The Benton Panthers did just what John Fogleman was worried they'd do, and they started doing it early Friday night.
"They've got some really good receivers," the Little Rock Catholic coach said in reference to Benton. "They've got some really good skill kids, and you know, they do a really good job of getting them the ball."
Less than three minutes into the contest, senior Cameron Harris, hauled in a 29-yard pass from quarterback Stran Smith, and the Panthers never looked back for a 40-7 victory.
Benton (2-1) finished with 482 yards of total offense, and it got its skill players involved, too. In fact, 14 different Benton players got the ball on a play for positive yardage.
The Panthers passed for 217 yards and ran for another 277 to account for five touchdowns.
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HS Football: Catholic vs Benton
Benton beats Little Rock Catholic 40-7 on Friday, Sept. 17, 2021, at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
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The biggest thing for the Panthers, Benton Coach Brad Harris said, was an intention to run the ball early and often.
"We were able to do that early with [Casey Johnson] and [Brandon Johnson] both and, you know, that opens up a lot of other things for us," Harris said.
Casey Johnson finished with 120 yards on 12 carries and added two catches for another 28 yards. Brandon Johnson, who transferred to Benton from Dumas this summer, finished with 100 yards and a touchdown on eight carries, and a 12-yard catch.
"We're excited to have him," Harris said in reference to Brandon Johnson. "He's going to be a good one for us. He's still kind of figuring out how we play, all those things."
Sophomore Chris Barnard also had 28 yards on five carries for the Panthers.
While Benton's ground game out-gained its air attack, the run game, much like Harris said, did set up Benton to do other things -- mainly score.
Four of Benton's five touchdowns in Friday's game came through the air, and Smith finished the night 16 for 20 with 189 yards and 4 touchdowns.
Smith, a senior, transferred to Benton from Monticello this summer, where he threw for more than 1,200 yards as the Billies' quarterback in 2020.
"You get a quarterback like Stran that comes in, that's played at Monticello on Friday nights, that gives you a lot of experience right there," Harris said.
Smith was also one of three quarterbacks to play for Benton on Friday. Cline Hooten and Hudson Chandler, both sophomores, quarterbacked the offense in the second half. Wooten finished 4 for 6 for 21 yards passing and Chandler was 1 for 2 passing for 0 yards.
Receivers Donovan Pearson and Harris also came up big for the Panthers. Harris finished with only four catches, but they combined for 58 yards and three touchdowns. Pearson had five catches for 47 yards and a touchdown. He also had five rushing attempts -- one of which was a 7-yard score called back for a holding penalty -- for 55 yards.
For the Rockets, they finished with 135 total yards of offense, 118 of which were through the air. Their net rushing total in the second half was zero yards.
Fogleman said he thought Catholic (0-3) had made "big, big improvements" from Week 1 to Week 2. However, his team's inexperience showed Friday, he said.
"Sometimes, inexperience, they don't handle success well," Fogleman said. "These guys have to understand the significance of practice and preparation. We're in the best conference in the state and [Benton] came out ready for us.
"We weren't ready. And that's what's gonna be like if we're not good enough to not play at our best."
Rockets quarterback Preston Scott finished 10 for 26 with 118 yards and a touchdown. Running back Joseph Smith led the Rockets in rushing with 23 yards on 11 attempts.