Arkansas high school football playoffs: Bentonville routs Cabot in 7A quarterfinal
BENTONVILLE — Senior quarterback Carter Nye threw four touchdown passes and Arkansas commit CJ Brown scored twice Friday night, as Bentonville steamrolled Cabot 42-14 in the second round of the state Class 7A playoffs.
It didn’t take Bentonville long to utilize its home-field advantage. After holding the Panthers to a short gain on the opening possession, the Tigers took over at their own 24-yard line.
They put together a 16-play drive and marched 76 yards. After dropping a pass earlier in the drive, senior Luke Coon came up with two big catches. The first, a 16-yard reception to the Cabot 1. Then after a 5-yard penalty hauled in a 6-yard touchdown catch with 5:01 to play in the first quarter.
Bentonville then made it 14-0 on its next drive, when Nye scrambled and hit Brown down the right sideline for a 63-yard touchdown, with two minutes remaining in the opening stanza.
Cabot then mounted a drive, as sophomore quarterback Maddox McCrory connected with junior Evan Mathys for 18 yards into Tiger territory. But the Bentonville defense dug in and halted the Panthers on fourth down, taking over at their own 37.
Cabot finally struck paydirt on their next drive, benefitting from a pass interference call, then a 17-yard pass to senior Ayden Tatum. Sophomore Cooper Powell then ran it in from 3 yards out to cut the lead to 14-7 with 6:27 left in the first half.
Nye hit junior Eli Brooks down the middle of the field with a 68-yard pass to the Panthers’ 19. After a penalty pushed it back five yards, Brooks hauled in a 25-yard TD down the left sideline, boosting the lead to 21-7.
Nye’s 57-yard strike to Brown late in the half got the ball to the Cabot 35. The Tigers drove down near the goal line, while being forced to utilize all three timeouts. But Brown was stopped inches away from the end zone as time expired.
Bentonville quickly extend the lead in the second half. The Tigers drove the field as Nye hit JJ Spafford for a 19-yard touchdown just over a minute into the third quarter.
After Bentonville’s Daniel McCoin picked off a Cabot pass, the Tigers then extended the lead to 35-7. Chris Ficklin carried two Panthers into the end zone on a 3-yard run midway through the third.
AJ Looney then picked off another Panther pass on the following possession, which quickly turned into a 46-yard TD run by Brown. With 47 seconds left in the third period, Bentonville led 42-7 — thus instituting the running-click mercy rule.
Cabot tacked on the final score with 44 seconds remaining, when McCrory hit Tatum with an 8-yard strike.
3 Takeaways
1
After Bentonville took the initial 7-0 lead on its first possession of the game, the biggest momentum boost actually came on the Tigers’ second drive that put them up 14-0. Senior quarterback Carter Nye threw his second touchdown of the game, and did it with his feet and arm.
Nye was flushed out of the pocket by the Cabot defensive line, and just when it seemed like he would stumble out of bounds, he heaved the ball down the left sideline. Nye’s extra time scrambling, allowed senior receiver CJ Brown to break free of double-teaming defenders and catch the ball past the last safety for a 63-yard touchdown. That seem to take the wind out of the Panthers’ sail.
“They had covered the original play we had called,” Nye admitted. “Then when I got outside the pocket, they came down on me, and CJ was over the top.”
Nye was 20 of 28 in the game for 431 yards and 4 touchdowns. Brown hauled in two of those passes for 112 yards
“It’s really nice having a player like CJ on the field,” Nye said. “Nobody can run with him and he can catch it over just about anybody.”
2
Grant again reminded his team after the game Friday night, how special it was to be able to practice on Thanksgiving Day, which is Thursday. The only teams in the state that have that privilege are the team who have survived the first two rounds of the state playoffs.
“Practicing on Thanksgiving Day is probably my favorite thing to do as a high school football coach,” Grant said. “Fortunately, we get to do that a lot, so I have to remind our kids not to take that for granted. It’s a special opportunity, because if you are practicing on Thanksgiving you are having a good season.”
The Tigers actually make it a family affair, as the program sends out an open invitation to all players’ family members, to come meet for donuts and coffee before practice, then hang out to watch the team prepare for next Friday’s semifinal showdown at Bryant.
“We try to make it a true football-family thing, and every year it’s one of our goals,” Grant added.
3
Not only did Brown haul in that 63-yard touchdown heave from Nye early in the game, but he displayed even more of his versatility late in the game when he took a direct snap and scatted around the end to the right sideline for a 46-yard touchdown run.
In three offensive touches in the game – two catches and a run -- Brown amassed 166 yards. It’s that versatility, along with his size that had the Arkansas football program knocking on his door. Brown committed to play for the Razorbacks earlier this summer.
“I’ve played running back before, so I’m still pretty good at it,” Brown said with a laugh. “I just saw a lane, made a couple cuts, and went into the end zone.”
--Steve Andrews
Photos by Scott Miller
