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The
punting game was hit or miss for the Bobcats all
night. When forced with a 4th down, John Glenn
punted to Nouvel from their own 42. With 3:48
to go before halftime, the punt sailed for a total
of a 3 yards net. It's tough enough to beat
Nouvel when you are on your game, however when you
give them breaks like that, it makes it pretty tough
to pull out the W. On 3rd and 9 from the 34
yard line, Sonntag threw a bullet to TE Ryan Palmer
in traffic, who came down with the ball and powered
his way to the 18 for 16 yards. Birnbaum got
the call again, this time on the draw taking it to
the house for the game's 2nd score, virtually
untouched and now up 14-0 after Ryan Palmer's 2nd
extra point. |
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With
the clock ticking down till halftime, the
Bobcats kept it on the ground, not finding much
running room. Coach Boyd and the Panthers
noticing, that they could get the ball back with
enough time for a few shots at the endzone, used
their timeouts to conserve time. On fourth
down with 44 seconds to go, the Bobcats dropped
back to punt. Jordan Roe busted through
the middle of the punt team's offensive line and
blocked the punt. DT James Murtha pounced
on the ball and the Panthers took over with a
much better situation than they could have even
imagined. They went for it all on first
down, with Sonntag trying to hit WR Tim Ryan in
the endzone. On third and 10 to make
matters worse, the Glenn sideline was flagged
for arguing with the officials, moving the ball
up 15 yards and giving the Panthers an automatic
first down and ball at the 16. Trying to
give Ryan a chance at redemption, they went to
him again. And again, the pass fell
incomplete. Sonntag went right back to the
air, hitting James Miller on a quick slant
just a few yards from the goal line.
Miller reached high for the ball and snagged it
out of the air, bringing it into his chest as he
crossed paydirt, extending the lead to 21-0 in
favor of the Panthers. That is where the
score stood as both teams hit the locker room
for half time.
After a Glenn three and out to start the 2nd
half, the Panthers didn't waste any time trying
to put the game out of reach. On Nouvel's
third play of the 2nd half, the Panthers decided
to go up top to Ryan. The perfectly placed
ball was brought in by Ryan this time, hauling
in the over the shoulder pass and racing the
final distance for a game-breaking 46 yard
touchdown.
The Panthers would add one more score on a
another Sonntag - Ryan connection. Ryan's
2nd TD grab erased the bad taste he had in
his mouth after dropping a few easy ones in the
first half. The extra point was blocked
but the game was no longer in doubt and would
end 34-0. The game started off eerily
similar to Nouvel's loss to Bullock Creek in the
2004 Semis. It was cold, wet and had field
conditions that were less than ideal. The
2006 edition of the Nouvel Panthers shook off
the rough start and overcame early adversity to
put on a dominating performance. Nouvel's
quickness and pursuit to the ball was extremely
impressive. It actually cost them a few
times when Glenn's Head Coach Mark Miller called
plays with mis-direction.
The events and the mistakes snowballed for John
Glenn tonight. They are a much better team
than the score would indicate. They had an
off night on offense, although that can be
attributed and in thanks to the Panther D.
The Glenn defense was impressive, especially
early and especially against the run, stuffing
Birnbaum and Co. for a large portion of the
first half. This Bobcat team is one of
their quickest, they just happened to run into a
team that was just a little quicker. John
Glenn should be a team to watch come week 10.
There is still one week to go however and
cross-town rival Garber lies in wait.
Garber will come into the game needing a victory
to make the playoffs, making the rivalry game
just that more interesting and setting up an
intense showdown.
For Nouvel, what else is new? They finish
yet another regular season with 0s in the loss
column. It is playoff time now, time for
redemption, time to get past disappointments in
the previous two years when the Panthers worst
games of the year unfortunately came in the
post-season. If the planets are finally
aligned this season or not, we will have to wait
and see. One thing is for certain, the
look of a champion can be seen in the eyes of
this year's squad. They have had their
spots of mistakes here and there, however
nothing to put the game in jeopardy. Even
more important they have had the character to
play the best when they needed to, to beat some
of the state's best teams. While most
teams knew who they would play next week for
about a year, Nouvel must wait a week from
Sunday to learn their next opponent. If
this team continues to play up to their
potential, that opponent will most likely have
something in common with the other 7 that Nouvel
has already faced. |
