By Allen Hamrick
It was the Central Panthers against the Southern Panthers this past Friday night, when the CCHS Panthers took on the Lincoln County Panthers.
After tapping out last Friday against the Roane Raiders, it looked as though the Panthers were going to have a rough finish to the season. The southern Panthers, Lincoln County, came in to this game with the same record as the CCHS Panthers — 1-5. This gave our Panthers a chance to get in the winner’s circle because both teams were nearly equal in strength and skill.
This was the first meeting between the schools, and it will not be the last. Right away one could see that the CCHS Panthers had a new mind set for stopping any offense that the LCHS Panthers could muster. The LCHS Panthers were on the board first with a field goal as the CCHS Panthers defense dug in. The game went back and forth, and in the first half the punters wore their leg out kicking the ball to and fro as both defenses were stopping any advance.
Flags were flying like confetti at the Fourth of July against both teams as the game got rough. Some personal foul calls against the LCHS Panthers got the Panthers moving toward the goal line. With a good piece of running by Reece Nichols, the home team scored from five yards out giving the Panthers the lead going into the half 6-3.
The third quarter was all defense and the punters were once again put on the spot. The next score came for the LCHS Panthers ,when Issac Workman managed to tip a pass on what seemed like a great defensive play. However, as fate would have it the football seemed to bounce off of everything but the ground as it was falling and landed in the hands of the LCHS Panther receiver’s hands and he took it to the house for the TD and the lead.
Late in the fourth quarter the CCHS Panthers were running out of time. With a slight change in the offense the boys bulled the ball down the field and Reece Nichols took the ball in for his second TD, giving CCHS the lead. This time they scored the extra points and the game finished out with the CCHS Panthers on top by the score of 13-10. It was a good win for the Clay Panthers. Next week, the boys will take their show on the road to play Shady Spring.
Support the Panthers in their last few games if you can.
