The 15-0 win streak against McIntosh ended Friday night as the Panthers lost to the Chiefs, 30-13.
“They might have been a little hungrier,” head coach Chad Phillips said. “They are by far the best McIntosh team we’ve seen.”
Although the Panther offense was leading midway throught the second quarter, the setbacks started early with a holding call on their first possesion. With 8:16 left in the second quarter, junior quarterback Kyle Moseley gave the Panthers their first touchdown of the game with a dive play from the one-yard line. Moseley showed improvement in the passing game with a 56 percent completion rate for 99 passing yards. Hayden Beyer’s 10-yard touchdown catch late in the fourth quarter was the Panthers first of the season.
“Our offense is getting better,” Beyer said. “Kyle’s making good reads and finding the open man a lot more. We just couldn’t hold on to the ball.” Several receivers dropped some catchable balls.
Phillips was right about the Chiefs being the better team that night. McIntosh outgained The Mill 365 yards to 271, but Phillips doesn’t feel that decided the game.
“We didn’t have the ball enough,” Phillips said. The Chief offense had possession 11 minutes longer than the Panthers did. With this extra time, McIntosh junior quarterback Andrew Johnson was able to conduct his offense in a balanced attack that consisted of 168 yards rushing and 197 yards that came on nine passes. Johnson himself rushed for 90 yards and one touchdown.
Johnson opened up the passing game with his favorite target, senior Brian White, who recorded five receptions for 114 yards. Proving to be a tough tackling target for the Panther secondary, each completion to White resulted in either a first down or a touchdown.
“We had too many missed assignments,” defensive back coach Jeff Schmidlkofer said. “Our boys have nothing to fret about though. This is definitely not the old McIntosh team.”
The Panther defense was shaky from the start, failing to stop McIntosh’s eight and a half minute opening drive and recorded only one forced turnover, a Beyer interception. The Chiefs outscored the Panthers by 13 points in the second half. Beyer touchdown softened the blow for the Panthers. Also, Phillips said he feels missed asignments and poor tackling were a problem.
“We had some blown coverages,” Schmidlkofer said, “and good teams will make you pay for your mistakes.”
Class of 2003 graduate, Andy Smith, now the receivers coach at McIntosh, has a big win against his alma mater under his belt.
“I pass all of the glory for this win on to the boys of fall at McIntosh,” Smith said. “They have put the time in and done what it takes to improve as a football team.”
The Panthers will be trying to get back on track as they prepare for another area game against Northgate at 7:30 p.m. at home Friday. A win against them would help the Panthers’ case for a possible playoff position.
“The game was a great example of life,” Phillips said. “Things won’t always go our way. All we can do is get better and go hard every day.”