Don Kuhnen, AP Sports
The EP Panther Fresh- Soph boys travelled to Morrison Monday night and won their 4th game of the season defeating the Mustangs 20-12. The Panthers used their solid ground attack and a solid defense on a beautiful night for football to hand the host squad the setback.
On Morrison’s second play of the night, Panther Jordae Crow recovered a fumble on the Mustang 28. After a Max Milem scamper to the Mustang 2, freshman Tristan Hovey ran it in to put EP up 6-0 just 3 minutes into the contest.
Neither team could muster much offense in the first half and the Panthers used a nice 40 yard punt by Keegan Winckler to gain in the field position battle. After another defensive stop midway through the second period, the Panthers rushing attack had good gains from Milem, Winckler and Evan Steimle. On a first and goal from the 10, Winckler found Braedyn Frank open in the end zone for another score. Frank’s 2 point conversion run put EP ahead 14-0 with 3:49 left in the half.
EP fumbled on their next possession giving the hosts the ball on the EP 30. A couple nice passes moved it to the one and a quarterback sneak was successful in putting Morrison on the board 14-6 as the half ended.
On EP’s first possession of the second half a muffed punt snap led to a blocked punt and Morrison took over on the Panther 22. A strong Derek Naftzger 3 yard tackle for loss and 3 straight incompletions gave EP the ball back on their own 25. Two long plays were nullified by penalties and the Panthers punted back to Morrison early in the fourth quarter.
The Panther defense again stopped Morrison as consecutive passes were blocked by EP linemen Ethan Levine and Steimle to give the ball back to EP. Hovey ran the ball to the nine and Winckler found Milem in the corner of the end zone to put EP up 20-6 with 3:45 remaining.
A 50 yard pass for a touchdown gave the Mustangs another score with 2:21 left but Panther Evan Melton’s pass deflection on a 4th down kept the Panthers up 20-12 which was the final score.
Head coach Kyle Foster was happy with the victory but not totally satisfied. “We had some distractions this week and not really good practices. We were coming off a big win and took Morrison a little lighter. This week is homecoming and we need to focus our attention on an always strong Newman team. I was glad we gutted this out!”
The Panthers travel to Newman next Monday for a 5:30 contest.
