It may have been homecoming for Little Rock Southwest, but Cabot made itself plenty comfortable at Gryphon Stadium in Little Rock on Thursday night.
The fifth-ranked Panthers got three touchdown passes from quarterback Abe Owen to power their way to a convincing 41-0 victory.
Owen, a 6-0 senior, also ran for a score for Cabot (4-1, 2-0 7A-Central), which has eclipsed 30 points in each of its four wins on the season. But it took just one half for the Panthers to reach that point total and essentially ruin Southwest's festivities.
Cabot stormed out to a 34-0 lead after two quarters and coasted thereafter.
"Efficient is a good word for this one," Cabot Coach Scott Reed said. "We didn't have any turnovers and hardly had any penalties, either. It was a pretty clean game for us. I kind of challenged them to play at our level, and I thought the guys did.
"Honestly, Southwest competed hard, too. They're on the way up. It takes a while. But I was just really pleased with the way our kids handled business."
The Panthers handled things on both sides of the ball to remain perfect in conference play.
Owen didn't pass much, but he was effective when he did. He finished 6 of 8 for 56 yards, with both of his incompletions coming on pass break-ups.
Three running backs had more than 40 yards rushing as well for Cabot. Evion Jimerson carried 8 times for 60 yards and a touchdown, while Owen Horn added 47 yards on 8 carries and a score. Keegan Vest also had 45 yards on 8 attempts.
Defensively, the Panthers allowed less than 100 yards of offense and never let their league counterparts cross midfield.
Southwest (1-4, 0-2) has now been outscored 144-31 in its past three games since knocking off Rogers Heritage 30-29 on Sept. 9. But self-inflicted wounds hurt its chances Thursday night.
Cabot didn't have to travel far on any of its five first-half scoring possessions. The Panthers' average starting field position was the Gryphons' 36 due to a myriad of mistakes.
The Panthers recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff at the Southwest 22 and scored five plays later when Owen found Austin Robertson for a 1-yard touchdown with 9:58 to go in the first quarter.
The Gryphons had a punt partially blocked on their next possession, which set up Cabot at Southwest's 37. Jimerson would eventually score from 4 yards out to push the Panthers' lead to 13-0.
The next three Southwest drives ended with 12-, 20- and 23-yard punts, all of which landed deep in its territory. The short kicks also led directly to Cabot scores, with Owen sprinting in for a 7-yard touchdown with 10:18 remaining in the second quarter before connecting with Hayes Cox on a 23-yard score a little more than three minutes later.
Owen would throw his third touchdown pass -- a 7-yarder -- to Gavin Reardon with 3:58 showing to give Cabot its 34-point halftime lead.
"You always kind of worry that things can go wrong," Reed said. "But our group has been pretty mature with the way they've handled things. They've been mature-acting, and they showed it again."
Cabot put the finishing touches on the rout in the third quarter on Horn's 1-yard touchdown with 34 seconds left.
"I'm sure I'll watch some film and find a couple of things that we can do better," Reed said with a smile. "But I really, really pleased with our kids. It was a nice atmosphere, great place to play."
