North Shore kicked off to the Panthers and J. Pickens returned it from the 5 to the 28. On the second play from scrimmage, J. Toth found J. Williams over the middle and he outran the Mustang defenders for a 72-yard TD giving the Panthers the lead. On North Shore’s first possession, they followed up a 14-yard pass with a 53-yard TD run to tie the score at 7-7 after only 1:28 seconds into the game. After that quick offense burst by both teams, the game switched to more of a defense-dominated style of play. The Panthers went 3 and out, and following the punt, the Mustangs were stopped on three consecutive tackles for loss forcing them to punt on 4th and 30. On the next KO possession, Pickens broke through for a 34-yard run, but a penalty and two incomplete passes had them at 4th and 16. Toth found K. Green for a 20-yard completion, setting up 1st and goal from the 6. An interception on 2nd down stopped that drive. The Mustangs began their drive by picking up a few quick first downs, but a 40-yard play called back for holding stopped them at 4th and 19. Following the punt, two plays into the KO possession, a fumble turned the ball back over to the Mustangs. The Panther defense forced another three and out, but on KO’s next possession, another pass interception stopped the drive after only three plays. It appeared that the Mustangs would take the lead following a 29-yard pass play that gave them the ball at the 12. The defense held on 4th down, giving the ball back to the Panthers at the NS 5. Alternating runs by Toth and Pickens picked up 32-yards on 4 plays, but the NS defense stiffened, forcing a punt. The Mustang RB broke free for what could have been a sure TD, but a shoe string tackle by M. Gonzales (Gonzo) stopped him for a 39-yard run that brought the ball down to the 33 with under a minute to play. It appeared that the Panther’s defense held, but a controversial pass interference call gave NS a 1st down at the 18 with 0:03 seconds remaining in the half. The NS kicker made a 24-yard FG to give them a 10-7 lead at halftime.
North Shore started the 3Q with a 17-play drive that used up about half of the quarter. On 1st and goal from the 8, a TD run was called backed for a penalty, and additional penalties and tackles for loss led to 4th and goal from the 38. After the punt, the Panthers started from the 15 and advanced the ball to the 32, but consecutive penalties and a bad snapped moved them back to the 3-yard line. A 7-yard run by J. Cabrera was not nearly enough for the first down and forced a punt. NS moved the ball to the 26, where they broke loose for a TD run to give them a 16-7 lead. Taking over after the kick off to the 25, the Panthers offense finally got on track. Passes from Toth to M. Wright and B. Both were interspersed with runs by Toth and K. Hampton set up a 5-yard TD run by Hampton. The 2-point conversion failed, but the Panthers had cut the deficit to 16-13. NS attempted to run time off the clock, and on one play, the runner broke free before being stopped by Gonzo for another shoe string tackle. That was followed by a long pass completion setting up 1st and 10 from the 12. Again, the KO defense toughened, forcing a turnover on downs. With time running out, the Panthers had a 2-yard run by Cabrera followed by 3 consecutive incomplete passes – turning the ball over to the Mustangs. With the ball at the 12, NS kept to the run game to run time of the clock, but the Panthers held and a tackle by C. Toth on 4th down gave the ball back to KO. Force to pass, a 4th down pass from J. Morgan to J. Johnson was just short of the first down, turning the ball back over to the Mustangs. They ran out the clock to preserve a 16-13 win.
This tough loss brought the Panther’s record to 2-1 in non-district games. The offense was flat against an impressive NS defense, yet still netted almost 250 yards. Pickens, Hampton, and Toth led the rushing attack with 52, 32, and 24 hard fought yards. Toth passed for 128 yards, however, 72 were from the TD pass to Williams to start the game. The three turnovers on consecutive possessions in the first half proved to be critical – especially the interception at 2nd and goal from the 6. When the offense got back on track in the 4Q, it was too little too late as the NS defense was in prevent mode to stop any long pass completions.
The defense played exceptional throughout the entire game. There were 12 tackles for losses (TFL), led by J. Hughes and Gonzo. Hughes and Gonzo led in tackles with seven each (solo or assisted). C. Robinson followed with six; J. Alcala and T. Majewski had four; and J. Ray, J. Jones, H. Harris, C. Toth, and C. Suydam had three apiece. Gonzo had the most impact on the defense with his tackle for losses, shoe string tackles, and pressure in the backfield.
If the Panthers can use this game as a learning experience and adjust accordingly, they should be more than ready to head into district play against Klein Collins.
