Benton tops El Dorado 56-7 on the road
The Benton Panther momentum continued Friday evening at Memorial Stadium in El Dorado.
The Panthers were dominant on their way to an easy 56-7 win over the Wildcats.
Coming into this 6A East contest, Panther coach Brad Harris emphasized to his team the importance of performing well against El Dorado and building on the momentum gained after a big win over Little Rock Catholic last week.
Clearly – the Panthers understood the assignment.
Benton (3-1, 3-0) quickly seized control of this conference game rolling to a mercy rule victory. A clutch defensive play early in the first quarter set the tone for the Panthers.
Benton defensive back Jay Thomas Pepper got a key turnover picking off a pass from El Dorado quarterback Mitchell Polk deep in Benton territory.
The Wildcats were on the cusp of scoring and taking a first quarter lead. Instead, the host turned the ball over and it turned out to be the opening stage of a Benton rout.
The Panthers took advantage of Pepper’s interception by scoring a touchdown. Benton capped off a quick 5-play drive when Drew Davis completed a 10-yard TD pass to Braylen Russell. The kick by Garrett Honeycutt – who was perfect on extra points – was good. With just over six minutes left in the first, Benton led 7-0.
After forcing El Dorado (2-2, 1-2) to a 3-and-out, Benton’s offense struck once again.
This time Davis found tight end Bronson Coolis wide open for a 41-yard touchdown pass with 2:59 left in the quarter. The kick increased the Panther lead to 14-0.
But El Dorado, now trailing by 14, finally responded.
The Wildcats needed only 2 plays to score as Polk threw a beautiful pass to receiver Jamari Robinson who caught the ball and raced his way to a 52-yard touchdown. Cooper Henry’s kick was good making the score 14-7 to momentarily stop the bleeding.
However, Harris’ team wasted little time responding to El Dorado. In fact, the Panthers only needed one play from scrimmage to score.
On the opening play of the possession, Maddox Davis took a shovel pass from Drew Davis and busted past El Dorado’s front seven. Once Davis broke into the open field, he ran untouched for an 80-yard TD. With 2:00 remaining in the opening period, Benton led 21-7.
On a fourth-and-long from deep in Wildcat territory, the Panthers pushed their lead out to 28-7 when Maddox Davis completed a 21-yard halfback pass to a wide-open Elias
Payne for a touchdown with 11:42 left in the first half.
With 7:56 remaining in the second period, Panther cornerback Gary Rideout stepped up to shed a block and quickly hit an El Dorado receiver who caught a short pass in the flat from Polk. In the process – Rideout knocked the ball loose and recovered it on the 31-yard line.
Benton used only one play to capitalize on the El Dorado turnover when Drew Davis connected with Elias Payne for a 69-yard TD. On the touchdown reception, Payne caught a short pass before sprinting past El Dorado’s defensive backfield to help Benton increase its lead to 35-7.
Later in the half, the Panthers expanded their advantage thanks to an impressive run by Russell.
The senior running back scored on a 19-yard carry as he showcased speed and power. During the run, Russell
trucked an El Dorado defensive back just before he made his way into the front corner of the end zone with slightly over 3 minutes left until the intermission.
With a few seconds remaining in the quarter, Benton added to its lead when Russell ran 19 yards for a touchdown. Following the kick, the Panther lead was 49-7.
After the half, with El Dorado trailing by 42, the mercy rule was invoked.
With 7:30 remaining in the third, Karson Collatt caught a touchdown pass of 6 yards
from Cline Hooten as the Benton lead was now 56-7.
Neither team scored in the final quarter as Benton cruised to the victory.
The Panthers amassed 489 yards of offense against El Dorado.
Russell was the leading rusher with 95 yards on 10 carries. Drew Davis completed 9-of-11 passes for 284 yards. Payne was the leading receiver with three receptions for 95 yards. The Panthers will aim to continue their winning ways next week when they host Marion.