Monitor Photo/Russell Slaton
Kameron Wilkinson, who scored two rushing touchdowns against Kemp Sept. 6, races toward the goal line in the first half.

Monitor Photo/Russell Slaton
Mabank receiver Daylon Gibbs leaps for a Kaden Penland pass Sept. 6 against Kemp, which his Panthers won on the road 20-7.

Monitor Photo/Russell Slaton
Kemp quarterback Huston Cromer keeps the ball against Mabank, with receiver Jayden Freeman (right) running interference.

Monitor Photo/Russell Slaton
Kemp running back Maddox Henderson finds a crease in the Mabank Panther defense as Enrique Apresa (No. 55) seals a block.

KEMP–Sept. 6, the Mabank Panthers faced the Kemp Yellowjackets for the first time since 2021 (and the first game as Class 4A cohorts after reclassification), with the Panthers scoring a second-half touchdown to pull away, 20-7.
Mabank led 14-7 at halftime. With 10:43 remaining in the third quarter, Kemp allowed Mabank to set up shop on the Yellowjacket 27-yard line after a Yellowjacket punt attempt was ruled down in the backfield before getting off the kick. Five plays later, Kameron Wilkinson walked in for a touchdown (his second of the night) with 8:45 left in the third quarter. The missed extra point accounted for the 20-7 Mabank lead.
Later in the third quarter, a Mabank roughing the punter penalty kept a Kemp drive alive, but the Yellowjackets eventually turned the ball over on downs at the Panther 33 with 5 minutes remaining in the third.
Kemp had the ball again near midfield until an Aaron Roden of Mabank sack and another Panther gang tackle forced a Yellowjacket punt.
During the first drive of the game, two plays and a Kemp facemask penalty put the ball on the Yellowjacket 30-yard line. A screen pass to Maddex McCrossen got the Panthers to the Kemp 1; the next play, Wilkinson crashed across the goal line, and with Noah Romero’s extra-point kick, Mabank led 7-0 with 9 minutes left in the first quarter.
With the Panther offense on the Kemp 1 again with 2:28 remaining in the opening quarter, Brayden Linder recovered an offensive fumble to extend the Mabank advantage to 14-0.
Late in the first quarter, Kemp quarterback Huston Cromer found Jayden Freeman for a 35-yard pass to the Mabank 48, Cromer connected with 15 Dunn to the Panther 25, then Cromer’s keeper put the Yellowjacket offense at the Mabank 14.
On third-and-17 from Mabank’s 20, Cromer found Freeman in the end zone, with officials determining Kemp wrestled the ball from a Mabank defender for the Yellowjackets’ first score. That cut the Mabank lead to 14-7 with 7:30 left before halftime.
Kemp next tried an onside kick, which Mabank’s Carson Pickens recovered at midfield. Kemp eventually forced a Panther punt with 6:04 left until halftime.
Kemp faced third-and-3, when Cromer was halted by Mabank’s Blaine Foote, setting up fourth-and-2 from Kemp’s own 35. A Cromer quarterback keeper appeared to pick up the first down, but a 15-yard chop block penalty on the Yellowjackets stymied that drive.
Afterward, a Wheeler Ranford 17-yard run and a pass to Linder had Mabank on Kemp’s 13 with 8 ticks left before the break. A Panther penalty, however, moved Mabank back to the 28. That drive ended with the halftime horn.