued, “We played well, our kids fought through some adversity and kept playing hard. We didn’t give up and I’m real proud of our team.”
Two touchdown runs by Batesville’s Jordan Childress - 3 and 14-yards - put the Pioneers up 14-0 one play into the second quarter.
Daron Stigger added a 16-yard touchdown run with 6:57 to go in the first half.
Following a Newport punt, momentum seemed to swing to the Hound sideline as Ross recovered a Batesville fumble and an unsportsmanlike penalty against Batesville pushed the ball to mid-field for the hosts.
Ross’s one-yard burst into the endzone capped off a 10-play drive to trim the lead to 21-7 at the half.
Newport got the ball to start the second half and moved into Batesville territory before their opening drive stalled and Travis Linvell’s punt pinned the Pioneers down at their own 10-yard line.
However, Stigger broke the hearts of the Greyhounds fans and may have sealed Newport’s fate as he broke through a tackle at the 15-yard line and race to the Greyhound one-yard line where he was dragged down by senior Devante Neal.
Neal raced across the field chasing down the Pioneer ballcarrier to prevent the touchdown and the Newport defense seemed to respond to his effort as two short rushes by the Batesville offense came up short. However, quarterback Colton Bailey scored on a third-down quarterback sneak and a two-point conversion to push the lead to 29-7.
An 18-yard, fourth-down pass from quarterback Michael Reynolds to Neal cut the lead to 29-14 at the end of the third quarter.
However, Batesville added 12 fourth quarter points - a 34-yard field goal by Roberto Jiminez, a safety and a touchdown run by Jake Russell - for the final margin.
“We were afraid, going in, that Batesville would wear us down in the fourth quarter and I think that showed up,” said Brannon.
Despite missing most of the second half, Brown led the Newport offense with 75 yards on only eight carries. Jaylon McCoy added 35 yards on six totes while Reynolds and Ross had 26 yards each rushing. Taylor added 22 yards and Neal had 17 on the ground.
Reynolds, making his first start, was 4 of 11 passing for 71 yards and no interceptions to go with one touchdown.
Grant Black was one of four players with a catch as he hauled in a 38-yard pass from Reynolds. Neal had an 18-yard touchdown. McCoy caught an 8-yard pass and Denzell Taylor had a 7-yard reception.
Junior linebacker Kordre Traylor and junior defensive end Jacoby Williams led the Newport defense with eight tackles each. McCoy and Ross had six tackles each while Neal added five stops. Chris Grady and Bryson Schulz added four stops while Brown had three. Senior Kaeton Mears, Ian Edwards, Taylor and David Williams had two tackles while Reynolds, Deshawn Binkley, Black, Billy Ellis, Ira Crite and Maurice Killingsworth all had one stop.
Newport will return to action this Friday night as they host Bald Knob in the second of three non-conference games.
The Bulldogs, coming off a 4A state semi-final appearance in 2009, dropped a classification down to 3A in 2010 but defeated Pocahontas in their opener last week.
The outmanned Greyhounds could face another challenge besides the Bulldogs in week two as sources have confirmed that 13 players have fallen victim to the athletic department’s new character building program.
The program, designed to increase accountability for student-athletes in both the classroom and athletic field, requires that each person participating in extra-curricular activities maintain a 65 average in their class work. The grade requirements went into effect this week and nearly half of the senior high squad fell victim.
While Brannon and the Greyhounds will apparently take to the field without a number of key components, Junior high coach Josh Austin finds himself facing similar conditions as half - 25 - of his 50-man roster will miss tonight’s contest with Jonesboro MacArthur.
“It makes it tough on the coaches and the kids who are doing what they are supposed to be doing,” Austin said. “I was kind of nervous the tail end of last week and Monday because I knew that it was starting this week but now that it has come down and I know what I’m playing with, we are getting down to business and getting ready for MacArthur.”
The grades of the athletes are checked weekly by the coaching staff and any punishment is week-to-week.
“We hope that by sitting these kids down they now know that we are serious about this and they will get their acts together,” said Austin.
Kick-off is set for 7:30 p.m. the Greyhounds at Greyhound Field, while the Newport Greypups will be on the road at Jonesboro with a 7 p.m. kickoff tonight.
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The 2010 football season finally kicked off last Thursday night with the renewal of the White River Bowl shootout between Newport and Batesville.
Unfortunately for Coach Greg Brannon, the game went as he was afraid it would as injuries, fatigue and the sheer size of the Pioneers eventually wore out his squad as Batesville pulled away for a 41-14 victory.
Newport scored on a one-yard run by senior Quadarius Ross right before halftime to trim a 21-0 Batesville lead to 21-7 at intermission.
The upbeat lockerroom was tempered somewhat as senior All-State tailback/defensive back Artez Brown iced an injured ankle and his availability for the outmanned Greyhounds became more uncertain.
Brown, the Ole Miss commitment, returned to the field in the third quarter before it became obvious his night should soon be finished.
With only 30 players on the roster, a number of players were required to play on both sides of the ball which led to cramping issues for a number of Greyhounds.
But in the end, Brannon noted, Batesville was just too big and deep for his Hounds.
“That is a good football team over there,” he explained, “they may have a shot at a state championship. Batesville may very well be the best team we see all year.”
He continued, “We played well, our kids fought through some adversity and kept playing hard. We didn’t give up and I’m real proud of our team.”
Two touchdown runs by Batesville’s Jordan Childress - 3 and 14-yards - put the Pioneers up 14-0 one play into the second quarter.
Daron Stigger added a 16-yard touchdown run with 6:57 to go in the first half.
Following a Newport punt, momentum seemed to swing to the Hound sideline as Ross recovered a Batesville fumble and an unsportsmanlike penalty against Batesville pushed the ball to mid-field for the hosts.
Ross’s one-yard burst into the endzone capped off a 10-play drive to trim the lead to 21-7 at the half.
Newport got the ball to start the second half and moved into Batesville territory before their opening drive stalled and Travis Linvell’s punt pinned the Pioneers down at their own 10-yard line.
However, Stigger broke the hearts of the Greyhounds fans and may have sealed Newport’s fate as he broke through a tackle at the 15-yard line and race to the Greyhound one-yard line where he was dragged down by senior Devante Neal.
Neal raced across the field chasing down the Pioneer ballcarrier to prevent the touchdown and the Newport defense seemed to respond to his effort as two short rushes by the Batesville offense came up short. However, quarterback Colton Bailey scored on a third-down quarterback sneak and a two-point conversion to push the lead to 29-7.
An 18-yard, fourth-down pass from quarterback Michael Reynolds to Neal cut the lead to 29-14 at the end of the third quarter.
However, Batesville added 12 fourth quarter points - a 34-yard field goal by Roberto Jiminez, a safety and a touchdown run by Jake Russell - for the final margin.
“We were afraid, going in, that Batesville would wear us down in the fourth quarter and I think that showed up,” said Brannon.
Despite missing most of the second half, Brown led the Newport offense with 75 yards on only eight carries. Jaylon McCoy added 35 yards on six totes while Reynolds and Ross had 26 yards each rushing. Taylor added 22 yards and Neal had 17 on the ground.
Reynolds, making his first start, was 4 of 11 passing for 71 yards and no interceptions to go with one touchdown.
Grant Black was one of four players with a catch as he hauled in a 38-yard pass from Reynolds. Neal had an 18-yard touchdown. McCoy caught an 8-yard pass and Denzell Taylor had a 7-yard reception.
Junior linebacker Kordre Traylor and junior defensive end Jacoby Williams led the Newport defense with eight tackles each. McCoy and Ross had six tackles each while Neal added five stops. Chris Grady and Bryson Schulz added four stops while Brown had three. Senior Kaeton Mears, Ian Edwards, Taylor and David Williams had two tackles while Reynolds, Deshawn Binkley, Black, Billy Ellis, Ira Crite and Maurice Killingsworth all had one stop.
Newport will return to action this Friday night as they host Bald Knob in the second of three non-conference games.
The Bulldogs, coming off a 4A state semi-final appearance in 2009, dropped a classification down to 3A in 2010 but defeated Pocahontas in their opener last week.
The outmanned Greyhounds could face another challenge besides the Bulldogs in week two as sources have confirmed that 13 players have fallen victim to the athletic department’s new character building program.
The program, designed to increase accountability for student-athletes in both the classroom and athletic field, requires that each person participating in extra-curricular activities maintain a 65 average in their class work. The grade requirements went into effect this week and nearly half of the senior high squad fell victim.
While Brannon and the Greyhounds will apparently take to the field without a number of key components, Junior high coach Josh Austin finds himself facing similar conditions as half - 25 - of his 50-man roster will miss tonight’s contest with Jonesboro MacArthur.
“It makes it tough on the coaches and the kids who are doing what they are supposed to be doing,” Austin said. “I was kind of nervous the tail end of last week and Monday because I knew that it was starting this week but now that it has come down and I know what I’m playing with, we are getting down to business and getting ready for MacArthur.”
The grades of the athletes are checked weekly by the coaching staff and any punishment is week-to-week.
“We hope that by sitting these kids down they now know that we are serious about this and they will get their acts together,” said Austin.
Kick-off is set for 7:30 p.m. the Greyhounds at Greyhound Field, while the Newport Greypups will be on the road at Jonesboro with a 7 p.m. kickoff tonight.
