By RAY BENTON AND GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sports staff
Despite a lengthy rain delay, the Cabot Panthers didn’t play late into the night against West Memphis on Friday. The Panthers took a 42-0 lead into halftime and the continuous sportsmanship-rule clock made up for lost time as Cabot came away with a 42-7 victory.
The Panthers led 21-0 when a weather delay halted action for more than an hour with 7:30 left in the second quarter. When play resumed at 9:15 p.m., the Panthers went on a scoring blitz to close out the half.
On the first play after the break, Cabot quarterback Jarrod Barnes kept on the option and went 35 yards for the Panthers’ fourth touch down and a 28-0 lead.
Cabot’s defense then forced a three-and-out by West Memphis, and scored in five plays after a short punt.
Junior fullback Kolton Eads got the last 3 yards of the drive and the extra point made it 35-0 with 2:12 left in the half.
Even good things turned bad for the Blue Devils on the ensuing drive. After a completed pass to Kam Pittman, the West Memphis running back fumbled the ball. Cabot’s Dylan Smith picked it up and went 35 yards for another Panther touchdown with 1:10 remaining in the second quarter.
Cabot played no starters in the second half, and West Memphis finally got on the board with a 20-yard touchdown run by Martavous Thomas with 4:41 left in the third quarter.
The Cabot defense forced six turnovers, including three interceptions against West Memphis’ new spread attack. Seniors got all three picks, one each by Jake Ferguson, Logan Melder and Jalen Hemphill.
Cabot finished with 320 yards of offense, 295 of which were on the ground. Barnes led the way with eight carries for 136 yards and three touchdowns. He also completed both of his pass attempts to Ferguson for 25 yards. Eads added 14 carries for 73 yards and a score for the Panthers, 4-2, 2-1.
West Memphis managed just 174 total yards, including 127 on the ground.
Cabot got on the board first with 8:53 left in the first quarter when Barnes ran 7 yards to cap a seven-play drive.
After a West Memphis punt went for a touchback, Barnes went 80 yards down the Cabot sideline on the first play of the second drive to make it 14-0 with 2:08 left in the first.
West Memphis then fumbled it away at its own 27, and Jack Whisker capped a five-play drive with an 8-yard touchdown run for Cabot’s last score before the delay.
Cabot will travel to Little Rock Central next Friday. The Tigers beat Mountain Home 49-7.
