By Rob Patrick
BENTON — It’s called a short field. It’s when your team gets possession of the football with less distance to a touchdown than there is to your own end zone. It is certainly an advantage as it proved to be on Tuesday night for the Benton Panthers eighth grade team when they hosted the Bryant White Hornets of Bryant Middle School.
Twice, the Panthers turned short fields into touchdowns as they won 16-0 on a cold, wet night on a muddy field as C.W. Lewis Stadium.[more]
Both teams had three fumbles but the Hornets lost all three and the Panthers retained all three of their own.
The Hornets, who finish the season 3-5, recovered Benton’s onside kick to start the game but were unable to pick up a first down in Panther territory, falling short on a fourth-down play.
In turn, Benton converted an early fourth down and drove to the Bryant 4 where a fourth-down run by quarterback Nick Quinn was stopped short of the goal line. The Hornets took over and pushed their way out to the 16 behind the running of quarterback K.J. Hill and tailback Mark Nelson.
But that’s where they stalled. Three plays later, they faced a fourth-and-10 at their own 16. But, with the rain pelting down and the ball slick, the Hornets coaches disdained the punt and went for it. Hill kept and was brought down for no gain.
Given possession at the Bryant 16, Benton needed just two plays — both 8-yard runs by Chase Shamlin to get to the end zone and take the lead.
Trying to go for 2, the Panthers were twice penalized but, from the 13, Quinn passed to Stone Paul, who just got inside the pylon to convert, making it 8-0 with 1:57 left in the half.
On the ensuing kickoff, a side-winding kick appeared to be headed out of bounds at the 5. But it was touched at the last minute by the Hornets which left them taking possession there.
They were only able to run out the clock.
On the second half kickoff, the Hornets Caleb Chaffin got down a perfect onside kick that jumped up into the face of one of the Panthers front line blockers, bounced off his face mask and into the arms of Bryant’s Drew Tipton.
The fired up Hornets’ offense came onto the field and fullback Rashaan Jones busted a 19-yard run to the Benton 32. It was as close to scoring as the Hornets had been to that point. Two plays later, they faced a third-and-6 at the 28 and Nelson slashed for 12 to the 16.
But, on the next play, Hill and Jones didn’t mesh and the slick ball hit the ground. Benton’s Jared Parker recovered and the Hornets’ best chance to score had been turned aside.
The Panthers drove to the Bryant 45 where, on a third-and-8, Quinn tried to make a pitch that Shamlin couldn’t control. The ball hit the ground and Shamlin recovered but the play lost 10 yards to midfield and the Panthers were forced to punt.
Shamlin got a short kick away but when the Hornets tried to field it, the ball got loose and Marques Lewis recovered for Benton at the Bryant 33.
Behind the running of Shamlin and Paul, the Panthers drove to the 12 where Quinn faked the handoff and threw into the flat to Paul, who broke tackles all along the way into the end zone for a clinching touchdown with 4:25 left to play. Shamlin ran in the two-point conversion and it was 16-0.
Bryant gained hope on the next series when Hill reeled off an 18-yard jaunt to midfield. He got 5 on the next play before a fumbled exchange led to a recovery by Benton’s Jake Edmondson with 2:44 left in the game.
