By ANN THARP
Special to The Leader
The class 5A Central J.A. Fair War Eagles traveled to Panther stadium in Cabot Friday night to face the 7A Central Cabot Panthers for the last time of a four-game series. The Panthers won handily, defeating Fair by a final of 44-0. Cabot turned the ball over twice by fumble in the first quarter, but still led 30-0 at the half. Cabot added two touchdowns in the second half, the first one invoking the Sportsmanship rule, to set the final margin.
The Panthers are now 2-1, losing last week to El Dorado, and defeating Pine Bluff in Week One. Fair remains winless at 0-3.
“They’re down,” Cabot coach Mike Malham said. “They’ve been on tough times. Everybody got to play. We didn’t really play real sharp early. It took us a while to get going. We turned it over twice to keep them in it the first half. But, we finally got the job done. The second team got to play a couple of series, and the third team got to play. We’ve got a hundred out, and all hundred got in the game tonight. That’s a good thing.”
Cabot had the first possession of the game from the Fair 49-yard line. A run of 14 by T.J. Rogers, runs of 13 by quarterback Tommy Oaks and Adam Flores resulted in a first and goal one the 1-yard line. Rogers took the ball in from there, and Ben McCollough added the extra point for the 7-0 early lead.
On the War Eagles’ first play from scrimmage, quarterback Akeem Gilmore dropped the ball, picked it up and ran for 51 yards. However, a holding penalty and two incomplete passes resulted in a punt.
Cabot’s next possession was fumbled on the second play and recovered by Fair on the Panther 23-yard line. The excellent field position was squandered by two high snaps for a loss of 50 yards, and Cabot got the ball back on the War Eagle 24-yard line. After Rogers carried to the six, another fumble occurred, and Fair had the ball at the one. A tackle in the end zone by Omero Garcia resulted in a safety, and the lead was now 9-0 with 5:22 remaining in the opening quarter.
The ensuing kick off by Fair was returned to the Fair 38-yard line by De’kairo Rudolph. Flores ran for five and 13 yards, then Rogers six yards to the eight. It was Rogers then taking a toss and running it in for the score. McCollough added the point after for the 16-0 advantage.
It was Rogers again on the next Panther possession with a 33-yard touchdown scamper. Again, McCollough added the PAT, and the lead grew to 23-0.
The War Eagles were forced to punt, and Rudolph picked the punt up and returned it to the Fair 27-yard line. With Layton Morris in at quarterback, Graham Turner ran for 19 yards to the one. A penalty backed the Panthers up five, but after a gain of four by Wesley Ocampo, Wyatt McMahan carried the ball in for the score. The point after by McCollough made the lead 30-0 with 5:12 remaining in the half.
A 66-yard punt return by Rudolph was the only score in the third quarter, making the score 37-0.
The final score was set in the final quarter on a 32-yard touchdown run by Jake Long. McCollough added both extra points in the half, and the final margin was set at 44-0.
Cabot had 399 total yards of offense, while holding the War Eagles to 96 yards. Rogers had six carries for 80 yards and three touchdowns for Cabot. Turner had five carries for 58, and Flores four for 43 yards.
Cabot will play Catholic next Friday at War Memorial Stadium.