Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

8/31/2010 at 10:33pm

Image by Amy Glover Bryant

Cabot junior QB Zach Craig keeps an eye on the Jacksonville D-line in the Panthers' 28-14 win at War Memorial Stadium.

Image by Amy Glover Bryant

The Cabot Panthers won its annual meeting with the Jacksonville Red Devils 28-14 at the 2010 Arkansas High School Kickoff Classic held at War Memorial Stadium.

Image by Amy Glover Bryant

Jacksonville senior quarterback Logan Perry gets into position in the Red Devils 28-14 loss to Cabot at the 2010 Arkansas High School Kickoff Classic.

Image by Amy Glover Bryant

Cabot senior FB Spencer Smith is challenged by a Jacksonville defender in the Panthers' 28-14 win over the Red Devils.

Image by Mark Wagner

Cabot junior HB Austin Alley tries to get outside in the 2010 Arkansas High School Kickoff Classic at War Memorial Stadium.

Image by Mark Wagner

Cabot senior FB Andre Ausejo (25) is tackled by the Jacksonville defense in the 2010 Arkansas High School Kickoff Classic at War Memorial Stadium.

Image by Mark Wagner

Cabot senior FB Spencer Smith is upended as he crosses the goal line in the Panthers' 28-14 win over Jacksonville in the 2010 Arkansas High School Kickoff Classic at War Memorial Stadium.

Photographs by Amy Glover Bryant © 2010, all rights reserved, Arkansas Sports Photography.

Cabot's uniforms and its offense stay the same season after season. Only the names change. On Tuesday night with a bunch of new names in the backfield, the Panthers relied on their usual inverted wishbone look and spread 284 yards rushing and four touchdowns around six running backs to handle Jacksonville 28-14 in the First Security Bank Arkansas High School Kickoff Classic.

But the rebuilding Panthers, with 14 new starters for a program that went 11-2 last season, also had moments where they made it hard on themselves, losing two fumbles and giving up a handful of big passing plays to the Red Devils. One, with a little more than a minute to play, apparently had cut Cabot's seemingly insurmountable lead to 28-20 when D'von McClure ran 85 yards with Tirrell Brown's pass over the middle. Red Devils fans were suddenly awakened.

Then everyone noticed the flag sitting on the ground back near the 10-yard line. Holding wiped out the play, and Cabot  breathed easier on the way to its 14-point win.

"I thought we did a pretty good job at times, but turnovers hurt us," Cabot Coach Mike Malham said. "The turnover late in the first half, they take it right down and score, big momentum shift. Second half, we come out, get points on the board first two times we had it, defense is looking good. We look in control. Then the turnover. Boom, they're back in the ball game again. We're lucky they're not lining up to onside kick to win or tie the ball game."

But, overall, Malham was pleased with a defense that allowed no yards rushing by the Red Devils on 17 running attempts. The Red Devils' 236 yards of offense, and both their touchdowns, came all through the air: Jamison Williams caught an 11-yard pass over the middle from Logan Perry late in the first half, and Williams and Brown hooked up on a 91-yard play with 6:03 left in the game. But Jacksonville also turned the ball over on three interceptions.

"You play bad angles on that speed, and there they go," Malham said.

Cabot's defense was led by senior linebacker Riley Hawkins, who had 10 tackles and an interception off a tipped pass. Hawkins was the game's most valuable player.

It was hard to single out one offensive star for the Panthers. Spencer Smith scored once on a 3-yard run early in the second quarter and led the ground attack with 82 yards on 16 carries. Mason James scored on a 25-yard run, capping a two-play, 27-yard drive in the second quarter as Cabot took a 14-0 lead.

Andre Ausejo ran 5 yards for a third-quarter touchdown, and Austin Alley finished Cabot's scoring with a 16-yard run with 2:24 left in the third. Cabot even broke from form five times for passes,  with junior Zach Craig completing three for 30 yards.

The win was Cabot's fifth in a row in the series, dubbed the Backyard Brawl.

"It's just good to get off to a 1-0 start. Our whole goal the last six weeks was to get to 1-0, that's all our players had been pointing to was to win the first game," Malham said.

Now, Cabot has 10 days to figure out how to deal with Pulaski Academy's passing game. "They passed for 500 [actually 596] yards against a good CAC defense and scored 59 points" Malham noted of the Kickoff Classic day 1 result, in which P.A. routed C.A.C. 59-33 on Monday. Cabot journeys to P.A. on Friday, Sept. 10.

"Fourteen new starters, a lot of inexperience," Malham said of his Panthers. "Hopefully they'll grow up quick because P.A. is on the horizon. We better get better quick, that's for sure."

Tagged: Austin Alley, Andre Ausejo, Mason James, Spencer Smith, Riley Hawkins, Logan Perry, Jamison Williams, Tirrell Brown, D'von McClure, Zach Craig, Cabot Panthers, Jacksonville Red Devils, 2010 Arkansas High School Kickoff Classic, Mike Malham, Rick Russell