Monitor Photo/Russell Slaton
Brayden Linder, playing quarterback for Mabank, rears back for a throw toward the sideline.

Monitor Photo/Russell Slaton
Carson Pickens (No. 88) recovers a fumbled Canton punt late in the first half Sept. 20.

Monitor Photo/Russell Slaton
Gavin Foote runs with the football as Wheeler Ranford looks for a Canton player to block.

Monitor Photo/Russell Slaton
Mabank kicker Noah Romero attempts a 42-yard field goal against Canton during Homecoming.

Monitor Photo/Russell Slaton
Mabank defender Racer McCullough slides across the turf while positioning for a Sept. 20 tackle.

Monitor Photo/Russell Slaton
Mabank defenders Rev Neighbors and Wayne Langford bulldoze a Canton running back.

MABANK–The Mabank Panthers fell to 1-3 for the 2024 season after losing Sept. 20’s Homecoming football game to the Canton Eagles, 21-0.
Early in the contest, Mabank’s Blaine Foote recovered a Canton fumble on the Eagles’ second offensive play of the game, spotted at the Canton 26-yard line. That drive ended with a 42-yard field goal attempt by Noah Romero, which fell short.
Canton failed to convert a fourth-and-4 pass at the Mabank 13 with 3 minutes left in the third quarter, but the ensuing Panther drive ended with a punt. Canton started another drive, but costly penalties made it third-and-26 from the Mabank 27. Rev Neighbors knocked down a third-down pass, then a Canton throw into the end zone fell incomplete, turning the ball over on downs with 9:53 left in the second quarter.
Canton faced fourth-and-5 from the Mabank 31-yard line with 2:28 remaining before halftime, as a multi-minute Eagle drive wound down. Canton converted the fourth down with a pass to Mabank’s 11. Two players later, a Canton quarterback keeper scored the game’s first touchdown. The extra-point was true, and Canton led 7-0 with 1:45 left in the second quarter.
Afterward, a Mabank drive ended with a punt, which Canton fumbled, recovered by Mabank’s Carson Pickens at the Canton 40-yard line with 1:45 left until the half. The following Panther drive was hamstrung by a 15-yard personal foul penalty and then a false-start flag, backing up Mabank to their own 46. Brayden Linder, at quarterback, found Noah Romero deep in Canton territory, but offsetting fouls brought the ball back with 39 seconds left in the first half.
Another 15-yard penalty and 10-second runoff reduced Mabank’s chances of offensive success (setting up a third-and-33 from the Panthers’ own 37), when the half ended.
In the second half, Canton scored a 1-yard touchdown on a quarterback keeper with 9:29 left in the third quarter, increasing the Eagle lead to 14-0 after the extra point. Later in the third quarter (with 4 minutes remaining), Canton scored their third and final touchdown of the night, this time on a 5-yard run up the gut with 4 minutes left in the third. The point-after made it 21-0, Canton.
The Eagles had another scoring opportunity in the fourth quarter, when the Eagles missed a field goal with 8:23 left in the game.