“They just wore us down in the second half” said Ridgeview head coach Tom MacPherson following the Panthers' 40-0 lose to the Bartram Trail Bears(2-1). “It was a competitive first half, but after a while their size just took its toll on the defense”.
The Panthers(2-1) came out with a lot of emotion and fight in the first half. The crowd came out the same way, with their cowbells and chants of “DEFENSE!” echoing through the stadium. The emotion that ran through the Ridgeview players helped keep the Bears from getting a first down in the first 11 minutes of the game. Mistakes and penalties on Bartram’s part helped the Panthers gain good field position as the fist quarter played out. They just were unable to put the ball in the end zone. The closet they came to scoring was when they had the ball on the 14 yard line. They chose to give WR Riley Hill the option to throw the ball on first down. Hill under threw the ball and it was intercepted in the end zone by LB Josh Malaudrucco. Three plays later with 32 seconds left in the first quarter, Bears quarterback Kyle Parker hit wide receiver Charles Bailey in stride for a 70 yard touchdown. Both are division one prospects, with Parker looking at Clemson and Bailey at Mississippi State.
Defensively for the Panthers in the first half, they fought hard and hit harder. LB Damon Kelly had some big hits early on. One of his tackles led to a quarterback sack for a 10 yard loss. He also put pressure on the quarterback which led to an interception by WR/DB Tyler Bass.
In the second quarter Bartram Trail seemed to get the momentum going in their favor. The Bears defensive pressure forced QB Derek Hatcher to make quick decisions. This caused Hatcher to under throw receivers that were open. The one highlight in the second quarter for Hatcher came when he connected on a 24 yard pass to WR Ryan Guess. Unfortunately after a 7 yard loss on a sack by the Bears DE Tyler Tayse, the Panthers were forced to punt. Following a 45 yard punt return by Bartrams KR Mark Safer, Parker threw a 10 yard out that led to anther touchdown. The Panthers went in at half time only down by 13 points.
The Bears wasted little time to begin their dominance of the second half. RB Taylor Johnson scored from the two yard line. Parker was able to slow a Panther defensive back down just enough with a nice pump fake which led to another Bailey touchdown, this one for 35 yards. Within seven minutes they opened up the lead to 26 points. The third quarter came to an end with Bears DB Damon Lawrence intercepting a Hatcher pass.
Following the interception, Parker put an exclamation mark on his evening by running in a touchdown from 6 yards out and running over a Panther defender on the way. Following another Hatcher interception, who finished the night 11 of 26 for 120 yards, no touchdowns and 3 ints, Bears RB Johnson scored on a 2 yard run. Final 40-0 Bears.
The Division One recruits (7) that the Bears have on this team helped dominate this game. But for the Panther players and their head coach they realize that they played well against a highly talented team for the first half. According to Coach MacPherson, “We will take what we did well in the first half and build on it”. The Panthers will have their chance to show the improvements next week when they face off with cross town rival Fleming Island.
Bartram 7 6 13 14
Ridgeview 0 0 0 0
B-- Bailey, 70 yrd reception; Goebel, PAT
B--- #89, 10 yrd reception
B-- Johnson 2 yrd run,
B-- Bailey, 35 yrd reception; Goebel, PAT
B-- Parker, 6 yrd run; Linkenheimer, PAT
B--- Johnson, 2 yrd run; Goebel, PAT
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