Panthers stung by Pine Bluff

The Saratoga Panthers had the Pine Bluff High School Hornets as their opponents on Friday for their homecoming game.

Although the 1st quarter had the Panthers and Hornets scoreless until the last minute and a half, the Pine Bluffs team came out on top 52-0.

Head Coach Logan Wright played the game without his starting quarterback, Geoffrey Johnson, who got hurt on September 14 during practice.

"He tweaked his achilles in practice on Tuesday and I knew by Wednesday he was not going to be able to play," Wright said. "So I did try and hide it. I didn't even tell the team. I had Frank (Crimmins) practice at quarterback for two days and had practiced a formation that had Tuker (Carrcato) take snaps."

Wright knew that scoring was going to be tough and he didn't want Pine Bluffs to have any idea they wouldn't be facing Johnson. He even had Johnson go out for the Panthers on the coin toss.

"It was 7-0 at the end of the 1st quarter and I really liked how we had played," Wright said. "The score ending at 52-0 was as bad as it gets, but I really feel that what went wrong is fixable."

It was in the 2nd quarter the game started going south for the Panthers.

"They had two onside kicks that they recovered and a fumble and they scored on them," Wright said. "Five possessions in a row we were on defense. They are a great team and big. The wheels fell of that quarter for us."

At halftime the Hornets were ahead 42-0.

There were bright spots for the Panthers although the score does not indicate it. Carricato rushed over 80 yards with 25 carries.

"Tuker is as tough a kid as they come," Wright said. "He missed a touch down by one yard when he tripped. We couldn't score when we got down there. It is not because our offensive line isn't good enough or that they didn't try hard enough. We have to do a better job as coaches."

Wright said the team is good enough to put up points against a team like the Hornets.

"As coaches, we haven't done a good enough job of showing them how to do it," Wright said. "When you play a team like Pine Bluffs there is no room for error and the final score proved it."

The coach said he looks at a loss as a learning experience.

"You either win or learn," Wright said. "That 2nd quarter we just could not get the ball and getting 35 points scored against you is hard.

The 2nd half did not have the Hornets run all over the Panthers. In the 3rd quarter, the Hornets scored only 3 points and only 7 points in the 4th quarter to make the final score 52-0.

Wright knows the team will do better.

"We just played a team that made us pay when we made mistakes," Wright said. "Sometimes you can make mistakes and get away with it with a lesser team. Pine Bluffs is not a team to make any mistakes."

Pine Bluffs had a great kicking game but Wright knows that the Panthers are capable to return the kickoffs in a much stronger manner than what happened on Friday night.

Wright gave Crimmins a lot of credit for his efforts as quarterback on Friday.

"He had two days of practice," Wright said. "Tuker, Josiah (Stockwell) are tough kids rushing against Pine Bluffs and I was really happy with Kellen's (Reeders) efforts on defense."

The moment that made him the happiest of the game was Heston Fisher's feat of tackling a Pine Bluff player that had almost made it to the Panther goal line.

"We are down 40 points and Heston still sprints all the way down the field to stop Pine Bluffs from scoring, stopping him on the three or four yard line," Wright said. "I told him if I could explain anything that I want in a player out of all the years that I coached, it is that. You are down 40 points, you have only caught one pass and other players on the team are probably not sprinting, but you choose to do that, I can't be prouder as a coach. You try your best from snap to whistle no matter what."

Wright said he has several players on the team that have the same tenacity as Fisher and is confident the team will get better and win more games.

The next game will be on September 25 at St. Stephens where they will face the Eagles who are 0-3 overall and 0-2 in conference play. Saratoga is 2-1 overall and 1-1 in conference play.