By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Things keep getting tougher for Cabot in what has been one of the toughest schedules in school history, according to head coach Mike Malham. This week, the Cabot Panthers face the Bryant Hornets.
Bryant is a team that entered the season with several question marks dotting a youthful roster. The Hornets’ season started dubiously, losing a high-scoring shootout to Fort Smith Northside 40-35. Since then, those two teams have gone in opposite directions. Northside is 1-4 in conference play so far in the West, while Bryant has reeled off six consecutive victories, and sits alone, undefeated at the top of the 7A Central standings.
Cabot’s season has been a roller coaster offensively and bad defensively. One bit of momentum the Panthers have heading into the showdown with the league leader is that its offense started working properly again last week.
Although the Panther’s first four games only resulted in one win, the offense was efficient in all four losses. Cabot piled up over 300 rushing yards in losses to Pulaski Academy, Springdale Har-Ber and Conway. Then even the offense began to sputter in the second half against Catholic and was absent in a shutout loss to North Little Rock two weeks ago. Suddenly against Central at last week’s homecoming game, The Panther offense came back to life, running up 385 total yards, including 369 on the ground.
Zach Launius broke the 100-yard mark for the first time with 110 yards on 21 carries.
