Bryant takes 2022 Shootout of the South crown

By Kyle Sutherland | Photos by Jimmy Jones

Great defense along with a clutch, last-second touchdown drive led by quarterback Gideon Motes helped Bryant defeat Conway 15-4 in the 22nd Shootout of the South 7-on-7 tournament Saturday evening at Joe B. Hatcher Stadium on the campus of Pulaski Academy. The victory avenged a controversial 42-35 loss a few games earlier in the Akels Carpet One Regional Finals. 

This was the first time since 2019 that two Arkansas teams clashed in the finals and also the last time Bryant won the tournament trophy defeating Vilonia.

Late in the game, Motes had thrown two interceptions after leading Bryant to a touchdown on the opening drive. With the clock winding down and Bryant leading 7-4, he got the job done when it mattered most and threw a beautiful ball hitting Donald Miller on a corner route inside the five-yard line where Miller was touched with 48 seconds remaining.

On the following play, Motes found James Martin for the score extending Bryant’s lead to 15-4 essentially putting the game away.

Motes, a 2024 Arkansas baseball commit, was banged up last season but is at full strength after a full season of baseball. He acknowledged that he gained some great experience over the course of two days after getting the most reps of any Hornet quarterback and establishing a good rapport with the other offensive players has been beneficial.

“[I feel like] just being a leader and communicating with my players,” Motes said. “[Offensive coordinator Kirk Bock], he does not care what we do as long as me and the receivers are on the same page, so just me and the receivers have open communication each and every play about what we want to do. You can see pre-snap they will look over and we will just be talking and communicating.”

Bryant head coach Buck James has made it clear that the competition for the team’s third starting quarterback in as many years is completely open as of now, and he liked what he saw from his signal callers during the tournament.

“I thought all our quarterbacks got better, you know Gideon got the most reps, but I really like Jordan Walker, I think he is going to be a great player,” James said. “They both have to make decisions better, and they have to make them faster. Gideon got on a roll, he did good and that is what we expect. He has more experience, I thought he did a good job, and I thought our receivers did a nice job.”

Though Conway played well overall defensively snagging those two interceptions, Bryant was able to keep the Wampus Cats and 2021 SBLive Arkansas Sophomore of the Year Donovyn Omolo from doing any major damage offensively.

The Hornets’ defense, particularly the backend, is expected to be possibly the state’s best in 2022 with everybody coming back and received plenty of praise from James after not allowing Conway to score a touchdown.

“To be able to hold them to four points in a championship game is amazing,” James said. “With good football teams, you have got to have great defense and our defense played outstanding this weekend.”

James’ style is more of a balanced attack “running it 25 times and throwing it 25 or 30 times a game,” but his team was able to adjust to getting comfortable throwing. That helped them add yet another trophy to the Hornet’s continuously growing case and also the skill players earn valuable reps.

“They learned the plays, and they learned how to read their routes, and I think that is probably the thing that we did the worst on,” James said. “Nobody can see that but we blew routes almost every play and we have got to get better at that. Sometimes the quarterback looks bad because somebody else did not do what they were supposed to do, we have got things we have to correct on both sides of the ball.’

“We got 250 reps yesterday, and I bet we got every bit of that today, so you are looking at a 500-rep weekend. You cannot get that for free, you cannot go out to practice and get 500 reps against this kind of competition, so that gives us a chance to improve and get better. That is really what it is about.”

Keller (Texas) won the Lumber One Home Center Consolation Bracket on Saturday after taking home the championship in 2022.

The semifinal round featured Arkansas teams across the board as Bryant defeated Pulaski Academy Gold 28-15 while Conway took down Catholic 34-21.

Motes won the Top Gun Award as the tournament’s top quarterback, while Bryant’s Mytorian Singleton was named Outstanding Wide Receiver, and Conway’s Quadrell Wilson earned Outstanding Defensive Player.

Full results of the tournament are available on Shootout of the South’s Facebook and Twitter pages.