The Whitharral Panthers hosted the Valley Patriots for their Homecoming football game this past Friday, winning 68-48 to improve to 5-0.
Headed into the matchup, Whitharral was a huge favorite against a winless Valley team, but the Patriots put up way more of fight than anyone expected.
After starting the season undefeated with four dominant wins, the Panthers still won but they finally had to overcome some adversity.
“We started battling adversity, having a lot of injuries, series after series. They’re not a bad football team. They just got back from being really injured as well,” Head Coach Josh Watson said. “Overall, I thought we handled the adversity well. I’ve been preaching to them about being young men, in life you’re going to handle some adversity, and you’ve got to step up. I thought they did that well. We finished the game out with the win, which is what you want to see.”
Those injuries he referred to were to key players in senior Brent Robinson, senior Damian Rodriguez and junior Daniel Rodriguez.
Daniel Rodriguez suffered a fracture in his ankle and will need surgery, prematurely ending his season, while Robinson suffered a knee hyperextension and will likely be out a couple of weeks.
Which is unfortunate, but the good news is Damian’s injury was only a stinger in his shoulder, which they held him out precautionarily, so he’ll be good for next week.
With that being said, the Panthers played a lot of the game without three starters. Once they went out, Coach Watson pulled star seniors Nate Sansom and Greg Johnson aside, calling them to step up and play an even bigger role in their absence.
It’s safe to say they answered the call as Johnson had 15 rushes for 253 yards and four touchdowns along with 6.5 tackles, while Sansom recorded two catches for 44 yards and two touchdowns, along with two rushes for 30 yards and two touchdowns and eight tackles.
“I thought they really stepped up and carried their load, and then the load of their buddies that went out,” Watson said. “As usual, all the kids are locked in and ready to go.”
Sansom and Johnson led an unstoppable offensive effort where Whitharral had 411 total offensive yards.
Before Robinson’s injury he was putting on a show as well with two passing touchdowns and five rushes for 78 yards and one rushing touchdown.
The same can be said for Daniel Rodriguez on special teams as he had two kickoff returns for 95 yards and a touchdown.
The only thing stopping the Panthers from scoring was the clock and themselves on an awesome night for those two phases, but it was a different story for the defense.
The Whitharral defense was haunted by big plays and busted coverages all night, giving up 284 passing yards and six touchdowns through the air.
They were able to hold the Patriots to 54 rushing yards on 36 carries with great run defense, but they struggled to stop the pass, which Coach Watson noted how to fix moving forward. “One, stay healthy. Two, I need to make adjustments quicker and get the guys in the right spot to make a play,” Watson said.
It wasn’t a great defensive night, but they still had their moments, as both Brent Robinson and junior Hudson Dobrovolny both had interceptions, and the unit held Valley to six of 20 on third and fourth downs.
Part of the troubles rooted from penalties as Whitharral had seven penalties for 75 yards, which Coach Watson noted as a lack of discipline that they cleaned up in the second half and will look to continue to improve on moving forward.
It may have not looked as dominant as they wanted, but the Panthers still got the win and that’s all you can ask for, plus the adversity they overcame is a valuable experience to have.
Valley played the top two 1A six-man football teams in the state previously, Gordon and Jayton, and while they didn’t win either matchup, they certainly learned from them and used that experience against Whitharral.
Head-to-head scores against Valley in comparison to those two teams would indicate the Panthers aren’t an elite team yet, but they are more than capable of evolving to that state.
They’ll look to take another step forward on Friday at 7:30pm at home against their toughest test yet this season, the Nazareth Swifts.
The Swifts are 3-2 and ranked 45th overall and 24th in six-man division one, while the undefeated Panthers remain at #15 overall and seventh