By Rob Patrick
Photos by Rick Nation
CABOT — Anytime a football team falls behind, it’s an uphill battle. But, when it’s the Cabot Panthers that a team falls behind, the grade of that hill seems a lot steeper.
That’s because, when the Panthers get a lead, they spend the rest of the game playing keepaway. They inch along on offense out of their archaic (but effective) dead-T, time after time, just getting enough yardage on a third or a fourth down to keep the possession alive, shortening the game and making the other team’s offense anxious when it does get on the field, knowing the opportunities are limited.
Such was the case for the Bryant Hornets Friday night. The Hornets fell behind early and never gained the lead as Cabot forged a three-way tie for first in the 7A/6A-Central Conference with a 21-9 victory.[more]
The loss, Bryant’s first in league play, enables Cabot and Conway to catch the Hornets in the standings. All three teams are 4-1 against the league.
It also avenged the Panthers’ 35-7 thumping at Bryant last year after Cabot came in undefeated.
Though the Hornets would create an opportunity to gain the lead in the fourth quarter, the tenor of the 7A/6A-Central Conference battle was set in the first quarter, the opening possession of the game.
Bryant won the opening toss and chose to receive. Head coach Paul Calley had indicated before the game how important it was to jump out first. And the Hornets made a bid.
Behind the running of Stephen Clark who reeled of runs of 7, 10 and 11, the Hornets drove to the Cabot 35. From there, they took a shot at the end zone down the right sideline but Cabot's Logan Spry intercepted in the back right-hand corner of the end zone for a touchback.
Cabot responded with an 80-yard march that took a whopping 22 plays and over nine minutes of the first half. Along the way, they converted three fourth-down situations and, every time, they got just enough. They reached the 1-yard line and the Hornets stuffed fullback Spencer Smith for no gain but, on fourth down, quarterback Zach Craig kept for the score.
Now, if a team does happen to fall behind the Cabot Panthers, it behooves them to keep up, to match their scoring. In an effort to do that, Bryant drove to the Cabot 40 behind Clark who finished the game with 120 yards on 21 carries. And, on a third-and-12, quarterback Hayden Lessenberry found Sawyer Nichols for 24 yards.
On the next play, Lessenberry was whipped down for a loss but a face mask penalty helped make up for some of the yardage. Still, the Hornets faced a third-and-12 at the Cabot 42 when Lessenberry appeared to have found Dillon Winfrey for what would’ve been a gain of at least 25 yards. There was contact between Winfrey and Cabot defender Mason James but, much to the chagrin of the Hornets, the Bryant receiver couldn’t hang on as James pulled his arms away from the ball.
Bryant’s lone punt of the game followed.
And, in turn, the Hornets defense forced the only Cabot punt of the evening.
Taking over at their own 40, the Hornets drove to the 4. Clark was stopped at the 2 on a third-down play and, knowing they’d need at least two scores to win, Calley sent on Jake Denker for a 19-yard field goal with just :41 left in the half.
So the Hornets were within 7-3 at the break. Unfortunately, the Panthers got the ball first in the second half and, in 13 plays, they drove 64 yards to increase the lead. The drive included one fourth-down situation that the Panthers converted with a 5-yard pass from Craig to Berry. They'd needed 4. Moments later, Andrew Ausejo broke loose for an 18-yard touchdown run.
Down 14-3, the Hornets offense came onto the field backed up to their own 18. But, with Lessenberry completing 4 of 4 passes, the Hornets countered. The sophomore would finish 19-of-26 for 206 yards in the game. Clark added runs of 15 and 17 before Lessenberry found Nichols open deep down the middle, a 30-yard completion down to the 1. From there, Lessenberry sneaked in to make it 14-9.
A juggled hold on the extra point attempt sabotaged the effort.
Now the Bryant defense needed a stop. Cabot drove to the Bryant 37. Ausejo was stopped for a gain of a yard by linebackers Collin Chapdelaine and Hunter Mayall. On third down, Craig overthrew his tight end Jesse Roberts at the goal line. On fourth down, Craig swung a pass to Ausejo only to have Matt Jones and Chapdelaine there to stop the play short of the first down as Bryant took over with just a minute left in the third quarter.
Chapdelaine would lead the Hornets defense by getting in on 20 tackles. Safety Tanner Tolbert had a hand in 16 stops, Josh Hampton and Holden Chavis 12 each, Matt Jones finished with 10 stops and linebacker Hunter Mayall nine.
With a drive that looked like it was destined to put the Hornets ahead, they drove to the 7. But, on second-and-5 there, Lessenberry couldn’t find an open receiver and was stopped for a loss at the 9. Clark then tried to break a sweep on third down only to have to do his best just to lose 2 more.
That set up a fourth-and-9 at the 11 with 7:21 left in the game. After both teams took a timeout, Lessenberry dropped back to pass, rolled to his right to buy more time then threw towards the end zone. Unfortunately, near the same spot that Spry had made his interception early in the game, Cabot’s Zach Brown knocked down the pass, denying the Hornets.
Cabot took over at its own 11. Three plays later, the Panthers faced a fourth-and-inches at their own 20 and took the gamble of going for it. Had the Hornets been able to hold, they’d have possession again deep in Cabot territory. But Ausejo twisted for 3 yards.
Later, the Panthers faced a third-and-4 from the 29 when Jeremy Berry broke a 16-yard run.
From the 45, the Hornets stuffed Ausejo. On second down, they knocked the ball away from the running back. The ball rolled tantalizingly on the ground for a few seconds before players converged. Craig wound up wrestling it from Chapdelaine at the 44.
As a result, however, Cabot faced a third-and-11 from its own 44. The Hornets had what appeared to be a golden chance to get the ball back for the offense, hoping to force a punt. After a timeout with 3:04 remaining, the Panthers sent Berry out of the backfield on a wheel route. The Bryant defenders, concentrating on the run fake, lost track of him so when Craig tossed a pass to Berry, he was all alone. He sprinted down the right sideline and scored a clinching touchdown with just 2:53 left to play.
Bryant’s last ditch comeback effort got the Cabot 28 before Lessenberry was sacked, brought down in part by a grab of the face mask. But it was ruled to be inadvertent, a 5-yard mark-off.
On the next play, Lessenberry threw incomplete while again having his face mask yanked, this time with no flag marking the occasion.
They got it back to the 28 but, on a fourth down there, Lessenberry couldn’t find an open receiver, tried to run and was dropped for a loss to end the threat.
The Hornets will try to bounce back on Senior Night when they take on North Little Rock next Friday.
CABOT 21, BRYANT 9
Score by quarters
BRYANT 0 3 6 0 — 9
Cabot 0 7 7 7 — 21
Scoring summary
Second quarter
CABOT — Craig 1 run (Hidalgo kick), 10:54
BRYANT — Denker 19 field goal, 0:41
Third quarter
CABOT — Ausejo 18 run (Hidalgo kick), 6:51
BRYANT — Lessenberry 1 run (kick failed), 3:48
Fourth quarter
CABOT — Berry 56 pass from Craig (Hidalgo kick), 2:53
Team stats
BRYANT Cabot
First downs 19 16
Rushes-yds 32-116 54-232
Passing 19-26-1 4-5-0
Passing yds 206 68
Punts-avg. 1-42.0 1-33.0
Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-0
Penalties-yds 3-33 4-25
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Rushing: BRYANT, Clark 21-120, Harris 1-2, Bell 1-1, Lessenberry 9-(-7); CABOT, Ausejo 23-70, Smith 12-51, Haley 4-43, Berry 4-29, James 5-26, Craig 4-15, Morris 1-0, Boatright 1-(-2).
Passing (C-A-I-Y): BRYANT, Lessenberry 19-26-1-206; CABOT, Craig 4-5-0-68.
Receiving: BRYANT, Nichols 6-94, Winfrey 6-55; Garrett 4-38, Clark 3-19; CABOT, Berry 2-61, Quinn 1-5, Ausejo 1-2.
