by Steve Bradley
The Panther football team took to the road and trekked up to Corinth last Friday. With a win, the Panthers would be Northern Division champions. With a Panther loss, the Corinth Tomahawks and Hoosick Falls would tie with identical 5 – 1 league records.
[private]The Tomahawks did everything they could to help the Panthers, fumbling seven times, losing five. A team can’t give the number one ranked team in the state five turnovers and hope to be in the game at the end. Corinth not only wasn’t in the game at the end, they were out of it by the end of the first quarter. The Panthers never punted.
Corinth received the opening kickoff and moved the ball to just inside Panther territory, where the drive ended. After a Corinth punt, the Panthers took over at their own 44 yard line. After just missing a first play TD with a pass play, the Panthers moved 56 yards to pay dirt on three plays, highlighted by a 52 yard Brandon Hodges scamper. Hodges dove into the end zone from three yards out for the score. Damon Dubois tacked on the extra point, and the Panthers held a 7 – 0 lead.
The Panthers again kicked off to Corinth. Three plays later, Corinth gave the ball back on a fumble that Hodges recovered at the Tomahawks’ 40. On the next play, quarterback Garret Wright connected with a wide open Colby Davendonis. Dubois kicked the PAT and the Panthers led 14 – 0.
After another quick no first down possession by Corinth, the Panthers started a drive from their own 39 yard line. On the second play, Wright took the snap, faked a handoff and dashed, barely touched, down to the Tomahawk 4 yard line. The Panthers scored with a quick pass from Wright to Levi Brewster. The first quarter ended 21 – 0.
For the entire game Corinth never got anything going, gaining only 29 yards rushing, 34 yards passing and getting three first downs. The Panther defense hounded and pounded them on anything they tried to do. Austin Pitt, Mark Hackett and Davendonis led the way with four tackles each. Pitt, Hodges, with 2, Derek Bird and David Hardesty all recovered fumbles.
On the Panthers’ offensive side of the ball, 340 yards were gained on the ground, with Hodges getting 176 of those along with three TDs. Wright threw for three touchdowns and 124 passing yards (7 of 17), along with seven rushes for 67 yards and one score. Mike Mattat did his part, contributing 57 yards on 11 carries and 52 receiving yards and a score. Dubois was good on all seven extra points he attempted.
The 2013 Panthers have been keeping their predecessors records intact. Panther football has won 46 straight Section II games. The 2013 Panthers outscored their opponents 281 – 13 in the regular season.
With the regular season complete, the Panthers move into the Sectionals. As number one seed, HF will face the Southern Division fourth seed, the 4 – 3 Watervliet Cannoneers, at the Panther Den on October 25. Game time is 7 pm. Temps could be in the upper thirties at kick-off so you may want to wear your woollies.
Vliet is a Dutch word for streaming water or canal. In 1788 the Town of Watervliet included all of present day Albany County with the exception of the city of Albany. The area of present day Watervliet was known as Gibbonsville. The city of Watervliet was incorporated in 1896.
In other news, the 7 – 0 Chatham Panthers defeated the 1 – 6 Cairo-Durham Mustangs by a score of 52 – 0.
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