The first half was a slugfest with neither club able to gain an advantage in the first quarter. Both teams possessed the ball with the majority of the play taking place between the 30’s.
The second quarter saw much of the same as both teams had two possessions but again were unable to sustain a drive and went to the half with no score.
The Panthers turned the ball over on downs on their first possession of the third quarter. The Rockets pulled off a fake punt for a 15-yard pick up from their own 32 to continue their opening drive. After moving the ball to the EP 47 a bad snap on a 3rd down play forced a punt.
EP took over on their 41 with 2:03 left in the quarter. On their first play, quarterback, Justin Pierceson dashed up the middle on a keeper and broke around the right side scampering 59 yards for the first score of the game. The PAT made it 7-0 EP.
Rockridge took the kick and started from their 40. Continuing their drive into the fourth quarter they were met with a 3rd and 4 from the Panther’s 43. The EP defense stepped up as Kingston Gehrking and Derek Dornbush blew up the Rocket play in the back field to bring up a 4th and 6. Rockridge decided to keep their offense on the field. With their quarterback under pressure he threw a desperation pass down the far sideline which floated into the hands of a receiver at the Panther 15 yard line. On a 3rd and 4 from the 8 yard, line a bad snap was recovered by Gehrking to thwart the Rocket drive.
The young Panthers began a drive at their 15 with 6:15 to go in the game. Two big runs by Pierceson and another by Noah Berk set the Panthers up at the Rockridge 25. Freshman, Anden Kochevar broke through the line and sprinted into the endzone for a score. The PAT was no good to make it 13-0 with 1:15 remaining.
Rockridge did not lay down as they completed a 72-yard pass on their first snap following the kickoff and added a 2-point PAT to get to within 5 of the home team.
An onside kick was fielded cleanly by EP and following a 12-yard run by Noah Berk, the Panthers ran out the clock for the win.
“That Rockridge team is the best team we have faced this year, and their duo of QB and RB in the backfield are very good players,” said coach Kyle Foster. “I thought our guys did a great job mostly keeping them in check, and finding ways to limit their big play potential. Offensively, I thought we had a number of chances to put points on the board, we just stalled out on drives early. A few mental errors kept us from hitting our groove, but I am happy with our effort level all around.”
The 6-0 Panthers will travel to Mercer County next week.
“It’s hard to believe we are 2/3 of the way done already, but that means we have 1/3 of our messages left to send to the rest of the conference!” added Foster.
