The Whitharral Panthers football team took down the Anton Bulldogs in two quarters, 78-0, to become the district champions and stay undefeated this past Thursday night.
The Panthers move to 9-0 overall and 3-0 in district this season, while the Bulldogs drop to 3-6 overall and 1-2 in district.
It was an insane performance by Whitharral in every regard, which Whitharral Head Football Coach Josh Watson commented on.
“It was our first time being mostly healthy since week five, where we had a bunch of guys get hurt. The main thing I took away against Anton was we were mainly back to full strength, and our guys handled business. They were bought in,” Coach Watson said. “We’re playing the season in phases. Phase one is pre-district; district is phase two and playoffs are phase three. Their mentality going through the week was ‘let’s get through stage two so we can start prepping for stage three.’” They certainly handled business in every regard to cap off their district play with a title, and it all started with their defensive performance.
The Bulldogs had no answers offensively as the Whitharral defense implemented their will, forcing Anton into -33 total yards of offense while also recording seven takeaways onthenight.
Four of those were interceptions and the other three were fumble recoveries, and they also added a safety.
Senior Nate Sansom was responsible for two of those interceptions with both of those being pick-sixes while junior Hudson Dobrovolny also had a pick-six and senior Damian Rodriguez had an interception as well.
Seniors Ayden Dockeiy and Greg Johnson tied for the team lead with 5.5 tackles on the night, followed by Dobrovolny who recorded four.
Coach Watson credited his defenses success to the twoman rush by Dockery and Johnson, and he pointed to their communication as the reason for their dominance.
He also added that their success led to the Panthers forcing turnovers because the others could play more aggressively around them.
Coach Watson described his defenses performance as “eye-opening” with positive connotation, and the same can be applied to his offensive unit.
They utterly dominated rushing the football as they had 224 rushing yards and all seven of their offensive touchdowns were on the ground.
Greg Johnson led the way with six carries for 124 yards and three touchdowns, followed by Aiden Dockery who had four rushes for 69 yards and two touchdowns, and freshman Hudson Prowell and Nate Sansom also rushed for a touchdown a piece.
They were so successful running the ball that they didn’t record a single passing yard the entire game.
There was so much to like for the Panthers in the win, but the best part about it was what it resulted in, a district championship.
“It was pretty exciting. It was my first as a head coach, so that was one of those that hit hard. Other than that, the kids know this isn’t the end goal,” Coach Watson said. “They were excited, but it wasn’t like winning the Super Bowl. They’re extremely hungry and it’s a payback game this first round of playoffs against Sands. I think the guys will be really bought in and fired up for it. That’ll get the ball rolling for hopefully a very prosperous and successful playoff run.”
Whitharral’s regular season is concluded and now they set their eyes on the Sands Mustangs, who eliminated them from the playoffs last season.
They’ll have two weeks to prepare in hopes to exact their revenge.
On the Anton side, it was a hard-fought season for the Bulldogs under Head Coach Brian Duncan as they finish at 3-6, falling short of the playoffs.
“It’s always tough when your season ends sooner than you hoped. We had an opportunity to make the playoffs and came up just short,” Coach Duncan said. “But I’m really proud of the effort and growth from our guys this year. We played hard every week and continued to compete no matter the circumstance.”
When reflecting on their season, it’s important to note that the Bulldogs were super close to adding two more wins to their record this season and making the playoffs.
And while they were unable to, it was still an amazing effort by such a young group.
The Bulldogs had seven freshmen on varsity and several of their impact players were non-seniors, including standouts such as junior Shooter Campos, freshman Isaiah Alafa and freshman Xavi Avalos.
“We had a lot of young players step up and gain valuable experience that’s going to pay off big time next season,” Coach Duncan said. “This group laid the groundwork for where we want to take this program, and I couldn’t be more proud of how they represented Anton football - with heart, toughness and character.”
They’ll say goodbye to four seniors, but the future is bright as Coach Duncan has this program headed in the right direction with a lot of talent returning next year.