The third quarter belonged to the Cabot Panthers in Friday's 7A-Central Conference opener against Little Rock Catholic.
Cabot used a 15-play, 73-yard drive in the third quarter that resulted in senior John Wiens' 4-yard touchdown run, and the Panthers went on to defeat the Rockets 42-20 at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
The Panthers, who led 14-13 at halftime, held a 21-13 advantage when they started their second drive of the second half at their 27 with 8:56 remaining in the third quarter. From there, Cabot had three third-down conversions and junior Brad Morales ran 2 yards on fourth-and-1 from the Catholic 46 to give the Panthers a first down at the Rockets 44.
A 15-yard personal foul on Catholic after senior Ayden Shurley's run of 1 yard gave Cabot a first down at the Rockets 23. Four plays later, Wiens dove into the end zone to give the Panthers a 28-13 advantage with 23 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
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Mike Malham, who won his 294th game as a head coach since arriving at Cabot in 1981, saw the Panthers work his Dead-T offensive scheme to success on the long third-quarter drive, which spanned 8:33 and gave his team a two-possession lead.
"It keeps their offense dying over there of old age," Malham said. "That's what it's all about."
In the third quarter, Cabot (3-1, 1-0 7A-Central) ran 20 plays to Catholic's six.
"The third quarter was the difference," Catholic Coach John Fogleman said.
Catholic pulled within 28-20 with 7:56 to play on senior Luke Schildknecht's 1-yard run. But Cabot responded in a two-play, 15-second drive to extend its lead to 35-20. Junior T.J. Rogers ran 76 yards to the Catholic 20, and Morales scored from 4 yards out on the next play with 7:41 remaining.
Rogers added a 55-yard touchdown run to make it 42-20 Cabot with 3:16 left. He had a game-high 164 rushing yards and 1 touchdown on 10 carries.
Morales rushed for 159 yards and 2 touchdowns on 17 carries. He had a 68-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.
Morales is looking ahead to the Panthers' future instead of looking back at his performance Friday.
"We're ready to get to work Monday," Morales said. "We want to get better, get faster and stronger, and get ready for Friday [against Fort Smith Southside]."
Junior quarterback Tommy Oaks completed all three of his passes, finishing with 38 yards and a 16-yard touchdown pass to Wiens in the third quarter.
Cabot finished with 394 yards offensively, including 356 rushing.
"Morales and T.J. are fast. Tommy is pretty quick," Malham said. "The offensive line did a good job. We did what we liked to do."
Catholic (2-2, 0-1) was led by junior running back Samy Johnson, who rushed for 122 yards and 1 touchdown, a 3-yard score in the first quarter. He also caught two passes for 29 yards. Schildknecht had 76 yards on 19 carries. Senior quarterback Jake James completed 11 of 21 passes for 166 yards with 1 interception.
Senior kicker Chris Elser made field goals of 22 and 35 yards for the Rockets.
Sports on 09/23/2017