Salt Bowl X
Thirty-sixth meeting will be exciting
MARTIN COUCH Sports Editor

When the Benton Panthers and the Bryant Hornets meet for the 35th consecutive year, there will be more than just the community pride on the line.

This year is the 10th anniversary of the Salt Bowl, which will again be played at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock on Sept. 2 at 7:30 p.m. It will mark the 36th time the two teams have played football, marking their annual meeting as one of the fiercest arch rivalries in high school football.

"We're very excited about this year," said Sen. Shane Broadway of Bryant. "The game in the last three years, we've had over 20,000 fans at each game and we expect a lot more this year."

Benton leads the series between the two teams 24-10-1, however Bryant has won six of the last nine games including two in a row. Last year, the Hornets defeated the Panthers 25-7.

"It's a special week," Broadway continued at the first of two press conferences held for the Salt Bowl. "Tuesday night right here at War Memorial Stadium, the first week that high school football can be played this year in the state of Arkansas, it will be in a sense the opening night. On Saturday, the University of Arkansas will play the University of Louisiana Monroe here and celebrating the 60th anniversary of War Memorial Stadium. We're honored to be a part of that. It's a historic stadium."

Bryant will be the home team this year and its fans will sit on the west side of the stadium. Benton fans will sit on the east side. The sponsors of this year's Salt Bowl are Big Red Valero; Region's Bank; Sonic; Everett Buick-Pontiac-GMC; Coca- Cola; Bryant Fitness Zone; Bryant Area Chamber of Commerce; Benton Area Chamber of Commerce; and the Saline County Economic Development Corporation.

Tickets are $5 for all ages and available at Big Red Valero.

"It's a great atmosphere that comes in the same style as the Razorbacks," Broadway said. "It's a big deal for these kids to come together in a great football game."

Tickets, the official Salt Bowl Tshirt and a 32-page media guide will be on sale at Big Red Valero and at the gate the day of the game.

"We appreciate the War Memorial Stadium staff for giving these guys a chance to play on the such a huge platform," said Benton Pan- thers head coach Marcus Jones. "It gets bigger and bigger every year. This is a situation where we're getting better as a football team and when the kids get a chance to play at War Memorial Stadium."

COACHES KEVIN NAGLE PHOTO Left, Benton Panthers head coach Marcus Jones and, right, Bryant head coach Paul Calley square off for the cameras.

Jones is 3-6 against Bryant entering his ninth season as the Panthers' head coach.

"This is where you want to start your season, in the biggest rivalry game in the state of Arkansas," Jones said. "It's given the players a chance to come out there for a practice and play a game with 20,000 people watching. It turns into a great situation for the whole community. It's a shame that every Friday night in every town and community around the state, those games don't have 20,000 to 25,000 people for a game. They don't know how important it is for these kids to see that many people sitting in the stands."

Panther senior Colby Roberts said that the Salt Bowl could make a season.

"It really makes our season and tells us how we're going to do this year," Roberts said at the press conference in the Razorback Room at War Memorial Stadium. "Benton and Bryant is a great rivalry and it gets our season going. We're excited about it."

SALT BOWL KEVIN NAGLE PHOTO Austin Sams (9), Colby Roberts (25) and Coach Marcus Jones of Benton pose with Bryant's Paul Calley, Aspen Trevino (33) and Dylan Chism (22) during a press conference.

His teammate and fellow senior Austin Sams noted the importance of winning the rivalry game.

"This is a really important game for us," Sams said. "It gives us a chance to show how good we're going to be and it's something that gives us a goal in practice to get better. To play in front of 25,000 people is going to be fun."

The coaches and players will also be on hand for the second press conference held Wednesday at Everett's.

The Salt Bowl will also hold the first golf tourna- ment on Sept. 1 at Longhills Golf Club in Benton and "Arkansas' largest high school tailgate party" will be held in conjunction with the Salt Bowl from 5:30 p.m. to game time.

"This game gets bigger and bigger every year with the media coverage," said Bryant head football coach Paul Calley.

"We're getting so much media attention and that's good for the kids, but it also puts pressure on them. This game has a playoff-type atmosphere. It really didn't hit me last year until we pulled up to the tailgate party and we had to walk through a mass of people to get to the dressing room. My kids were getting mobbed and it was a neat experience. It doesn't matter what the records were last year."

Calley said the Hornets have been filling spots for 17 graduated seniors.

"We're going to be young, but we have a good group and they work hard," Calley said. "I appreciate everything they do. They are good kids on top of that and we are looking forward to the Salt Bowl."

Senior running back for the Hornets Aspen Trevino scored two touchdowns last year for Bryant.

"During the spring game we unfortunately lost our starting quarterback, but Jimi Easterling hopefully will fill that spot," Trevino said. "Since that's the case our receivers are going to have to step up and so are the running backs. If we can do that we can pull off a good season."

Senior linebacker Dylan Chism talked about the Hornets defense.

"We have three returning starters in Dijon Benton, Austin Humbard and myself," Chism said. "We have a lot of juniors and sophomore stepping up and doing a good job."

Before the game, Benton and Bryant peewee football teams will be introduced and recognized on the field.

Honorary captains for the game are State Representative Lamont Cornwell of Benton and State Representative Janet Johnson of Bryant, both serving in their final year in the Arkansas Legislature.

The Bryant ROTC will present the colors for the game.

Game time is 7:30 p.m.