Freshmen Panthers maul LR Central Tigers 35-6; remain undefeated

The Benton Freshmen Panthers stepped out of conference play on Thursday night at home and made quick work of the Little Rock Central Tigers in a 35-6 victory.

The win keeps the Panthers undefeated on the season at 8-0 overall and 6-0 in the Central Arkansas Junior High Conference.

The Panthers will return to conference play on the road next Thursday at Cabot to play South Junior High.

A win there will set up a potential battle of unbeatens on Thursday, November 2 at home against Bryant for the CAJHC championship.

Benton scored on the game’s opening possession with an eight play, 70 yard drive that shaved 2:43 off the first quarter clock. Chase Cobb threw to Emery Moore who picked up a great block from Jake Cloud on the way to a 30 yard touchdown. Gabe Wilbur kicked the first of his five extra points for an early 7-0 lead.

Cobb connected with T.J. Williams on a 20 yard touchdown pass with 6:49 left in the second quarter for a 14-0 lead.

The Panthers chose to onside kick following the score and Floyd Cornice recovered Dawson Daves well executed onside. On first down, Cobb threw 35 yards to Jacobi Lea to set up Benton at the one yard line. Emery Moore punched it in behind great blocking from the offensive line for a 21-0 lead.

Facing fourth-andseven at the Panther 42 yard line, Central elected to go for the first down but Bryson Matyja made a great tackle to snuff the Tiger drive at the 40 yard line.

Three plays later, the Panthers found paydirt again. Cobb threw 16 yards to Bryson Griffis before hitting Williams for a 43 yard gain to the one yard line. Moore celebrated with his teammates in the end zone after his one yard score and the Panthers led at halftime 28-0.

Central’s opening possession of the second half went in reverse. Weston Monson dropped Dallas Bledsoe for a 10 yard loss, Will Henry Rinaca tackled a Central receiver for a three yard loss and

Jonathan Bianchi sacked Central quarterback Benjamin Robinson for a five yard loss.

Add in a couple of false start penalties against the Tigers and they elected to punt facing fourth-and-38.

The Tiger punt only traveled 13 yards setting the Panthers up in the red zone at the Tiger 20 yard line. The Panthers reached the end zone on back-to-back 10 yard passes from Cobb to Griffis for a 35-0 lead that activated the mercy rule with a continuously running clock.

Central mounted an 80 yard touchdown drive that took 7:38 with Robinson scoring on a one yard plunge. The Tigers two-point conversion failed to set the final at 35-6.

Cobb had another spectacular night passing, completing 13 of 17 for 214 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.

Williams was credited with 93 receiving yards on five catches and Griffis 56 yards on six receptions.

Will Henry Rinaca led all Panther tacklers with six. Avian Beard, Carter Knowles and Matyja had four tackles with Monson contributing three. Beard, Bianchi, Brody James and Monson each had quarterback sacks for the Panther defense.

In Thursday’s opening game, the 8th grade Panthers hosted Bryant White and defeated the rival Hornets 32-14 to improve to 5-2 overall, 5-1 in conference play.

Easton Snellings scored on touchdown runs of 37 and 25 yards and returned a Hornet kickoff 70 yards for a score. Jon Richey had a three yard touchdown run for the Panthers. Snellings also completed an 18 yard touchdown pass to Hudson James. Aiden Guthrie recovered a Hornet fumble for the Panther defense.

Bryant’s two touchdowns came through the air as Kace King completed a 37 yard pass to Anthony Ellis on the game’s final play. King also completed a 22 yard pass to Malik Shipp for a Hornet score in the second quarter.

Both Benton Junior High teams will be on the road at Cabot next Thursday. The 8th grade game will begin at 5:30 with the freshmen game to follow.