By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
After what basically amounted to a week off for the starters, the Cabot football team has to turn the intensity back up in a big way as it prepares for the 7A-Central Conference opener at War Memorial Stadium on Friday. The Panther defense has been strong all year, save for one bad half in the first two quarters against El Dorado. This week, however, they have to prepare for the Catholic Rockets and what might be the best running back in the state in junior Samy Johnson.
He has carried for more than 100 yards in all three games this season. He had nearly 200 against Sylvan Hills, and returned a kickoff for a touchdown.
“They look good,” said Cabot coach Mike Malham. “That running back sure is pretty good. He’s already been back of the week for the state or something like that. Our defense has a big job to do.”
Despite a season record of just 3-8 last year, Catholic lost a lot of close games. They had the Bentonville Tigers down in the first half before Johnson and the starting quarterback suffered game-ending injuries. The Rockets were also the only team that gutted Cabot’s defense up the middle like it did in the Panthers’ 35-10 victory at Panther Stadium.
Johnson carried 25 times for 170 yards in the loss, including a 52-yard touchdown run between the hash marks.
This year’s Catholic team is not as big up front as last year’s, but still bigger than Cabot.
“We’re so little everybody we play is going to be bigger than us,” Malham said. “They’re probably not as big as last year, but they still have that advantage. That’s just something we’re going to have to get used to.”
The Rockets wins were 44-7 over Sylvan Hills, a huge turnaround from the 49-31 loss to the Bears a year ago, and 34-17 against Jacksonville. They lost 28-26 last week at Jonesboro.
“Offensively they’re very good,” Malham said. “They won their first two pretty handily. Defensively I don’t know if they’ve been tested yet. Jonesboro is usually really good on offense, but I think they lost some weapons. “The main thing for us is hanging onto the ball and cutting out the penalties.”
Cabot has taken good care of the ball most of the season. There were no turnovers in the first two games, but against Fair, the starters fumbled it away twice in the first quarter. Penalties have hampered the Panthers more than turnovers in the games against tough competition. Penalties stopped one scoring drive at Pine Bluff. Against El Dorado, the Panthers were twice hampered by penalties after driving deep into Wildcat territory.
“We’ve cost ourselves a few times with penalties,” Malham said. It’s basically the same as always for us; take care of the ball, don’t make mistakes and beat yourselves and you should have a chance to win the ball game in the fourth quarter.”