A typical Cabot team means trouble for Jonesboro. But this has been no typical season for the Hurricane.
Just how far Jonesboro has caught up with the Panthers should be answered this evening.
No. 10 Jonesboro and Cabot collide tonight with as much as a share of the AAAAA-East conference championship at stake when they meet at Cooksey-Johns Field.
Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. It is just one of two very important conference games tonight. Jacksonville and West Memphis, also locked in the four-way tie for first with Cabot and Jonesboro, collide tonight. All four teams are 4-1 in the conference.
Cabot is the two-time defending AAAAA-East champion, and has similar aspirations, though. The Panthers could claim at least a share of the league title with wins in their final two games and could possibly win the conference outright.
But no matter what scenarios develop among other AAAAA-East schools and their outcomes, tonight's game between the 10th-ranked Hurricane and Cabot should go a long way in determining how the league shapes up.
"We want to take care of business," Cabot coach Mike Malham said. "We can't control what else happens. I guess sharing the conference is better than nothing, but we are just looking at Jonesboro and preparing for them."
Typically, Jonesboro hasn't fared well when it has lined up against Cabot.
The Panthers have won nine straight games over JHS dating back to 1992 when the Hurricane scratched out a 22-10 victory. In the 11 meetings since becoming conference opponents, Cabot has dominated the series with 10 wins and only one loss while outscoring JHS 333-128.
The Panthers do it with a straight-on approach, using the Dead-T offense and very few tricks. Their success at it includes four conference championships in the past five years along with the AAAAA state title in 2000.
Last year, Cabot humiliated the Hurricane 41-7 with 396 yards rushing for all its offense. The year before, the Panthers won 30-10 and the previous year
Cabot won 42-7. A DeVazier-coached Jonesboro team has never beaten the Panthers.
One obstacle the Hurricane will have to stop is Cabot fullback Chris Robertson.
Last year, Robertson rushed for 89 yards on 12 carries against JHS while halfback Ryan Bayles carries 11 times for 113 yards and three touchdowns. This year, Robertson leads the Panthers with 1,001 yards and 13 TDs on 156 carries.
Last week at Searcy, the Hurricane defense had a hard time stopping either of the Lions' running backs.
Searcy halfback Earl Young carried 16 times for 166 yards and three TDs while fullback Weston Dacus had 97 yards on 24 carries.
Searcy finished the night with 446 yards offense and scored 37 points, both of which were season-high efforts against Jonesboro's vaunted defense. The Hurricane came into the game
CABOT The Jonesboro Lady Hurricane had no problem with Little Rock Hall in its first-round matchup at the state AAAAA volleyball tournament.
Jonesboro cruised to its 36th win of the season as it remained unbeaten with a 15-2, 15-0, 15-0 victory over Hall Thursday afternoon.
The Lady Hurricane (36-0) returned to the court to take on Russellville this morning in a state quarterfinals matchup. The Jonesboro-Russellville winner advances to the semifinals today at 4 p.m. with the finals set for Saturday.
In the victory over LR Hall, Jonesboro's Stacey Lewis led the Lady Hurricane with 11 digs and seven kills while Courtney Boeckmann was 18-of-18 serving, including two aces, and also had six digs. Also for JHS, Allyson Seagrave had 14 assists and four digs, Allison Taylor had five kills, Hillary Speer contributed five kills and nine assists and Kristin Etter was 14-of-14 serving with two aces, along with three digs and 10 kills.
In other state volleyball tournament games played Thursday, it was a good day for the AAAA-East conference at the Class AAAA tournament.
Wynne, Paragould, Marion and Nettleton made it a clean sweep for the AAAA-East as each team won its first-round match at Harrison High School.
Sophomore Rachel Allison hammered 13 kills and Nettleton served up 11 aces as a team to upend AAAA-Southeast second seed Sylvan Hills 15-2, 15-9, 15-13.
In other matches, AAAA-East regular-season co-champion Wynne whipped Helena-West Helena Central 15-2, 15-2, 15-7, while Paragould downed AAAA-Southeast conference champion North Pulaski 15-11, 15-5, 15-13. Paragould meets Greenwood and Wynne takes on Morrilton as play resumes today in a pair of quarterfinals, while Nettleton faces either Hot Springs Lakeside or Siloam Springs in another quarterfinal.
The tournament semifinals will be played today at 4 and 6, respectively.
Sylvan Hills, dropping down to the AAAA level this season, led most of game three and held a 13-11 advantage until Nettleton scored the final four points to close out the match.
Junior setter/hitter Taylor Williams served up a pair of aces in those four points, including match point.
Wynne notched its first-ever state tournament victory in fine fashion.
Wynne's Lady Yellowjackets (19-8) served up 18 aces as a team, including six by Laura Woodruff and four by Jessica Stepp.
Wynne coach Jennifer Shipman said her team, which is making its third straight state tournament appearance, did not show any jitters.
"We came out strong and played very well," said Shipman, who started the volleyball program at Wynne four years ago.
Autumn Campbell led Wynne with 11 kills, while Jena Gracey added nine kills and three solo blocks. Jessica Stepp contributed 12 assists, four digs and four aces, while freshman Jodi Stepp added five kills, six digs and two solo blocks.
Paragould coach Amy Glenn said her team got several strong individual efforts in pulling the upset against the previously unbeaten AAAA-Southeast conference champions.
Amanda Whisbe served 12 straight points in game two as the Lady Rams (17-8) rolled. She also finished with a team-high 12 assists. Denning also had a team-high nine kills.
Mitchell, a 6-0 sophomore, finished with four kills and three solo blocks. Rachel Maxwell also had five solo blocks.