FOOTBALL: Panthers let halftime lead slip away
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ Pinckneyville held a slim halftime lead, but couldn't hold off Benton in the second half as the Rangers fought back for a 27-13 win at Quillman Field on Friday night.
"We told them all week they had to be more physical at the line of scrimmage," said Tod Rushing, head coach for the Panthers. "I told them the more physical team was going to win and I thought that came true tonight, I thought Benton was more physical."
Benton's Tyler Leffler was 9-of-18 passing for 116 yards and a touchdown, and added 63 yards on 15 carries for the Rangers. Trey Garrett led the way on the ground with 106 yards (22 car.).
Leffler got Benton on the scoreboard first with a 36-yard touchdown run with 6:30 left in the opening quarter, breaking tackles on the QB-keeper en route to the end zone for a 6-0 lead.
The Panthers' offense failed to get past midfield in their first two drives, but found another way to score some points when Leffler was picked off by first-year player J.D. Conner for a 45-yard interception return for a touchdown with 1:47 left in the first, tying the game at 6-6 following a missed extra point.
Each team punted on their next drive, and the Rangers got good field position with 9:25 to go in the half before stalling a bit for a fourth down and four at the Pinckneyville 23-yard line. The Panthers were charged with offsides on the play, however, and the Rangers' drive continued with a first down at the 19.
On the next play, Garrett shot through the middle of the line and slipped a defender on his way to the end zone for a 12-6 Benton lead, as the Rangers failed on the two-point try for the second time in the game.
After another dismal offensive series by the Panthers, Benton drove down inside the Pinckneyville 10-yard line before a defensive stand brought up fourth-and-goal at the 8. The Rangers tried to pad their lead with a field goal, but it sailed wide, giving the Panthers possession at their own 20 with 2:09 left in the half.
On first down, Neil Kellerman took the handoff from Dalton Hubler and broke free for what appeared to be an exciting 80-yard touchdown run, but a block-in-the-back flag negated the score and instead set up first-and-ten at the Benton 46.
A personal foul flag on the Rangers pushed the ball to the 31, and after three plays went nowhere, Hubler and the Panthers looked at fourth-and-thirteen from the Rangers' 34.
Wide receiver Adam Barczewski shed his defender at the line of scrimmage and got open for a 34-yard touchdown completion from Hubler, and Caleb Howard's extra point put Pinckneyville up 13-12 just before the break.
"Dalton (Hubler) made a very good play on that one, a couple weeks ago he wouldn't have made that play," Rushing said. "He stepped up into the pocket, then rolled out and made that throw."
The offense went south again for the Panthers after that, however, losing a fumble and punting on their first two possessions of the third quarter after gaining the momentum just before the half.
"Last week I thought our blocking was extremely good, both on the line and the lead backs," said Rushing. "Tonight I just felt like we didn't really block as physical as we were (blocking) last week."
The punt set up Benton's 66-yard drive that chewed up almost five minutes of clock and ended with Leffler finding Kyler Smith on a quick pass that he took 37 yards for paydirt. Leffler ran in the two-pointer to make it 20-13 in favor of the Rangers.
Hubler would be picked off two plays after the Panthers took over, giving Benton great field position yet again, this time at the Pinckneyville 39-yard line.
"The turnovers hurt us, we told them that's something we can not do, turn it over," Rushing said. "That's something you've really got to do is protect the football."
Seven rushing plays later, Colby Allen burst through the right side of the line for the score with 10:43 left in the game, and Pinckneyville would continue to struggle to move the ball offensively the rest of the way, finding it tough to come back with an often sluggish passing attack.
"We were limited in what we could do, we're not throwing the ball very well," Rushing said.
"There's been a lot put on (Hubler) these first three weeks, he's done a nice job leading us. He's getting better, we just have to live with a mistake here or there."
The Panthers mustered only 85 yards on the ground in the game while Hubler completed 2-of-12 passes for 40 yards. The offense achieved only five first downs in the contest.
N. Kellerman led the Panthers with 51 yards on 8 carries.
Benton (2-1) racked up 336 total yards against a tiring Pinckneyville defense that spent a lot of time on the football field.
One injury note from the game - Pinckneyville's Marian Brammeier left during the fourth quarter after almost coming up with a fantastic catch for big yardage. Brammeier left on a stretcher after appearing to hit his head or neck on the ground, but the latest word from the coaching staff was that Brammeier only suffered whiplash, and the way he left the field was mostly precautionary.
The Panthers (1-2) will begin a tough conference schedule this Friday night with a trip to Anna-Jonesboro.
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