By Rob Patrick
CABOT — Every possession is precious when you’re playing a Cabot football team. And you can’t afford to get behind. The Panthers will take their time and grind out one first down after another and, if they keep scoring, your chances to catch up just disappear.
Such was the predicament of the Bryant Hornets freshman team on Thursday night. After falling behind 14-0 early, the Hornets rallied but couldn’t quite manage to stop the Junior Panthers of Cabot North enough to complete the comeback. In fact, the Hornets had just one offensive possession in the entire second half, a 69-yard blitzkrieg drive that took just eight plays and 2:26 off the clock as they narrowed the gap to 26-21.[more]
But Cabot North ate up the last 5:30 of the game to extract a victory that made the frustrated freshman Hornets oh-for-Cabot in 2010. Bryant’s only other loss this season was a 20-15 setback against Cabot South on Sept. 30.
The loss probably knocked the Hornets out of contention for a share of the 7A-Central Junior High Conference championship, though they still have contenders North Little Rock and Benton on the schedule to conclude the campaign.
The Hornets only ran five offensive series in Thursday’s game and the scored on three of those. The other two — their first two — however, ended with interceptions. Both times, Cabot North drove for touchdowns.
In fact, the Panthers scored on their first three possessions in the opening half and their first one in the second half — using up the entire third quarter. They amassed 291 yards of offense including 154 yards rushing by Jordan Burke and 100 more by Charlie Hancock.
In turn, Bryant’s Madre London rushed for 146 yards on 16 carries, scoring twice.
The most frustrating thing for the Hornets was that Cabot North wound up converting on four fourth-down plays to keep drives alive. In fact, one of the Panthers’ touchdowns came on a fourth-down play.
Just when they thought they had the Panthers stopped.
Bryant was rolling on the opening possession of the game. London had slashed for 13 and 12 yards. But a long pass into the end zone was picked off by Burke.
From the 20, Cabot inched out to the 48 where, on a second-and-5, one of those typical dive plays broke big. Burke raced 52 yards for a touchdown. Peyton Barger kicked the extra point to make it 7-0.
In turn, the Hornets recovered another onside kick at the midfield and proceded to reach the Cabot North 37. But holding penalties on consecutive plays pushed them back. On a second-and-21 from their own 48, a pass down the middle was picked off by Barger and returned to the 33.
Three plays later, Burke broke through the initial line of defense again and sprinted 49 yards for a touchdown. Barger’s kick made it 14-0.
Another short kick had the Hornets setting up shop with good field position again. This time, they took advantage. London barreled for 16 yards and, after an offsides penalty, he sliced through the Cabot North defense for a 36-yard touchdown. Bryce Denker’s PAT made it 14-7.
In turn, the Hornets defense appeared to have Cabot North in trouble. After the Panthers drove to the 18 of Bryant, quarterback Levi Looney juggled the snap and Denker and Jason Browning crashed through and dropped him for a loss to the 21.
Greyson Giles stuffed a run by Hancock for 1 yard to set up a fourth-and-3 at the 20. It was then that Cabot threw its first pass. Looney swung a play-action throw to Burke in the right flat and the speedy halfback went the distance, 20 yards for a touchdown.
A ray of hope for the Hornets was the fact that the extra point dinged off the right upright no good.
With 2:19 left, Btyant did a fine job of marching for an answering score. Quarterback Wesley Akers hit a 14-yard pass to Luke Howard and, later, a personal foul penalty cost the Panthers. Eventually, Akers rolled left and found Grey Orman for a 7-yard touchdown pass with just 11 seconds left. Denker kicked it to 20-14 at the half.
But Cabot was getting the ball to start the second half and, from their own 36, the Panthers ate up all eight minutes of the third quarter to reach the Bryant 4. Hancock scored on the next snap. Once again, the Hornets appeared to have the drive stopped forcing a fourth-and-9 at the 31 only to have Looney complete a 27-yard pass to Glover Helpernstill at the 4 on the last play of the third quarter.
Bryant’s lone possession of the second half began at its 41. A 20-yard pass from Akers to Giles. London laced his way through the defense for 15 yards and, after Akers’ 14-yard pass to Austin May, London powered into the end zone from the 5. Denker’s kick made it 26-21.
The Hornets tried an onside kick but it didn’t go the necessary 10 yards. Cabot drove to the Bryant 28 as the Hornets tried to preserve time with their timeouts. On a fourth-and-1, the Panthers turned to Burke again who got the first down with a twisting blast to the 26 enabling them to run out the rest of the clock.
CABOT NORTH 26, BRYANT 21
Score by quarters
BRYANT 0 14 0 7 — 21
Cabot North 7 13 0 6 — 26
Scoring summary
First quarter
CABOT NORTH — Burke 52 run (Barger kick), 3:10
Second quarter
CABOT NORTH — Burke 49 run (Barger kick), 6:35
BRYANT — London 36 run (Denker kick), 5:33
CABOT NORTH — Burke 20 pass from Looney (kick failed), 2:29
BRYANT — Orman 7 pass from Akers (Denker kick), 0:11
Fourth quarter
CABOT NORTH — Hancock 4 run (pass failed), 7:56
BRYANT — London 5 run (Denker kick), 5:30
Team stats
Bryant Cabot North
First downs 13 15
Rushes-yds 16-146 34-244
Passing 8-13-2 2-3-0
Passing yds 55 47
Punts-avg 0-00.0 0-00.0
Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0
Penalties-yds 8-60 4-30
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Rushing: BRYANT, London 16-146; CABOT NORTH, Burke 10-154, Hancock 21-100, Looney 3-(-10).
Passing (C-A-I-Y): BRYANT, Akers 8-13-2-55; CABOT NORTH, Looney 2-3-0-47.
Receiving: BRYANT, Giles 3-18, Howard 2-16, May 2-14, Orman 1-7; CABOT NORTH, Helpenstill 1-27, Burke 1-20.
