Unshaken commitment

"Our team is more talented than the score showed," Saratoga High School head football coach Logan Wright said after Little Snake River handed the Panthers a loss at 0-71 on Thursday evening at Saratoga.

Wright makes no excuses, but acknowledged the birth of a new little Wright on Monday had him miss practices with the team.

"We were not as prepared as we could have been," Wright said. "Saying that, it was our first game and it was against a strong Baggs team. We just were not ready to face the pressure this team gave us."

The first quarter had the Rattlers shoot ahead with 21 points as the Panthers stayed scoreless.

"We attempted 20 deep passes and completed none," Wright pointed out. "It is another sign that we were not just ready for the pressure. I am confident, after practices this week, we as a team will have learned from our experience playing Baggs as our first game."

Wright said turnovers also hurt the Panthers.

Teegan Love had some good moments for Saratoga, but an interception and fumble had the Rattlers take advantage of the ball coming to the team.

A fumbled snap had Panther player Noah Rimmer hurt on the play. Little Snake River took advantage and the score was 0-29.

Rain started to come down with about seven minutes left to play in the first half, but was not a factor in the outcome of the game. When the clock got down to five minutes, the Rattlers scored again. At halftime, the score was 0-51.

Because the score had the Rattlers over 45 points to zero starting at the second half, the clock continuously ran. It is called the "mercy rule" where a team down 45 points with no score allows the clock to tick off the time unless the team with no points scores.

Unfortunately, the Panthers could not get on the board as the clock went forward. With five minutes left in the third quarter, the Rattlers scored, making it 0-59.

The fourth quarter, the Panthers stayed scoreless.

Wright started to rotate in players to give all on the team an opportunity to play.

"By the fourth quarter, a loss is a loss and I wanted to give many of the players a chance to get on the field," Wright said. "The fact that Baggs wanted to push the score to 70 doesn't effect our team's commitment to the game."

The Rattlers did push the score to 71. With seconds left, Little Snake River scored again ending the game at 0-71.

"The game didn't effect who we are as a team," Wright said. "Nobody quit because we had a tough loss."

He said this week of practice would focus on what the team is capable of doing.

"We want to look at what needs to be addressed on what, as a team, we can be," Wright said. "There will be a full week of practice to get back where we want to be. Honestly, I am looking forward to our homecoming game with Kaycee because they just beat a good Burlington team."

The homecoming game will start at 4 p.m. on Sept. 13.