CABOT -- On the same course where they tied a team record and won a conference championship a week ago, Jonesboro suffered a 19-stroke setback in the Class AAAAA state golf championships at Greystone Country Club.
The Hurricane, unbeaten on the season going into Tuesday's tournament, settled for third with a team total of 307.
It was the mighty Cabot Panthers working their magic on their home course to win their seventh state team title in the last eight years. They did so by firing a team score of 304, edging second-place Fort Smith Southside (305) by a single stroke.
Jonesboro's Willie Little, who posted a three-under par 69 a week ago, finished with a 79.
Jonesboro's Stephen Cox gave the Hurricane its best showing with an even-par 72, good enough for a tie for second place but a wayward tee shot on the first playoff hole all but eliminated him from contention for a spot in the overall tournament.
"He had a great round. Even par under these conditions is a great round. He is a 10th grader and I mean I couldn't imagine teeing it up in a playoff in 10th grade. He happened to hit a bad shot at the wrong time," JHS assistant coach and former Forrest City Mustang golfer Adam Rauth said.
Rauth was acting as the Hurricane's coach for the day with head coach Phil Parker in Jonesboro nursing a bad back.
Matt Sullivan was second-best on the team with a 77 and Chris Woodard matched Little's 79.
Forrest City's Sawyer Ramsey, the only Mustang player to qualify for state play, finished with a 79.
"That was good experience for Sawyer," said Forrest City Coach Tommy Wheetley.
Marcus Huffer finished out of the scoring with a team-high 81.
Fort Smith Southside's Allen McFadden earned medalist honors with a two-under 70. Sam Korbe of Springdale and Jeremy Davis of Southside, who beat out Cox in the playoff, finished next with a pair of 72s.
Cox regained his cool in the middle of the back nine after a wayward tee shot on the par-5 No. 15 became the hot topic of controversy.
His drive landed in the far-left rough, but without the course properly marked it was difficult to determine if he was out of bounds.
Cox was required to hit two balls as a ruling was being made. It ultimately didn't matter as he made a bogey six on both balls, which dropped him to 1-under.
He continued to play the next three holes beautifully, coming within inches on each from an elusive birdie that would have put him atop the leader board.
But No. 18 turned into a near disaster. Compensating for his consistent hook off the tee, Cox blocked his drive into the trees on the right side. He chipped it out 60 yards up the fairway, setting himself in good position for par but his approach shot flopped just short and right of the green near a creek.
He then chipped to within eight feet and two putted from there to put him in the playoff.
The pin placements took its toll on the players just as much as the soggy course, the hills and humidity. The cups were cut in the extreme corners, behind traps, and on top of terraced greens.
On the par-4 No. 8, Woodard, already 2-over on the day, hit a great approach shot that looked to settle on the top level of the multi-plateau green. But gravity took hold, pulling the ball away from the back right pin placement.
The letdown from last week's monster team number of 288 in the conference tournament was more of a display of the Hurricane's ability on the course that what it showed Tuesday.
"(A week ago) we really showed what this team could do," Rauth said. "I was saying to everybody that it was a shame that they had their worst round by far, came in the state."
There will be a new AAAAA state champion this year.
Defending champ, Bentonville got as far as the semifinals Tuesday before running into Benton and serious trouble.
Benton sent 12 batters to the plate to turn in a seven-run, second inning to beat Bentonville 14-2 in five innings at DeJanis Memorial Field.
The Panthers will face Fayetteville on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville for the Class AAAAA state title.
Bentonville finishes the year at 20-10. The Tigers made six errors which took them out of the game early.
Chris Cangelose hit a leadoff home run for the Tigers, but that was one of the few highlights.
The big second inning was all Benton (25-4) needed to post the win.
Benton starter Bryan Greer, who improved to 12-0.
Greer finished with five strikeouts and was aided by the Panthers' defense in the field.
Nothing fazed Benton on Tuesday, not even Cangelose's home run. Travis Gunter had the Tigers other RBI with a third-inning double.
In Tuesday's other semifinal game, Pine Bluff had the emotion, motivation and the revenge factor.
But Fayetteville had Blake Parker, and that was more than enough to send the Bulldogs back to the Class AAAAA state championship game for the second consecutive season.
Fayetteville beat the Zebras 9-3 Tuesday at DeJanis Memorial Field, getting a home run and three hits from Parker, who was also the winning pitcher.
Parker, who has signed to play for the Arkansas Razorbacks, was 3-for-4 with four RBI and pitched the final four innings, striking out five and allowing no hits.
Pine Bluff ends the season at 20-5 while Fayetteville improves to 24-8.
The two teams have played in each round of the state tournament four of the past five years, including three consecutive.
The Bulldogs beat the Zebras in the tournament's first round last season.
The Zebras were playing for their head coach, Billy Bock, who was still in the hospital with heart trouble and missed his second consecutive game.
The Class AAAA state final will be decided Saturday when Sylvan Hills goes against Batesville at 5:30 p.m.
In Tuesday's semifinals, Sylvan Hills downed Nettleton 4-3 and Batesville edged Greene County Tech 3-2.
Due to weather, some finals have not yet been decided.
Coaching changes at this time of the school year are beginning to be almost commonplace.
Coaches use this time period -- just before the renewing of contracts -- to check other opportunities or to switch positions or to just retire, altogether.
Skip Sanford, the Cabot Lady Panther head basketball coach for the last four seasons, recently turned in a request for transfer to the Cabot school board, asking to be removed from his position as girls basketball coach and be a track coach.
Sanford cited the time consuming nature of the job and a lack of enjoyment as the main reasons for his request.
"A major benefit of this request is the family time I'll have," Sanford said. "It's a 12-month job and my kids aren't going to be this young forever. I'm going to spend more time with my family. Plus you know, you win 25 games you'd think there would be a little bit of enjoyment you'd get out of that. But that wasn't the case. The rewards were just not worth the effort."
Sanford didn't elaborate any further, but his request did come shortly after the latest in a series of meetings between players, parents, Sanford and Sanford's superiors at Cabot High School.
The meetings mostly involved parents and players expressing concerns about Sanford's coaching ability and demeanor.
Cabot athletic director Johnny White has publicly stood behind Sanford in the conflict, but says he hopes the transfer will be the best for everyone involved.
"It was just no fun for him anymore and I hope he can move on from this," White said of Sanford. "A lot of it was about X's and O's and people not pleased with what Skip was doing. We did everything they asked. They made some lists and wrote out a plan, and he did and exceeded everything they asked us. Well then it became about playing time. And then about who started."
Cabot High School principle Robert Martin was also in on the meetings.
Sanford has asked to be transferred to an assistant coach's position in the track program to help boys and girls track coach Leon White.
Leon White currently heads the track program for boys and girls at the high school and at North and South junior high schools.
LITTLE ROCK --Jonesboro's Chris Jones and the doubles team of Amanda Troutt and Whitney Williams also brought home a state championship Tuesday in the Class AAAAA state tennis tournament at Little Rock's Rebsamen Tennis Center.
Forrest City did not qualify anyone for the championships.
Wynne's Will Slabaugh gave Northeast Arkansas another state tennis title Tuesday by winning the Class AAAA boys' singles title in Arkadelphia.
Slabaugh's run to the singles title helped Wynne finish second in the team standings to Lakeside. JHS finished second to Cabot in both the boys' and girls' team standings.