By ANN THARP
Special to The Leader
The Cabot Panthers hosted the Mountain Home Bombers on a rainy Friday night at Panther Stadium. The Panthers (8-0, 5-0) rolled up 414 yards of offense and eight touchdowns in the first half, then as the sportsmanship rule was in effect for the entire second half, coasted to a 62-21 victory. Mountain Home remains winless in conference play and 1-7 overall.
“It was a good win,” said Cabot coach Mike Malham. “It was a conference win, and the varsity did a good job in the first half, got things in hand, and we got to play a lot of young kids the second half. Mountain Home, they’re playing a lot of sophomores. They’re struggling a little bit. Our kids did what we needed to do, took care of business, and had the game in hand at halftime, so we could just about clear the bench and let a lot of kids play the second half. That’s always good.”
Mountain Home received the opening kickoff, but fumbled on the first play from scrimmage. The Panthers recovered and scored on their first play on a 19-yard run by Alex Roberts. Caleb Shulte added the extra point, and Cabot led 7-0 only two plays and 13 seconds into the contest.
After a punt by the Bombers, Cabot moved 71 yards in six plays to score again, this time on a 16-yard touchdown run by Austin Morse. Shulte’s extra point made the lead 14-0 with 7:35 remaining in the first quarter. Morse scored again on the next Panther possession, this time from 31 yards away, and the score was 20-0. The extra point was no good.
Mountain Home quarterback Zane Walker broke free on the first play of the ensuing possession for an 80-yard touchdown run. The extra point was good, and the lead was cut to 20-7.
Cabot answered right back, with Morse scoring his third touchdown of the evening, this one from 51 yards out. The extra point was good by Shulte, and the lead was 27-7 with 4:04 remaining in the opening quarter.
Walker was intercepted by Holdyn Barnes on the next Bomber possession, and Morse scored for the fourth time on a 24-yard scamper. After the extra point, the advantage grew to 34-7 with 2:30 still remaining in the first quarter.
The next Cabot score came in the second quarter with 10:57 remaining. This time it was Adam Flores with the 37-yard touchdown run. The Panthers went for the two-point conversion, and Braxton Burton successfully took the ball in for the two, upping the lead to 42-7.
This time, Mountain Home moved down the field on a 78-yard scoring drive, capped by a 36-yard touchdown pass from Walker to Payton Parker. The point after was not good, and the score was 42-13.
Roberts scored for the second time of the night on the next Cabot drive, going in from 23 yards away on the seventh play to make the lead 49-13 when Shulte added the point after.
The Panthers added a defensive touchdown next, as Kale Eddington picked off Walker’s pass on first and 10 and took it into the end zone for the score. The lead grew to 56-13 with 4:50 remaining until intermission.
Cabot had the first possession of the second half and with the clock running, consumed almost 10 minutes of the third quarter before Jess Reed, now in at quarterback, took the ball in from the 1-yard line for the Panthers. The extra point was no good by Luis Castro, and the score remained 62-13.
The Bombers scored once more to set the final score at 62-21 with 8:40 remaining in the game.
Cabot finished with 524 yards of total offense, while holding Mountain Home to 289 yards.
Morse led the Panthers with 145 yards on five carries and four touchdowns. Roberts had 69 yards on four carries and two touchdowns.
Cabot will travel to Jonesboro next Friday night.
