Big plays and big mistakes let this one get out of hand in a hurry.
The Cabot Panthers capitalized on each in their 44-21 victory over the Little Rock Catholic Rockets at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock on Friday night.
"That game got away from them in the first half because of turnovers, and we had a couple of explosive plays," Cabot Coach Scott Reed said. "You look at the end of the first quarter and see the score [Cabot 20, Catholic 0], it's because of two explosive plays and two turnovers. Four plays made it like that."
Cabot (4-0, 1-0 7A-Central) had the game-opening possession and was stymied early, but on third-and-16 from its 14, senior quarterback Grant Freeman completed a short screen pass to senior receiver Bradon Jay who ran nearly the length of the field for an 86-yard touchdown.
"I knew that was a good play," Freeman said. "I didn't think we were going to score, but Bradon just does Bradon stuff and turns it into a touchdown."
Catholic Coach John Fogleman said Jay's performance was no surprise.
"Jay is a really good football player," he said.
On Catholic's next play from scrimmage, sophomore defensive back Baxter Ross returned an interception 49 yards to the Catholic 1. Two plays later, junior running back Evion Jimerson's 1-yard touchdown run gave Cabot a 13-0 lead with 7:43 left in the first quarter.
Cabot next held Catholic (0-4, 0-1) to a three-and-out, and immediately responded with a 68-yard touchdown pass from Freeman to Jay to lead 20-0.
"Any time I'm in trouble, I definitely look for Bradon because I know he can make the play," Freeman said.
Freeman completed 6 of 11 passes for 173 yards and 3 touchdowns. He did not play beyond 8:44 of the first half.
"Grant Freeman is awesome," Reed said. "He's a great leader and just good to be around. He really pulls for all the other guys."
Luck fell in Cabot's favor early in the second quarter when a 15-yard pass from Freeman bounced off a Catholic defender, Cabot junior receiver Austin Robinson, and into the Catholic end zone and the hands of senior receiver Ashton Shurley. Freeman's third touchdown pass gave Cabot a 27-0 lead.
"The ball just didn't bounce our way tonight," Fogleman said.
Cabot's lead was 34-0 after sophomore linebacker Logan Eason intercepted a pass from Catholic senior quarterback Preston Scott and returned it 23 yards for a touchdown with 4:27 left in the second quarter.
Offensive reserves, led by junior quarterback Abe Owen, set up junior Josh Garcia's 20-yard field goal at the buzzer that gave Cabot a 37-0 halftime lead.
Garcia, called on as a quarantine replacement, was 5 of 6 on extra-point attempts and hit his only field-goal attempt in his second-lifetime football game. It was his first with Cabot's varsity.
"We called on him to try out, and he did a good job," Reed said. "He kicked for us last week in JV, and unfortunately he had to kick for us tonight, but he did a great job."
With the running clock in place, Catholic managed three second-half touchdowns, with a 5-yard pass from Scott to senior receiver Anthony Stephens, a 2-yard run by senior Bruno Lanfranco, and a 3-yard by junior reserve quarterback Sam Sanders.
Scott completed 20 of 34 passes for 184 yards.