By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Can anyone say 'ripe for an upset?'
While the Forrest City Mustangs are coming off a less-than-stellar performance in Friday's 14-6 loss to Little Rock Mills, likewise, the Cabot Panthers struggled against West Memphis.
In fact, it came down to this for the Panthers. Cabot's defense stopped West Memphis back Rodney Stokes just one-yard shy of the end zone on a fourth down play from the three-yard line in overtime.
That preserved Cabot's 28-21 homecoming win before an overflow crowd at Panther Stadium.
Cabot, 3-1 overall and 2-0, had cleared a major hurdle, maybe its biggest of the season so far, in the quest for yet another AAAAA-East conference title.
Against Mills, Forrest City was turned away just short of the goal line several times, the most notable time coming on the final play of the first half when Mills intercepted a Forrest City pass in the endzone to preserve a 6-6 halftime tie.
Forrest City's last gasp chance for points came late in the fourth period when a fourth-and-four pass fell incomplete and Mills took over on downs leading 14-6.
It was also painful that the Mustangs only had the football for four offensive plays in the entire third quarter.
Forrest came away with its second consecutive loss to Mills -- a team described by one of the Forrest City assistant coaches as "not as good a team athletically as they were a year ago, but a team that played hard on every down and made the plays when the plays needed to be made."
The look on the face of Forrest City Head Coach Donnie Willis, when asked to comment on the performance of his Mustang team against Mills, said it all, loud and clear. No words needed to be spoken.
Come Friday, however, it may be the Mustangs' chance to turn the tide against Cabot, a team they have not defeated since the 1995 season.
It is homecoming for Forrest City. Strange and wonderful things happen during homecoming games.
The Mustangs, 3-2 overall and 1-1, are not by any stretch of the imagination, out of the race for a playoff berth, nor are they out of the running to have a successful, winning season.
While the loss to Mills was hard to swallow, the Mustangs have a chance to reverse their fortunes this week against a Cabot team that is not nearly as dominant this season as they have been and the Mustangs have shown they can grab the upset win and take it to the house when they want to.
West Memphis (2-3, 1-1), yet another East team which is struggling to find itself this season, did just that Friday when they sent an early message to the Panthers that a 2-0 conference start was not going to come easy.
Mario Berry took the opening kickoff 91 yards for a West Memphis touchdown and the tone was set.
Following Berry's opening return, Cabot didn't gain a net yard on its first possession, but did score later to lead.
The Mustangs felt the early sting when the opening kickoff was muffed and Mills recovered. That led to the Comets' first touchdown and an early 6-0 lead.
West Memphis didn't let down against Cabot. With 9:40 to play in the first half, the Blue Devils regained a 14-7 lead. Cabot answered, twice to lead 21-14 at the half. It would not be until overtime, however, that Cabot would find the endzone again.
Meanwhile, the Mustangs made for themselves, and were given ample scoring opportunities, throughout the course of the game, but self-destructed by committing turnovers (four) and getting tagged with too many penalties (10 for 90 yards)
The Panthers gained a Cabot-like 341 total yards, 304 of it on the ground via 51 rushing attempts.
The Mustangs defense gave up 254 yards to Mills -- 226 on the ground.
The Mustang offense managed 204 total yards -- 112 of that in the air.
That could be a key against Cabot.
* CITY LEAGUES
Men's Adult League Softball
Monday's Scores
M&T Paving 14, Young Guns 11
Barnes Timber 20, Boar's Head 10
SSA 10, Miller Insurance 9
Co-Ed Softball League
Tuesday, October 2
Kemps vs Movie Madness, 6 p.m.
Boar's Head vs Wynne Cinema, 7 p.m.
Youth Flag Football
Monday's Scores
Lions 26, Vikings 21
Bears 27, Tigers 26
Indians 28, Razorbacks 8
Youth Soccer
Tuesday, October 2
Rockets vs Bullets, 9-under 6 p.m.
Thrashers vs Iguanas, 1-13, 6 p.m.
Sting vs Tigers, 9-under, 7:15 p.m.
Flames vs Grizzlies, 10-13, 7:15 p.m.
* PREP FOOTBALL
Seventh-Grade Football
Saturday's Score
FCity Green 28, Marianna 12
Saturday, October 6
FCity Yellow vs FCity Red, 9 a.m.
at Sam Smith Stadium
Tuesday, October 9
WMemphis Wonder at Forrest City, 5 p.m.
(7th Grade & Blue 8th Grade)