Panthers Whip the Cardinal Saturday
By John Earp
The Panther Defense showed good effort and skill in the first drive of the game, but the Cardinals completed a pass for a touchdown with about 3 minutes remaining in the first quarter. At the beginning of the second quarter, the Cardinals led the Panthers 6-0.
On the Panthers’ first drive of the second quarter, the boys were able to penetrate deep into Cardinal territory all the way to the 14-yard line. Unfortunately, the Cardinal Defense was able to stop the Panther Offense at that point, leading to a turnover on downs. One notable aspect of Saturday’s game was the fact that more Panther fans appeared to be in the stands cheering the boys on than were present to support the Cardinals.
The Panther Defense successfully stymied the Cardinal Offense on their next drive, capping it off with the recovery of a fumbled Eunice punt on the Cardinal 19-yard line with a minute and a half remaining in the second quarter. The Panthers then were able to press deeper into Cardinal territory, all the way down to the 9-yard line with 40 seconds left before halftime. An unfortunate false start penalty pushed the Panthers back five yards. On the next play, J.C. Taylor was able to do an end run, fending off several tacklers, all the way into the end zone. With 20 seconds left in the first half, the game was tied at 6. The Cardinals were not able to move the ball far following the kickoff, with only 14 seconds remaining in the half. The score remained 6-6 at halftime.
On first play of the third quarter, Taylor broke loose and ran the ball into the end zone from near midfield. Two-point conversion was good, giving the Panthers an 8-point lead. After forcing a Cardinal turnover on their 3-yard line, Isaiah Cervantes ran the ball in for a touchdown from the 3-yard line with 5:26 remaining in the this quarter. After another successful two-point conversion, Jal led Eunice 22-6, which remained the score at the end of the third quarter.
Cervantes took the ball in from the 4-yard line for a touchdown with 7:17 remaining in the game. Two-point conversion was unsuccessful. The Panthers had extended their lead to 28-6. Eunice was able to turn things around on their next drive, scoring their second touchdown of the game with 6:34 remaining in the fourth quarter. Two-point conversion attempt failed, and the Panthers still led 28-12.
Robert Sauceda ran a big return on the ensuing kickoff, penetrating to the Cardinal 24-yard line. Cervantes caught a screen pass and ran it through several defenders, reaching the 3-yard line. On the next play, a quarterback keeper resulted in a touchdown. With 3:15 remaining in the game, the Panthers led the Cardinals 34-12. The Cardinals made a valiant effort in their final drive of the game, but were not able to get another touchdown before time ran out. Final score was 34-12 with a big win for the Panthers over their archrivals the Cardinals.