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FOOTBALL: Panthers rally to out-run Red Bud

Posted August 29, 2011 11:00 pm

Doug Daniels

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[J.D. Conner ran for 104 yards rushing and Bryant Shute added 45 yards on the ground and another 87 passing to carry Pinckneyville to a 23-18 win in week one over Red Bud. The Panthers and Musketeers each scored three touchdowns, but PCHS was 3-for-3 on extra point and two-point conversions while Red Bud didn't convert a single try.

The defensive and offensive lines for the Panthers controlled the game for the most part, enabling the running attack to chew up significant chunks of game clock while racking up 325 yards on the ground by five different ball carriers. Pinckneyville was not forced to punt all game long, but did turn the ball over three times on fumbles.

"I tell them all the time, 'you get about four 7-8 minute drives a game, you're probably going to win about 95% of your games", said Panthers' head football coach Tod Rushing. "We did what we wanted to do, keep the ball out of their hands with a nice big drive, and actually had two of them in the first half where we drove the ball and turned it over deep."

"A lot of credit goes to our offensive line and defensive line," he continued. "I think they controlled the line of scrimmage all night long. That's where the battle is won, that's what we were counting on."

The Panthers started off with an impressive ten-play drive that went 53 yards before Justin Hale fumbled in Musketeer territory to end the threat. Red Bud answered with a scoring drive that was capped off with a 3-yard touchdown run by Alex Phegley for a 6-0 advantage.

Shute found Hale for a 25-yard completion on the next drive that led to Shute's 6-yard run to tie the game, then Evan Chapman's extra point put PCHS on top 7-6 with 9:36 left in the half.

Another fumble led to six more Musketeer points before the break, but in the second half, the Panthers' offense started to break through. Shute added a second touchdown with 5:23 to go in the third quarter, then found Marian Brammier for the two-pointer afterwards. Hubler then put the Panthers ahead for good with a 26-yard touchdown run, and this time Shute took it himself for the two and a 23-12 lead.

Tyler Hubert scored from 5 yards out with 6:20 to go, but PCHS's defense would hold on in the end.

"I thought they did a nice job of bending and not breaking," Rushing said of his defense. "They came up with some big plays they needed to."

"We've got our defensive front back, we're very experienced there, but we're a little tweaked up at the linebacker spot with some hamstrings, so we were concerned there. Secondary-wise, we were a little inexperienced, but I thought we made two or three really nice plays at the end of the game that we might not have made in the first quarter. I thought we matured as the game went along, I think we made some good plays and got a little more aggressive as the game went on."

Shute was 6-for-9 passing with Austin Pyatt his favorite target on the evening, catching 2 balls for 47 yards. Shakye Hamilton added a pair of catches for 7 yards, Hale (1-25) and Brammeier (1-8) also caught balls. Conner (11-104) led the rushing attack, followed by Cole Kellerman (13-76), Hubler (6-68, TD), Shute (17-45, 2 TD) and Hale (6-35).

C.J. Opp and Brad Thornton added sacks on defense. Opp led with 9 tackles, Keegan Kellerman had 8.

After getting thumped by the Musketeers in week one of a slow-start to the 2010 season, the Panthers are off to a 1-0 start this time around as they prepare for a three-game road trip that includes two non-conference foes in West Frankfort (0-1) and Benton (1-0). Kickoff with the Redbirds in West Frankfort is set for 7:00 p.m. this Friday.

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