QB Brown driving Benton offensively
Benton Coach Brad Harris marveled at how sharp and precise quarterback Garrett Brown looked during preseason workouts.
On Friday night, Van Buren witnessed what Harris has seen for months.
The senior completed 30 of 46 passes for 453 yards and 4 touchdowns to carry the Panthers to a 60-53 victory in a game Benton needed after losing its previous two contests by a combined 31 points.
Brown did his part in ensuring the Panthers didn’t drop a third in a row.
“We had a few slip-ups, but we just knew we’d be able to keep up with [Van Buren],” said Brown, who was named the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette player of the week. “Van Buren has a good offense, and our defense held up sometimes. But for the most part, we as an offense felt like we were good enough to go score on almost every drive.”
On a night when the Panthers rushed for 239 yards, Brown managed to hurt the Pointers repeatedly with this arm. Three of his touchdown passes came in the second half, including a game-winning 47-yard score to Casey Johnson with 31 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Brown also had a 2-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
“We want to turn him loose every week,” Harris said of Brown. “He had a big night with the passing yards, and we had to have it because it was a shootout. We just let Garrett be Garrett. Let him use his arm talent because he does a great job, which has been the case ever since he took over as the starter.”
Injuries to his predecessors led to Brown’s ascension into the starting role as a sophomore in 2018. He took over midway through that season and hasn’t looked back.
Brown, 6-3, 190 pounds, holds school records for passing yards, touchdowns, completions and attempts. He finished with more than 2,000 yards and 17 touchdowns in 2018 before throwing for 3,093 yards and 27 touchdowns as a junior.
This year, he has thrown for 2,887 yards on 214-of-366 passing with 24 touchdowns.
“I grew a little bit physically so that’s helped a lot this year,” Brown said. “A lot of our receivers graduated so I’ve really got a whole new group to go with. I think it took a few games to get them comfortable, get them going. But once they got going, they got going.”
Brown’s ability to sidestep would-be tacklers and deliver pinpoint throws is an example of what makes him special, Harris said.
“I say this about him all the time, but he just gets it,” he said. “He processes well and understands what we’re trying to do with the ball on certain play calls. He’s got a big arm and can make all the throws from the pocket.
“We don’t have to roll him out and put him on the edge because of his arm strength. Just like against Van Buren, we’re in a third-and-12, thirdand-16 a couple of times, and we’re able to convert because he’s got enough arm strength to throw from a hash to a deep out on the other side. We don’t have to worry about scheming things up for him.”