SLIDESHOW: Usually, Mustangs are known for stampeding. During Elijah Johnson's 61-yard run in the fourth quarter Friday night, it was the Mustangs who were trampled by a one-man stampede by the Panthers' senior quarterback. Quarterback Elijah Johnson had a direct hand in seven touchdowns to propel the Perryville football team to a 61-36 triumph over visiting C. Milton Wright Friday night. Johnson tossed four touchdown passes and ran for three more scores to ensure the Panthers would have a happy Homecoming. Perryville never trailed and scored the game's final 21 points to pull away. The senior signalcaller also rushed for a two-point conversion and intercepted a pass. Johnson also serves as the Panthers' punter but about the only thing he did not get a chance to do was show off his left leg because the Perryville offense was so proficient. Johnson completed 13 of 22 passes for 332 yards and four touchdowns. He ran the ball 10 times for 177 yards including two scores. "It all came down to practice," said Johnson. "We had a good week of practice. We came out executing…We just started blocking and doing the little things. The little things count. That's where it's at." Perryville scored on the game's first possession led the rest of the way although the Mustangs stayed within striking distance until the fourth quarter. Johnson's 53-yard scoring strike to Tony Smith and Ben Savick's extra point put the Panthers ahead 7-0. C. Milton Wright countered quickly but failed on the two-point try.A three-yard TD run by Smith upped the advantage to 14-6 and a one-yard plunge by Johnson on the final play of the first quarter made it 21-6. The Mustangs trimmed their deficit to 21-14 before Johnson and TyRell Hollingsworth hooked up for a 54-yard TD pass. Momentum swung twice before halftime. Ahead 28-14, the Panthers embarked on a drive into C. Milton Wright territory but could not convert a fourth down. The Mustangs promptly drove down the field and scored to slice the margin to 28-21 with 1:35 left in the quarter. The Mustangs' momentum did not last long. Perryville proceeded to march quickly down the field and Johnson threw a 13-yard TD pass to Mitchell Johansen with 20.7 seconds left in the half. The PAT was blocked so the Panthers took a 34-21 cushion into the locker room. C. Milton Wright scored on the first play from scrimmage in the second half to narrow the gap to 34-28 before Johnson connected with Hollingsworth from 21 yards out. Hollingsworth adjusted to the flight of the ball better than the Mustangs' defender, curling toward the back of the end zone, and getting both feet in bounds for good measure. "I just tried to do what I could do to help my team out," said Hollingsworth, who had five receptions for 146 yards. "They called on me (Friday night). Elijah threw me the ball. And I tried my best to catch every pass that he threw me." The 6-4 Hollingsworth, who has superior speed and outstanding jumping ability, is the conference's most dangerous weapon. Yet, Perryville has had problems getting him the ball in the past. Not so Friday. "I kept telling Elijah all the time, 'TyRell's never covered. Even when two people are on him he's not covered'," said Chris Johnson. "More times than not he's going to be the one to come up with that football." Perryville led 40-28 with 7:01 left in the third quarter but C. Milton Wright was not dead yet. The Mustangs scored on a seven-yard run on 4th and four. Following an offsides penalty of the Panthers, C. Milton Wright tacked on the two-point conversion to make it 40-36. The Mustangs tried an onside kick with the kicker dribbling the ball down the center of the field and hoping to pounce on it himself. But the kick did not travel 10 yards and the Panthers took over on the CMW 48. A 28-yard screen pass to Toby DiMauro set up a one-yard plunge by Johnson to lengthen the lead to 46-36 with less than a minute left in the third quarter. Perryville did not allow another point after coach Chris Johnson handed a whiteboard to assistant Kevin Reilly and asked the veteran coach to switch to a 4-4 defense to combat the Mustangs' strong ground game. The Panthers' next touchdown was "The Elijah Johnson Show". Johnson intercepted a pass to get the ball back to the offense. He had a spectacular 61-yard run where he bowled over a couple of Mustangs defenders and later scored on a seven-yard scamper. Zac Zacerous capped the scoring with a 26-yard run with 1:23 to go. "We really worked on the little things we weren't doing correctly on the offensive line and it really showed," Perryville coach Chris Johnson said. "They executed a lot better. Still not 100 percent. There's still some things we're missing but they gave Elijah all kinds of time to throw the football. That was important. And the fact that if you can establish the run, you've got to respect it, then that opens up the pass." Perryville quarterback Elijah Johnson scores on a seven-yard run in the fourth quarter of his team's 61-36 triumph over C. Milton Wright. (Video by Raissa Moore)
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