Denton Ramsey and Charlie Partridge/The Times

The John Essex Hornets swarmed out onto the field on Friday night, shutting down the Marengo Panthers 38-6 in front of their home crowd.

Hornets starting quarterback Keionte Phillips connected with Dewayne Smith with 2:46 left in the first quarter to put John Essex on top 6-0.

After a two-point conversion was successful by Frankie Glass, the Hornets led in the game 8-0.

“Our leaders stepped up tonight,” Hornets head coach Alphus Shipman said.

“Glass played excellent and Dematric Edwards had 12 tackles and one sack.

He also played great.”

With 0:58 ticks left in the first quarter, Marengo’s Jarvis McCall sailed a pass across the middle to Jeremy Dixon to cut the lead to 8-6.

The Panthers then failed on the two-point conversion attempt.

At the 11:17 mark in the second quarter, Phillips made a pass to Latrentum Williams, who weaved in for a 52-yard touchdown.

After making the two-point conversion, John Essex led 16-6.

After a fumble in the end zone by the Panthers with 9:47 remaining in the half, the Hornets added a safety to increase the lead to 18-6.

With 4:40 left in the first half, Phillips again connected with Williams on a touchdown pass to make it 24-6 Hornets.

After a failed two-point conversion, the score remained the same.

Phillips threw an 8-yard touchdown pass with 2:23 remaining in the second quarter to bring the Hornets lead up to 30-6.

As the second half began, Phillips came out hot and sailed a pass to Erroyll Robinson, who out-ran the Panthers defense to up the John Essex lead to 38-6 after a successful two-point conversion.

Phillips, who was starting his first game at quarterback after playing as a receiver last year, had five touchdowns for 178 yards.

“These guys played hard and I am very proud of them,” Shipman said.

“Now we are one step closer to a big test against American Christian in Tuscaloosa next week.”