Panther football loses hard-fought homecoming game

The Saratoga Panthers football team played in front of a packed house last Friday for their homecoming game and senior night. But even with the support of the town behind them, they could not pull off the win. The Panthers fell in a 6-34 loss to the Wind River Cougars (3-3, 3-4).

The loss drops the Panthers to 0-7 overall and 0-6 in conference for the year. But head coach Scott Bokelman said he is still pleased with his improving team.

"I thought we played better," Bokelman said. "I thought we attacked the ball well on defense. I did see a lot of positive things from our team."

Bokelman said his team made mistakes, including several turnovers, which lead to their loss.

The Cougars drew first blood in the early part of the first quarter with a touchdown run. Wind River followed up and punched in a 10-yard run with 11:17 in the second quarter giving them a 12-0 advantage over Saratoga.

But the Panthers wouldn't go down without a fight.

The Panthers answered with a trick play. Saratoga running back Kyle Bartlett connected a pass with wide receiver Cameron Lehr with 7:28 to go in the first half. The trick play was something Bokelman's team had been working on all week in order to move the ball down field.

"We are trying to do some tricky things to keep other teams off balance," Bokelman said.

The Cougars responded with a short-yardage run and a successful two-point conversion with 23 second remaining in the first half. The Panthers were down 6-20 going into the locker room.

Saratoga lost their offensive momentum in the third quarter, stalling on all of their drives. However the Panther defense was able to hold off the Wind River offensive attack throughout the third quarter.

"We didn't have the ball that much [in the second half], and when we did, we didn't have it for very long," Bokelman said.

Wind River took advantage of the tired Panther defense in the fourth quarter. The Cougars scored on a two-yard run with 5:32 in the fourth quarter. The Cougars passing attack picked apart the Panther secondary with a 20-yard touchdown pass with 3:56 left in the fourth.

The Panthers had three different players throw the ball for them during the game including quarterback Thatcher Spiering, receiver Rodrigo Escobedo and Bartlett.

Saratoga has an high chance to end their season on a positive note when they head Ethete to take on the Wyoming Indian High School Chiefs. The Chiefs are winless in their 7 games this year, and have lost by an average of 65 points per game. The only time Wyoming Indian scored any points this season was in their 7-77 loss to Shoshoni.

Both Wyoming Indian and Saratoga moved from six-man to 11-man football for the 2014 season.

Bokelman said even though the Chiefs have struggled this season, it is still going to be a battle for his team.

"They are bigger than us," Bokelman said. "So they are going to try to run it up the middle against us ... we are going to have to play tough against them."

Bokeman believes his team has speed in their favor for their upcoming game and he said he plans to spread the ball out against Wyoming Indian.

"I think we have a good chance against these guys," Bokelman said.

The Panthers will take on the Chiefs of Wyoming Indian High School at 7 p.m., Friday in Ethete.