7A championship game: North Little Rock vs. Bryant | Noon | Saturday | War Memorial Stadium, Little Rock (https://sterlingimageworks.com/)
Bryant is going for its third consecutive state championship this Saturday and is facing a familiar opponent in North Little Rock.
The two teams play in the 7A Central and Bryant won the regular season matchup, 58-21, in October. Bryant beat North Little Rock in the last three state championship games, while this is North Little Rock’s fifth consecutive title game appearance, in a tradition that was started by former coach Jamie Mitchell, who guided the ‘Cats to the state title in 2017, the first for the school in the modern era of the playoffs.
Records: North Little Rock, 11-1; Bryant 12-0 Rankings: Bryant is No. 1 in Class 7A in the hootens.com high school football poll, while North Little Rock is No. 2 Last meeting: Oct. 30, Bryant 58, North Little Rock 21 Tickets: Can be purchased online at https://gofan.co/app/events/173295?schoolId=AAA Broadcast: Arkansas PBS
First-year North Little Rock coach J.R. Eldridge is no stranger to state championship games as he took his Arkadelphia Badgers to the 4A title game last season. But Bryant is Bryant and going at full boil as the Hornets dominated North Little Rock earlier this season as they racked up 992 all-purpose yards as the Saline County standouts have only been seriously challenged once this season, when they defeated Cedar Hill Trinity Christian, Texas 44-40.
As for North Little Rock, the ‘Cats are averaging a little more than 40 points a game, and senior quarterback Kareme Cotton is the playmaker that makes the offense go. North Little Rock beat Cabot, 49-42, last Friday to make the state championship game and Eldridge told Kyle Sutherland with Rock Town Sports, “we’ve been talking for the last couple of weeks about having a good second half. We felt like we haven’t particularly been a good third quarter team, we knew it would be 0-0 and had to win the second half.” North Little Rock won the half, and it was Cotton that sealed the win when he sprinted 32 yards for the final touchdown with just 17 seconds remaining. “Shocking man, nerve racking really,” he said of the literal last second score. “Just knowing I did what I could to help this team win.”
Cotton, no stranger to having big games, might have had the best performance of his career as he accounted for six touchdowns and 448 yards of total offense.
“Kareame, I just felt like he took it to another level tonight,” Eldridge said. “He did some great things in the first half, but the second he just took over and made some huge plays down the stretch.” Both Bryant and North Little Rock are healthy for the title game and hootens.com has Bryant as the 30-point favorite.
Sports: North Little Rock, Bryant meet, again
Sports: North Little Rock, Bryant meet, again
Sports: North Little Rock, Bryant meet, again
Bryant is going for its third consecutive state championship this Saturday and is facing a familiar opponent in North Little Rock.
The two teams play in the 7A Central and Bryant won the regular season matchup, 58-21, in October. Bryant beat North Little Rock in the last three state championship games, while this is North Little Rock’s fifth consecutive title game appearance, in a tradition that was started by former coach Jamie Mitchell, who guided the ‘Cats to the state title in 2017, the first for the school in the modern era of the playoffs.
First-year North Little Rock coach J.R. Eldridge is no stranger to state championship games as he took his Arkadelphia Badgers to the 4A title game last season.
But Bryant is Bryant and going at full boil as the Hornets dominated North Little Rock earlier this season as they racked up 992 all-purpose yards as the Saline County standouts have only been seriously challenged once this season, when they defeated Cedar Hill Trinity Christian, Texas 44-40.
As for North Little Rock, the ‘Cats are averaging a little more than 40 points a game, and senior quarterback Kareme Cotton is the playmaker that makes the offense go.
North Little Rock beat Cabot, 49-42, last Friday to make the state championship game and Eldridge told Kyle Sutherland with Rock Town Sports, “we’ve been talking for the last couple of weeks about having a good second half. We felt like we haven’t particularly been a good third quarter team, we knew it would be 0-0 and had to win the second half.”
North Little Rock won the half, and it was Cotton that sealed the win when he sprinted 32 yards for the final touchdown with just 17 seconds remaining.
“Shocking man, nerve racking really,” he said of the literal last second score. “Just knowing I did what I could to help this team win.”
Cotton, no stranger to having big games, might have had the best performance of his career as he accounted for six touchdowns and 448 yards of total offense.
“Kareame, I just felt like he took it to another level tonight,” Eldridge said. “He did some great things in the first half, but the second he just took over and made some huge plays down the stretch.”
Both Bryant and North Little Rock are healthy for the title game and hootens.com has Bryant as the 30-point favorite.
Cabot-North Little Rock photos by Jaison Sterling can be viewed here