High hopes at Cabot as season approaches

The Associated Press

Cabot had to fight to the finish just to make the playoffs last year.

In 2008, expectations are much higher.

“We’re excited about what we’ve got,” coach Mike Malham said. “It’s the best team speed we’ve had since 2000.”

Cabot’s last state championship was in 2000, and this year’s team is expected to contend for another. The Panthers were No. 1 in The Associated Press preseason poll released Friday. They return nine starters on each side of the ball from a team that overcame injury to go 7-4 in 2007.

Fayetteville, the defending champion in Class 7A, is No. 2 overall, followed by Fort Smith Southside, Lake Hamilton and Bentonville. Lake Hamilton is No. 1 in 6A. Other top-ranked teams include Pulaski Academy in 5A, Nashville in 4A, Prescott in 3A and Bearden in 2A.

Cabot was led last year by running back Michael James, who put the Panthers in the playoffs with a 5-yard touchdown run against Russellville on the final play of the regular season. That run gave the Panthers a 55-42 victory — they needed to win by 12 to make the postseason.

Cabot didn’t even have the ball until Brock Bunting returned an interception 36 yards to the Russellville 5 with 4 seconds to play, setting up James’ dramatic touchdown.

The Panthers lost to Springdale Har-Ber in the first round of the playoffs, but they’d already accomplished plenty despite a collarbone injury to quarterback Seth Bloomberg. Cabot loves to run the ball, and Malham figures the injury problems the Panthers experienced last year helped the team’s depth.

The last two teams that started the season No. 1 overall failed to make the playoffs. Fort Smith Northside missed out in 2006, and Little Rock Central followed suit last year.

That’s a word of warning to Cabot and its cautiously optimistic coach, who hopes his team has enough talent to go deep into the postseason in ’08.

“It looks good on paper,” Malham said. “But we’ll see how it looks on the field.”

Fayetteville won a state title last year and again figures to be one of the top teams in its conference, the loaded 7A West.

“Very seldom will you ever hear anything about last year’s state championship,” coach Daryl Patton said.

Patton says his team is focused on making the playoffs this year in a league that includes four teams in the overall top 10 — Fayetteville, Fort Smith Southside, Bentonville and No. 9 Springdale Har-Ber.

Texarkana, which beat Lake Hamilton in the 6A title game last year, is No. 2 in that class and No. 6 overall. West Memphis is No. 3 in 6A and No. 10 overall.

Little Rock Catholic is No. 7 overall, followed by Pulaski Academy.

Greenwood and Nashville will both try for their fourth straight state titles this year. Greenwood is No. 2 in 5A to start the season.

Glen Rose, last year’s 3A champion, is unranked to start 2008. Mount Ida, the 2A champ from last year, is No. 3 in that class.

Little Rock Christian’s Michael Dyer returns in 2007 after rushing for 2,710 yards last year as a sophomore. The Warriors are No. 3 in 5A.