It was tough to put one's finger on just one aspect of the Benton Panthers' inability to be productive Friday night on the road in El Dorado, but two big special teams' plays would lead to the Panthers' downfall in a 27-20 6A West Conference loss to the Wildcats at Memorial Stadium in El Dorado.
With the Panthers (5-2, 3-1 West) down 10-7 midway through the second quarter, the Benton defense forced a Wildcat punt only for junior Peyton Pallette to fumble it back to the Wildcats to give El Dorado the ball at Benton's 22-yard line. El Dorado would score six plays later on an Alex Hicks 4-yard run to go up 17-7.
After the Panthers would retake the lead 20-17 early in the second half on an 18-play, 84-yard drive which encompassed 6:26 on senior Beau Brewer's 1-yard TD run, El Dorado would tie it the next series on a field goal and force Benton to punt.
Benton Punter Bryson Krebs would bobble the ball and the punt was blocked giving the Wildcats the ball at Benton's 20-yard line. Three plays later, El Dorado's Shun Levingston ran it in from 10 yards out for the 27-20 lead, which would hold to improve the Wildcats to 6-1 overall, 3-1 in the West, tied with Benton in conference action.
See full story in Saturday's issue of The Saline Courier