Pantåhers defeat Baggs in first six-man game

Even as a brand new six-man football team, the Panthers proved they can already deliver the goods after their blistering 58-12 win over Little Snake River Valley.

The Panthers showed that their hard practice with the new style was worth it, in what was their first season game at Baggs Friday afternoon. Coach Scott Bokelman said he was quite surprised in a 46-point leading score for their first 2013 game, especially with the recent transition to six-man play.

“I was pleasantly surprised and the kids all played well,” he said. “They executed offense well, tackled well and did well on defense, although we did have some mistakes and there are some minor things we need to tweak. There is always room for improvement, but overall I was satisfied with the effort and results from the game. Defensively we did great things, and for our first game I couldn’t have hoped for anything better.”

Bokelman admitted he wasn’t sure what to expect going into the game, and knew that Baggs had a good team with strong players.

“When we first saw them they were kind of intimidating, since they’re a group of good-sized kids,” he said. “They’re all fairly strong and have a real drive, and Little Snake River has real pride in their athletics. Surprisingly, we were able to secure our offense really well and return the opening kickoff.”

With one win as a six-man team under their belts, Bokleman said the Panthers now have experience for future games this season.

“None of us had any real experience in six-man game play before, and we had one win and we’ll move on,” he said. “There were a lot of things we saw that we needed to work on, like blocking, executing offense and recognizing where the defense is, but a lot of that stuff happens on the fly during the games. We’re working on all that.”

Standout athletes of the game included Tate Stinson, who rushed for 175 yards and made five of the team’s touchdowns, including their first one of the game. Out of the other three touchdowns, Cameron Lehr scored two and Kyle Barlett aced one, and Rodrigo Escobedo made four PAT (point after touchdown) kicks.

For team tackles, Bartlett managed eight, Stinson pulled in six and Lehr grabbed five.

“Tate had played a great game and did really well making tackles, and so did Thatcher Spiering as quarterback,” Bokelman said. “Rodrigo had a good game as a center, putting pressure defensively on them, and Cameron Lehr and Kyle Bartlett had good touchdowns.”

Bokelman also gave credit to mildly-injured Ryan Malone, who was able to rush 27 yards and score 11 tackles, the most tackles for the team. Malone had missed the team’s Aug. 31 scrimmage due to a torn hamstring, and was still recovering somewhat by Friday’s game.

“Ryan did really well defensively, even with a slightly pulled hamstring,” Bokelman said. “Honestly, I think they all did great, whether it was with offense, defense or special teams. They didn’t do as good of a job blocking, though. We also got most of our runs on the inside for this game, and we need to keep working to able to run on the outside as well.”

Assistant Coach Josh Sandlian said he also did not know what to expect, especially after such a long break between playing the Rattlers. He said the last time they faced off against Little Snake River was four years ago, when the two JV teams played each other.

“Baggs doesn’t have the same team they did in the past, since they graduated a bunch of their kids, but they’re still a good team that I think will do good on their side of the conference,” he said. “They have a different personnel now, and they’re fairly young and need to grow as well. We went in there preparing to win and didn’t know what to expect, since we weren’t sure what they had personnel-wise. We just expected to go over there and perform well, and we were pleasantly surprised.”

Sandlian also credited Stinson, Malone, Bartlett, Escobedo, Spiering and Lehr as top players, but said he would like to develop some of the freshmen and sophomores for more playing time in future games.

“Our younger guys didn’t get in all that much, and didn’t really get in until the end of the game,” he said. “As we go along we’ll try to get them in more. We want to develop our young freshmen and sophomores and try to get them into the game as much as possible.”

Up next, the Panthers take on Wyoming Indian’s Chiefs in their first home game of the 2013 season. Bokelman said the game could be a tough one, when considering the large size of Wyoming Indian’s team.

“Knowing them, a lot of times the big kids will try to run right over the top of your guys,” he said. “We’ll try to stop them and work on offense, and our defense has to stop their power offense. They could line up a bunch of their big kids, and we could be outsized.”

Sandlian said the key to success against the Chiefs is being prepared and having a mindset to triumph.

“We just need to go into each as prepared as possible to perform,” he said. “We need to to go in there preparing to win.”

The Panthers’ game against Wyoming Indian takes place at 6 p.m. Friday at Saratoga High School.

 

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