Starr’s Mill football began the season with a matchup against 7A East Coweta in the Fayette-Coweta Kick-off Classic. In a game hosted at Newnan High School, the Indians defeated the Panthers 28-21.

“Our boys played extremely hard,” head coach Chad Phillips said. “If they approach every game and every practice with that mindset, good things will happen to us.” 

Seniors Dorsey Benefield and Ethan Bramblett had a major contribution to this heated game, with Benefield scoring two touchdowns and Bramblett showing his leadership skills. 

“We have got to keep our energy up,” Bramblett said. “We lost it a little bit after halftime.”

From the start of the game, the defensive efforts had high energy but then toward the end of the game, they lost their fire. On the offensive side, the Panthers were not able to run the ball with the amount of flags thrown on each play.

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Adeline Harper

Senior Andrew Hamilton runs across the student section at Newnan High School boasting the Panther Pride flag after the Panthers score against East Coweta.

“We will have to really sit down and look at the film,” Philips said. “We made a lot of first-game mistakes, but if they will play this hard, we have a pretty good chance to play really good.” 

East Coweta got on the board first with an 86-yard pass half-way into the first quarter. Three minutes later, senior Anderson Cardoza tied the game on a 48-yard run. 

The Panthers kept the Indians from scoring again until three minutes before halftime. East Coweta scored on an 8-yard run to take a 14-7 lead into the break.

“We played with a lot of passion, a lot of heart,” Phillips said. 

The Indians scored the first touchdown of the second half of the game on a 48-yard pass, putting the Panthers down 14 points, 21-7. Benefield cut that lead in half after scoring on a 3-yard run. 

Early in the fourth quarter, senior Taylor Ratinaud intercepted an East Coweta pass and nearly returned it for a touchdown. Benefield completed the touchdown on a 3-yard run, his second of the game.

On the ensuing kickoff, East Coweta returned the ball 90 yards to capture the lead, 28-21. The game would end at this score. 

“Defensively we were prepared for this game. Offensively we probably need to work on it,” Bramblett said. “We need to keep the energy up.”

Starr’s Mill hosts Northgate this Friday at 8 p.m. in Panther Stadium.