The Panthers earned their first win of the season against Northgate High School, 35-14. The win is the team’s first under new head coach David Cooper, who previously coached the team as an assistant coach.
“[The changes in coaching staff] have been amazing, practices have been better,” senior Lincoln DeLaere said. “I mean everybody is all in.”
The two biggest points this year are physicality and aggression. These points were especially hit during last Friday’s game against the Vikings.
“Physicality is a mindset. It’s hard to practice it, and it is hard to get the coaches to engage in it every day,” Cooper said. “There’s times during the course of the season where you’ve got to inject a little intensity in them to get what you want out of them.”
The Panthers lost to the Vikings 24-21 last year and last week lost a scrimmage against Sandy Creek 28-7.
“I think we had a lot of fire built up from last week in our scrimmage against Sandy Creek,” junior Skip Smith said. “We just came to practice ready to work.”
Senior Jeremiah Potter led the offense with 2 receptions for 25 yards, 14 rushing attempts for 87 yards, and two touchdowns. DeLaere had 6 receptions for 107 yards and two touchdowns. Senior quarterback Logan Inagawa completed 12 of 14 passing attempts for 187 yards and 3 touchdowns.
“The only thing that’s changed is our mindset,” senior Alex Coxton said. “I feel like last year we came in and just expected to walk in and beat them, and this year we came in with a chip on our shoulder.”
The Panthers will play the Whitewater Wildcats next. Starr’s Mill defeated the Wildcats last year 24-10.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. in Panther Stadium this Friday.