Panthers keep pouncing

Saratoga Gridders bounce back versus Guernsey-Sunrise

Saratoga High School football head coach Logan Wright said each week he keeps being more proud of what his players are accomplishing.

Although the team’s wins are not counted in 6-man football and are considered exhibition, the Panthers are playing for keeps and their record shows it. They are 4-1 and their only loss is to Farson, currently the number one ranked team in 6-man.

He said the game on Friday against Guernsey-Sunrise didn’t start out well, with the Vikings scoring the first touchdown when they got the ball after stopping the Panthers.

“I said to myself after the touchdown, ‘Well, let’s see what we are made of,’” Wright said. “Then we scored and got stops and by halftime, we were up 18-6.”

The lead was not comfortable since Wright knew the Vikings could bounce back.

He wasn’t wrong.

The Vikings scored in the third quarter using up so much time, there was only four minutes left.

“We responded by scoring on the first play we got the ball,” Wright said. “Sam (Schneider) scored the first time he touched the ball that quarter.”

He thinks all the time the Vikings spent getting the ball down the field made them a bit tired and, when the Panthers scored so quickly, momentum went to Saratoga. He is probably right, because before the quarter was over the Panthers scored again and the score was 33-12.

The next quarter the Panthers scored 20 more points and the final score was 53-12.

“I moved Noah Rimmer to middle linebacker because he is our most physical kid and he was in almost every tackle,” Wright said. “He was in 14 assists and eight solos and that is a heck of a game.”

Schneider got six touchdowns and one interception to have another great game.

Wright said the coach from the Vikings had done research on the Panthers because he was calling out to his team what play he saw the Panthers were going to do.

It surprised Wright when he heard this, but he told his team to continue on their game plan.

Wright said Menphis Smith and Kelton Koehn were exceptional in the game.

“Menphis and Kelton, who were our defensive ends, just played it perfect after the first quarter,” Wright said. “So for three straight quarters they played perfect.”

Wright said he had moved Smith into that position the past week, so he was pleased at how quickly the player got used to his new role.

“He learned so much in that one game,” Wright said.

The next scheduled game is on Oct 5 against the Burlington Huskies in Burlington.

 

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