The Whitharral Panthers fell to the Klondike Cougars 64-16 in the Area Round of the UIL Class 1A-2 High School Football Playoffs in Hermleigh last Friday.
The 45-point rule was invoked to end the game with just over two minutes left. The 45point rule in six-man football says that whenever a team is ahead by 45 points or more at or after halftime, the game is called. Whitharral, ranked fifth in class 1A-2 by sixmanfootball.com, scored first but struggled after that to move the ball against the third ranked Cougars.
The Panthers managed to get inside the 20-yard line twice in the first half, but were turned away both times.
Whitharral got the ball first. They scored on the second play from scrimmage when Jack Griffin found Rayden Potter. Griffin made the kick and the Panthers led 8-0 with 8:33 left in the first quarter.
Klondike scored on their first drive as well, but it took a while longer. The Cougars started on their own 17-yard line and ground down to the Whitharral one-yard line.
A holding call negated a Cougar touchdown and pushed them back to the 14-yard line on second down and goal.
The Cougars finally scored on fourth down and five yards to go with 5:02 left in the first quarter. Whitharral blocked the kick, so the Panthers still led 8-6. Whitharral got to the Klondike 17-yard line on their next drive, but were pushed back and forced to turn over on downs at the Cougar 30-yard line.
Klondike took over with 1:57 left in the first quarter, scoring on a one-yard run with seven seconds left in the period. This time the kick was good for a 14-8 Klondike lead.
The Cougars led the rest of the game.
Whitharral fell just short on their next drive when a Griffin-to-Brolin Kennedy pass fell just short of a first down, giving the Cougars the ball on their own 31yard line.
Two plays later, Klondike was again in the end zone. Whitharral blocked the kick for a second time, but the Cougars led 20-8 with 8:12 left in the first half.
Whitharral got to the Cougar 11-yard line before Nomar Gomez was stopped at the line of scrimmage on fourth down and one yard on their next drive.
The Cougars looked to be in trouble, pushed back at first, but converted on fourth down and four to the Klondike 31-yard line. A couple of big runs later and they were back in the end zone for a 28-8 lead with 3:07 left in the half.
Whitharral lost a fumble on their next drive, but forced Klondike to turn over on downs at the Panther 19-yard line.
The Panthers struggled to gain yards on their next drive but were saved by the bell as the half ended with Whitharral facing fourth down and six yards to go from their own 30-yard line.
The second half started with a touchdown drive from Klondike, increasing the Cougars’ lead to 36-8.
Whitharral managed to get down to the Klondike 28-yard line before Griffin’s pass, intended for Brent Robinson was intercepted at the six-yard line. Klondike, however, fumbled on the 28-yard line with Kennedy recovering the ball on the Whitharral 35-yard line.
Whitharral was able to turn this drive into a touchdown on a broken play. On first down and 15-yards to go, Robinson fumbled, but it was picked up by Potter, who carried a host of cougars to the one-yard line.
Kennedy found Robinson on the next play for a Panther touchdown.
Griffin’s kick was good and the Cougar lead was cut to 36-16 with 12 seconds left in the third quarter.
The fourth quarter was all Klondike. The Cougars scored with 9:12 left in the game.
They intercepted a Robinson pass to end the next Whitharral drive, then scored again for a 5215 lead with 6:20 left in the game. Klondike pinned Whitharral on the Panther 17-yard line with their kick. Whitharral was only able to gain three yards before turning over on downs.
Starting from the Whitharral 20-yard line, the Cougars scored quickly for a 58-16 lead with 4:40 left in the game.
Another Panther turnover on downs gave the Cougars the ball on their own 37-yard line with three minutes left in the game. Just under a minute later, the Cougars scored, ending the game. Griffin went 5-for-13 for 65 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Robinson went 2for- 5 for 32 yard with an interception.
Kennedy went 3-for-4 for 19 yards with a touchdown. Nomar Gomez completed his only attempt for five yards.
Gomez had two catches for 43 yards. Kennedy had three for 24 yards. Potter had a single 22yard touchdown catch. Griffin had two catches for 14 yards.
Robinson had two catches for 13 yards with a touchdown and Nate Sansom had a single five yard catch.
Robinson had 11 carries for 66 yards with a fumble. Gomez had six carries for 18 yards.
Griffin had four carries for 18 yards and Potter had two carries for 12 yards.
Potter had 14½ tackles. Gomez had 10½. Kennedy had five, as did Carson Bates. Griffin had four. Copper Popelka had 2½. Robinson had an assist.
The Panthers finish the season 9-2 with a district and bidistrict championship.