The Fighting Panthers
A man’s true character is defined through times of adversity. For the Benton Panther football team, the past three years have been filled with adversity. They have been filled with losses and failures, new coaches and doubt, along with the lack of faith among Panther hopeful. The difficulties of the past years have not gone unnoticed by the school district, the community, or the opponents the Panthers play. It has also not gone unnoticed by the team itself. But what makes the Benton Panthers special is that even in the midst of all of the adversity, the Panthers refuse to quit.
Over the past three years, the Panthers have had three head coaches, causing the team to learn a new system of offense every year, ranging all the way from the wishbone to the multiple-spread. This, along with the size of the classes at Benton High School steadily decreasing, has lead to no Salt Bowl victories, no playoff appearances, and a grand total of five wins over that period. To add to this already steep uphill battle, the team has often been plagued with season ending injuries to key players, such as starting quarterback Grant Jones’s torn ACL last season during the Lake Hamilton game, or starting wide receiver/running back Drew McCurry’s broken arm. Last year, a one win season for Benton, the Panthers had to resort to their fourth string quarterback to finish out their games.
Because of the community’s disappointment in the program, attendance at C.W. Lewis, the Panther’s home field, has decreased over these hard years, and some are beginning to question the future of the Benton football Panthers. People are beginning to wonder how a team, so rich with tradition and a great honorable history could be dwindling into a permanent 6A South punching bag. Others often make cracks at the team, all of which are sarcastic remarks referring to the team’s record or an upcoming game against a tough opponent. But what these people don’t know is what it takes to prepare week in and week out before the upcoming battle on Friday night; they don’t know what it takes to put on that Benton Panther game jersey and button up the silver helmet that you’ve worked to hard to earn; they don’t know what it takes to put every ounce of your heart and soul into something that no one believes in; they simply don’t know. The only guys that know what it takes to be a Benton Panther are the same and only group of guys who believe in them: the Benton Panther football team. And that is what makes us special.
Every afternoon the Panthers go to work, regardless of how tired or hot they are, and regardless of the outcome of the last game. They practice at the new turf field at the Benton athletic complex, and it is on that very field where the Panthers prove everyone wrong. The sweat and blood the team sheds on the turf every day is what turns people’s doubt into their belief and the community’s shame into their determination. There is not a video, pictures, or an audio recording that can further make someone understand the fight in these players. Throughout everything that has transpired over the past few years, the Panthers have come out with more heart and intensity than they have ever had. There is not an obstacle big enough, a situation bad enough, or a loss ugly enough to make this team quit. Quitting is simply not an option.
A man’s true character is defined through times of adversity. The Benton Panthers show their character every day on the practice field and every Friday night under the lights. They show everyone that even with a new coach and new offense, even with many injured starters, even with the lack of size and strength they can put on the field, and even with the bitter taste of records from previous years still fresh in their mouths…even through all of that, they will always leave everything they have out in the field…it’s that mentality and it’s that character, that makes the Benton Fighting Panthers the most special team in the state.
Written by Caleb Conrad, Head Manager of Benton Football
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