CABOT -- Conway Coach Clint Ashcraft felt like he had run out of things to tell his team this week.
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With the Wampus Cats entering Friday night winless in their first five games -- four of those losses were decided by nine points or less -- he felt there was only one way to get out of their skid.
"Words lose their oomph," Ashcraft said. "We just told them we're going to quit talking about it, and we just have to go out and do it."
Even after falling into an early two-touchdown deficit, the Wampus Cats did it on the field Friday night, scoring the game's final five touchdowns and adding a fourth-quarter safety to upset unbeaten and overall No. 2 Cabot 37-14 at Panther Stadium.
Kip Vanhoose, McCall Dall and Michael George each ran for touchdowns and sophomore Jovoni Johnson threw two touchdown passes in his first start for Conway (1-5, 1-2 7A-West).
Jarrod Barnes, who has committed to play for Arkansas, scored on a 1-yard run and threw a 30-yard touchdown to Collin Thames to put Cabot (5-1, 2-1) up 14-0 after the first quarter. But the Panthers were held to 94 yards after that, and held scoreless over their final eight drives.
Barnes left for a drive in the third quarter after injuring his right ankle on a kickoff return. He returned, but was limited, Coach Mike Malham said, and was seen after the game with an ice pack on his ankle. But Malham wouldn't use that as a reason his team lost.
"They came over here and took it to us," Malham said. "Nothing else to say about it. They have some good offensive linemen and some good running backs and physically, they were just whooping our butts."
Ashcraft credited his linemen and running backs for turning the game.
Conway was held to 11 total yards while punting after its first two drives. It went 60 yards in 11 plays and Vanhoose's 1-yard run made it 14-7. Then, after forcing a punt, the Wampus Cats went 63 yards in 12 plays and Johnson's 6-yard pass to Jack Pillow tied it at 14-14 at halftime.
George's 12-yard run around right end capped a 56-yard drive in which he gained the final 31 yards on the ground to put the Wampus Cats up 21-14. Barnes, who was injured on the opening kickoff of the third quarter, returned two drives later. But a snap went over his head and Conway's Kawon Green recovered on Cabot's 18. Vanhoose went around right end on the first play to make it 28-14.
Conway added one final touchdown when Johnson lofted a pass to Marquise Pleasant down the left sideline to make it 35-14.
George finished with 81 yards to lead Conway, which had 154 yards rushing as a team.
Cabot was held to 114 yards rushing, 57 coming from Barnes, and 188 yards total.
"We just started playing harder and kids started getting tot he football and playing with more effort," Ashcraft said. "It always takes a series or two to get used to what they're doing. It's so fast. You can't simulate it."
Cabot made things hard on itself, too. It lost a fumble that Conway turned into a touchdown, and there was an interception that the Wampus Cats turned into a score. Also, after Conway's final touchdown, Cabot failed to recover a squib quick and Conway fell on it.
"I don't know if we weren't ready to play or if they were just that much better," Malham said. "Hopefully we'll come back next Friday and play a little bit better."
Sports on 10/08/2016