by Steve Bradley
If there had been a working scoreboard, the Panthers would have lit it up last Friday evening.
The HFCS Panthers rode the bus up Route 67 last Friday to take on the Mechanicville Red Raiders at Mechanicville HS. Even though they were playing in a steady rain on a sloppy track, it didn’t take long for the Panthers to put up a score.
On the first play of their first possession, Panther quarterback Garrett Wright found David Hardesty for a 39 yard pass completion that took them down to Mechanicville 10. A couple of plays later, Wright scampered 6 yards around the left side into the end zone, and HF would never look back. Later in the quarter, after the Red Raiders had a nice drive stall and had to punt the ball back, Brandon Hodges ran up the middle for a 16 yard touchdown. In the second quarter, Hodges scored on a twelve yard run, and Levi Brewster landed in the end zone after receiving a 16 yard pass from Wright. The score at the half was 27 – 0.
In the third quarter Hodges once again scored, this time on a seven yard run. In the fourth quarter, Colby Davendonis broke free and scored on a 23 yard run to cap the Panther scoring.
The 2 – 0 Panthers racked up 283 total yards. Once again, running back Brandon Hodges led the attack. Hodges piled up 138 rushing yards and 3 rushing touchdowns. Hodges remained in second in local scoring with 44 points, Davendonis is 26th with 20. Quarterback Wright completed 3 of 5 attempts for 87 yards, 29 yards per completion. Kicker Damon Dubois returned to action this week, booting his trademark near or into the end zone kickoffs. Dubois went four of five on PATs, with a fumbled snap being the cause of the one miss.
The Red Raiders moved the ball well against the Panther defense, but it was so sloppy it was hard to tell if this may be something to be concerned about or a one night issue. Wright had four solo tackles, and Davendonis and Hodges each had 10 total tackles and assists. Peter Muratorri had 9 total.
In other news, last Friday Chatham defeated Coxackie-Athens 49 – 0.
On Friday, September 20, the Panthers stay home to face the 1 – 1 Granville Golden Horde. Game time is 7 pm. Last week, Granville defeated Corinth 48 – 22.