SHOWDOWN IN THE SOUTH

Here we go again. The Benton Panthers will host the Pine Bluff Zebras at 7 tonight for the 6A South Conference championship. It will be the second straight year the two teams have been undefeated in conference leading up to the South title as the Panthers took last year’s contest 39-36 on Grant Hinze’s 42-yard field goal with 0.7 seconds left in the game.
But, after both teams cruised to the 2014-15 6A State Championship game, the Zebras took revenge on the Panthers, winning 51-10 over Benton at War Memorial Stadium.
This year, the Zebras are a perfect 9-0, 6-0 in the South, while the Panthers lost their first game of the year to rival Bryant in the Salt Bowl before reeling off eight straight wins, including last week’s 35-12 win over the El Dorado Wildcats on the road.
And during those eight wins, the Panthers have been unstoppable, both offensively and defensively. Benton has scored 303 points the past eight games for a 37.9 per game average, while the defense has given up just 65 points for an 8.1 average.
The Benton defense is led by senior Jeremiah Bowling’s 13 sacks, junior Brayden Harris’ 70 tackles and 6.5 sacks, junior Chandler Clift’s 11 quarterback hurries and seven sacks and senior cornerback Simeon Watson’s five interceptions and 33 tackles.
Offensively, senior quarterback Cason Maertens returned in game six after an ACL injury he suffered in the offseason. Maertens leads Saline County with a 178.3 rating, passing for 1,072 yards on 73 of 107 (68 percent), and throwing nine touchdowns against just one interception. And his numbers are for basically three and a quarter games as he played just two series in his first game back.
Senior Drew Dyer is tops in Saline County with 51 receptions for 587 yards and five TDs, while rushing for a career-high 510 yards and 12 TDs.
But Pine Bluff is no slouch by any means offensively. Senior quarterback Ladarius Skelton has had a banner year, throwing and running, as he ran for 176 yards and two TDs and passed for 155 yards and two TDs in a 49-7 win over the Sheridan Yellowjackets last week. The Zebras had a scare the previous week when El Dorado was in it late until Pine Bluff came away with a 34-27 victory. Skelton ran for 259 yards and four TDs against the Wildcats and he passed for five TDs against the Lake Hamilton Wolves in Week 6.
For the second consecutive season, the Panthers and Zebras face off for the 6A South Conference championship with kickoff coming at 7 p.m. at Panthers Stadium in the Benton Athletic Complex.