Bears Smack Down Panthers
By John Earp
Friday night in Panther Stadium, the JHS Varsity Football Team faced off against the Estancia Bears. After 4-1/2 minutes of the first quarter, the Panther Defense had held Estancia to a turnover on downs. The Panthers were unfortunately offensively ineffectual on their first drive, however, and the Bears took possession once again in Panther territory. The Bear offense made good progress, penetrating into the red zone within a couple minutes. With a 1st and 10 on the 14-yard line, the Bears quarterback completed a pass in the flat, with the receiver making it into the end zone. However the play was called back on a holding penalty. With 2:20 remaining in the first quarter, the Bears scored a touchdown from about 10 yards out with a completion over the middle to a receiver who was all alone in the end zone.
The Panther Offense continued to have difficulty moving the ball on their next possession, and on 4th and 8 punted from their 36-yard line, making it to the Bears’ 31-yard line. A holding penalty against the Bears pushed the line of scrimmage back to the 21-yard line.
At the end of the first quarter, the Bears had possession on the 21. The Panthers were able to hold the Bears on the following drive, forcing them to punt with 9:50 remaining in the second. A totally unnecessary holding penalty was called on the Panthers on the return, which placed them on their 9-yard line. The Panther Offense once again was ineffectual and had to punt on 4th from the 9-yard line. The ensuing punt was returned for an Estancia touchdown with 7:12 remaining in the second quarter. Estancia led 13-0 at that point.
The ensuing Bears kickoff went out of bounds, giving the Panthers excellent field position at their 49-yard line. Unfortunately on the next play, the Panther quarterback was sacked for a 6-yard loss. On third and 16, the Panther runner was dropped in the backfield for a 9-yard loss, forcing a punt. The Panther Offense was not able to make any real progress but actually had only negative yardage on this drive.
The Panther Defense was able to recover a Bear turnover on the Panther 15-yard line with about 4 minutes remaining in the second quarter but were once again unable to capitalize on it on the ensuing drive. Estancia scored another touchdown with 1:24 remaining in the second quarter. At halftime, the Estancia Bears were thrashing the Panthers 20-0.
The Panther Offense looked good in their first drive of the second half, but unfortunately Zaine Vega threw an interception with about 9:30 remaining. On the next play, the Bears took the ball into the end zone for their fourth touchdown of the game. With 8:59 remaining in the third quarter, the Bears led the Panthers 26-0.
The game continued along the same lines, with the Bears’ scoring pace slowing a bit, no doubt as they increasingly used their second stringers, but with the Panthers continuing to be unable to score or move the ball much. With 7:09 remaining in the fourth, the Bears were ahead 39-0. And that was the final score in what would, if nothing else, be a hard lesson for the Jal Panthers.