Big night in Benton
Panthers come back to bite Bulldogs
BENTON – Down 21-7 to the Greenwood Bulldogs after one quarter, the Benton Panthers showed plenty of fight in their 6A West Conference game Friday night at Everett Field in Benton. The Panthers would come back on those Bulldogs to take a 41-40 victory, sealed by senior safety Cain Simmons’ tackle of Greenwood quarterback Hunter Houston at the Panther 43-yard line to force a turnover on downs with just over 20 seconds left in the game.
The Bulldogs had no timeouts left at that point and Benton senior quarterback Stran Smith kneeled it to put the Panthers at 7-1 overall, 5-0 in the West, with the Bulldogs going to 5-3, 3-2.
Not only were the Panthers down big early, they were also down 40-28 when Houston hit Luke Brewer for a 30-yard touchdown, with an unsuccessful 2-point conversion with just over six minutes left to go in the game. The potent Panthers offense, which committed three turnovers in the first half helping the Bulldogs to the big lead, went to work. Smith, who ran 17 times for 42 yards, went to the ground for a 3-yard gain before his 8-yard pass to junior Donovan Pearson got the first down. Smith hit senior receiver Andre Lane for a 22-yard pass, and after a short loss, Smith hit senior receiver Cameron Harris for a 40-yard TD pass for the 40-34 Benton deficit with 5:18 to go after junior Lucas Wilbur’s extra point hit off the post.
The Benton defense held strong as sophomore defensive lineman Peyton Mcneely, who had two sacks on the night, tackled Houston for a 2-yard loss, with senior linebacker Zane Manchack sacking
Houston to force a punt.
The Panthers took over at the 50-yard line, with senior Casey Johnson, scoring three TDS on the night, gaining 7 yards, and Smith hooked up with Pearson for a 36-yard gain to the Bulldog 7-yard line. Johnson cleaned it up with a 3-yard TD run to give Benton the 41-40 lead after Wilbur’s extra point.
“Our guys played with a lot of guts,” Benton Coach Brad Harris said. “We scored on the big play to Cam and came up with a defensive stop. Casey runs it in on the third-down play and I’m just extremely proud of the way the kids played.”
Just like in their previous six wins, the Panthers got off to a hot start in this one, too. Smith hit Harris right out of the gate for a 44-yard reception and Johnson capped the 8-play, 78-yard opening drive with a 7-yard TD for the 7-0 advantage.
A couple punts ensued before Greenwood would get on the board when Houston hit Brett Wood for a 20-yard TD to tie things up at 7-all with 4:04 left in the first.
Then the turnover bug hit Benton. Smith threw his first interception of the season, a pass bobbled by the receiver and picked off by Sebastian Crumb, and it took one play for Greenwood to take the lead on Houston’s 30-yard TD pass to Aiden Kennon.
“We put ourselves in a bad situation on the turnovers, gave them a short field,” Coach Harris said. “Good teams are going to take advantage of that. The difference was we weren’t going to quit on them. The guys did a great job of regrouping. I’m really proud of the defense.”
Another turnover, this time a fumble by Cam
Harris, had the Bulldogs knocking on the door again, with Houston hitting a wide open LJ Robins for a 29-yard TD for the 21-7 Greenwood lead after one. Two punts followed before Benton got back on the board. Casey Johnson scored his second TD on the first play of the drive, a 55-yard jaunt for the 21-14 ballgame with 9:03 left until halftime.
The Panthers, though, would cough it up again. Smith was picked off by
Lui Honkala, setting the Bulldogs up for another score, with Javon Williamson capping the three-play drive with an 8-yard TD and 28-14 lead with 4:43 left to go.
“That’s something we haven’t done,” Coach Harris
said of committing turnovers. “Stran had been very good all year. We haven’t lost a fumble in a couple of games. Adversity hit us right in the face in the first quarter. A good football team came to play and got after us. We panicked for a minute, a little bit different look on the sideline, but we regrouped and got them going again.”
Benton hung around. The Panthers responded with a 14-play, 78-yard drive capped by Smith’s 8-yard TD run to make it a 28-21 deficit, which it remained at the half.
The defenses came to play in the third quarter as neither team scored in the frame, with Benton sophomore Chris Barnard picking off a pass with a 20-yard
return. It took just one play in the fourth for the Panthers to tie things up. Cam Harris took Smith’s pitch for a 25-yard TD run for the 28-28 ballgame with 11:51 left to go.
Greenwood responded with an 11-play, 80-yard drive, capped by Houston’s 10-yard TD run, with the extra point no good, for the 34-28 lead. The Panthers went for it on fourth-and-1 the next drive but were stuffed before Greenwood took the 40-28 lead, setting Benton up for their big comeback late.
“We just felt like we needed to go get it,” Coach Harris said of the fourth-down play. “They stuffed us, man, and they went down and scored. Really felt like that hurt us.”
Casey Johnson finished with 20 carries for 116 yards and three TDS, with Brandon Johnson running nine times for just 24 yards, but was big on a depleted defensive line due to injury, sacking Houston twice.
“We played Brandon Johnson a little at defensive end because we had a situation where we lost some defensive linemen, and Brandon stepped up,” Harris said. “He hadn’t done that for us this year, we worked him one day and he had two quarterback sacks. Big-time effort.
“And linebacker Chase Harding played a lot of snaps at nose guard, so we did it with a lot of guys not real familiar with their position.
They just played with a lot of guts and toughness.”
Mcneely was huge Friday with a pass defense to go with his two sacks and tackle for loss.
“Peyton Mcneely, a dang sophomore, was all over the place,” Harris said. “He had a heck of a night. He’s going to be a big-time player for us before he graduates Benton High School. He’s a load as a sophomore already. He’s a handful. He played a lot of minutes with the lack of depth on the defensive line.”
Smith was 14 of 22 for 220 yards and a TD vs. two interceptions, running 17 times for 42 yards and a TD. Cam Harris had another 100-yard receiving game finishing with five for 111 yards and a TD, also running once with his 25-yard TD. Lane had five catches for 55 yards, with Pearson adding four for 54.
The conference championship should be decided next week when the Panthers travel to Pearcy to take on the undefeated Lake Hamilton Wolves (8-0, 5-0), which routed Van Buren 63-33 Friday in Van Buren.
“(Friday) we guaranteed ourselves at least a 2 seed at the worst, but next week is going to be the big one,” Harris said. “We’ve had this week (Greenwood) and next week marked on our calendar. We’re going to have to play well.
“They got us at our place last year, a close game at half and they blew it open on us because we made some mistakes. We’re going to have to go in there and play tough, physical football. It’s going to be a heavyweight fight, so we’ll see who gets punched in the face and responds.”