Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Benton tops West Memphis
BENTON — It might have looked as if Benton Coach Brad Harris pushed some magic button to launch his Panthers into gear Friday night during their 63-35 Class 6A semifinal victory over West Memphis Friday night.
No buttons involved, Harris said, except the one he knew he could not push when the Panthers couldn’t pick up a first down and trailed 14-0 late in the first quarter.
“There’s always a little bit of a question mark in the back of your mind, but we never pushed the panic button,” Harris said. “That’s the big thing. We took some good shots from them, and we were able to stand up. They couldn’t knock us out.”
Benton remains in contention for the 6A state title, and will make its second consecutive appearance in the title game, this time against Searcy, at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at War Memorial Stadium.
Adjusting to West Memphis’ zero coverage defense was the deciding factor, and Benton did it by posting 63 points and 569 yards, with all of the points and more than 500 of the yards coming in the final three quarters.
West Memphis (7-5) came out challenging the run and playing man-to-man coverage, and Benton gained 9 yards, threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown, and did not pick up a first down on its first three series.
The Panthers’ defense recovered two West Memphis fumbles deep in their territory at Benton High School Football Stadium, and there was a missed 37-yard field goal attempt by Collin Clark that could have made it 17-0.
“They get off the bus ready to play, I’ll tell you,” Harris said.
Blue Devils Coach Billy Elmore said there was no single play that turned the game around.
“When they started getting after our zero coverage, when we were playing with nobody free, I think that was the biggest thing,” Elmore said. “Momentum started shifting toward them in the second quarter.”
Just ask Benton junior quarterback Garrett Brown, who started the game 2 of 6 for 8 yards, with 1 pass interception returned 22 yards for a touchdown.
Brown finished the game completing 25 of 35 passes for 471 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 5 different receivers catching at least one touchdown pass.
The Panthers also scored two rushing touchdowns — on third-quarter runs of 5 and 3 yards by Casey Johnson (16-84).
They also scored on a 45-yard kickoff return by Jaden Woolbright, who picked up an onside kick attempt early in the fourth quarter and ran past the Blue Devils without being touched.