It was a tough second week for the Panthers, who found themselves fighting an uphill battle for most of the game against visiting Creekside, as the Knights won 51-23 tonight.
An early blocked punt after the Panthers’ first drive set up the Knights (1-1) at the Nease 11-yard line and led to the first score of the evening with a rushing touchdown just one play later.
It was evident early on that the Panthers (1-1) knew that they would have to keep pace with the Knights’ high-powered attack, when they went for it on a fourth and short, but quarterback Nate Harry was stuffed on a keeper resulting in a turnover on downs at their own 25-yard line.
Creekside continued to put their foot on the gas and opened up a 24-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and 31-10 at halftime thanks to a 70-yard touchdown run by junior quarterback Sean Ashenfelder.
Ashenfelder also threw a pair of touchdowns, including a wide receiver screen to fellow junior Kaleb Taylor-Burch in the red zone, as he and the Knights’ offense were fun to watch and demonstrated a quick-strike ability.
One of the bright spots in the game for the Panthers was the play of junior wide receiver Maddox Spencer, who was the focal point of the offense the entire night and presented a mismatch for the Knights’ secondary time after time.
He and his best bud Harry took a shot and connected for a 97-yard scoring strike where Spencer high pointed the ball and then turned on the afterburners to outrun the Knights’ defense midway through the second quarter.
The two connected again in the second half, and Quinn Cullum also found himself on the receiving end of a Harry touchdown toss.
There were multiple interceptions for both teams in the contest as the offenses took their share of shots down the field.
Cade Papineau and Careal Carter each picked off a pass for the second consecutive week, and was also joined by Jacob Curry, with two of those coming inside the 5-yard line to halt successful drives by the Knights.
