No. 3 North Little Rock 41, Cabot 14
CABOT -- Fourth down and Brown helped give third-ranked North Little Rock the edge it needed to wear down Cabot 41-14 in the 7A/6A-East opener at Panther Stadium on Friday night.
Cabot failed on three fourth-down conversions in the first half and Northern Illinois commitment D.J. Brown led a group of explosive skill players that helped build a big, first-half lead Cabot could not overcome.
"They're a good football team so to do that here at their house -- I'm very pleased with where we're at in all three phases of our game," North Little Rock Coach Brad Bolding said of the Charging Wildcats (3-1, 1-0).
The Charging Wildcats, avenging last season's Class 7A semifinal playoff loss to Cabot, built a 31-7 halftime lead as Brown had an 81-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and a 25-yard touchdown reception and Arkansas commitment K.J. Hill had 2 touchdown catches, 1 for 62 yards, while Cabot went 0 for 3 on fourth-down attempts.
"It didn't go our way tonight," Cabot Coach Mike Malham said. "They've got some weapons boy."
The Panthers finished 2 for 7 on fourth-down attempts, but Malham blamed turnovers and the Charging Wildcats' big plays.
"Usually if we're fourth-and-1 we're going to go for it," he said. "If you can't make a yard you don't deserve it."
Cabot (2-2) scored on Jalen Hemphill's 25-yard run to open the third quarter to make it 31-14 and North Little Rock answered with a 27-yard field goal from Sandy Burks to make 34-14.
A promising Cabot drive ended with a Kolton Eads fumble that Regon Jefferson recovered at the North Little Rock 3 in the closing seconds of the quarter.
The Charging Wildcats, with senior running back Fabian Lewis grinding it out, ended any Cabot hope with a 26-yard touchdown pass from Heath Land to Hill with 9:40 left in the game.
"We put the ball in our playmakers' hands with K.J., D.J. And Fabian," Bolding said. "It creates problems for defenses because you can't stop all of them."
Cabot's best defensive series of the first half was its first, when it forced a punt in three downs, but after kicking it back the Panthers could only watch as North Little Rock's explosiveness began to show.
Hill took a 26-yard touchdown pass over the shoulder from the left-handed Land to open the scoring with 3:10 left. Cabot then fumbled attempting a reverse on the kickoff, leading to Burks' 27-yard field goal that made it 10-0 with 2:14 left in the first quarter.
North Little Rock stuffed Eads on a fourth-and-2 attempt and Land hit Brown for a 25-yard touchdown for the 17-0 lead with 11:52 left in the half. A false start and an incompletion doomed Cabot on another fourth-down conversion attempt, but the Panthers got the ball back -- with help from a penalty that waved off Brown's 83-yard kickoff return for an apparent score -- and finally scored on Eads' 1-yard run with 4:30 left.
But the Wildcats quickly padded their lead when Brown took the kickoff at the 19, weaved through the crowd, waited on blockers and broke several tackles on an 81-yard return to make it 24-7 with 4:14 to go in the half. North Little Rock made it 31-7 when Land hit Hill, who made a fingertip catch in stride, for a 62-yard touchdown completion with 2:05 to go, and Cabot's final possession of the half ended in another failed fourth-down attempt.
NO. 2 CONWAY 45, SILOAM SPRINGS 10
SILOAM SPRINGS — Conway outscored Siloam Springs 38-0 during an 18-minute period spanning the the second and third quarters to roll to a victory at Glenn W. Black Stadium.
The Wampus Cats (4-0, 1-0 7A/6A-Central) rushed for 304 yards on 49 carries and shut down Siloam Springs’ offense for the final 2 1/2 quarters. Siloam Springs (2-2, 0-1) led 10-7 when Parker Baldwin caught a 43-yard touchdown pass from Chris Lampton with 8:51 remaining in the half. The lead didn’t last long. Conway retook the lead with 8:05 to play in the half on Mark Odom’s 32-yard touchdown run and the Wampus Cats would never trail again. Kevin Chamorro rushed for a 10-yard touchdown to make it 21-10, and Matt Cummins caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from Breylin Smith for a 28-10 halftime lead.
Sports on 09/27/2014