Panthers dogged by Lingle

The Saratoga Panthers played well against the Lingle-Ft. Laramie (Lingle) Doggers on Friday evening but, at the end, could not quite pull off the win according to Head Coach Logan Wright.

"If we had three or four minutes left in the game instead of two when we got the ball back," Wright said, "I think we would have scored and won."

Wright believes the Panthers were equal to the team the Doggers fielded for the October 1 game.

"Their team had three big plays that they scored on and that was the difference," Wright said. "Their running back found a hole in our defense three times and he had long runs that scored."

Wright believes the Panther had double the total yards and the Panther defense held the Doggers most of the time.

"Our defense stopped them almost every time, with the exception of those runs," Wright said. "We were in the game until the end."

The Panthers were the first team to score making it 8-0. Then the Doggers scored two of their big plays and, going into the 2nd quarter, it was 15-8. Neither team scored in the 2nd quarter and at half-time the score remained 15-8.

"We marched up the field 90 yards and then didn't score," Wright said. "We had a long reception that got us to the six yard line and we didn't punch it in. The difference in the game was, when Lingle broke a big play, it was a touchdown."

Wright said the team had the yardage, just not the points to show it.

"We either need to turn the big plays into scores, or we need to have those 90 yards drives get the score punched in," Wright said. "That is how we will win."

Wright said his quarterback Geoffrey Johnson did well.

"Geoffrey overthrew a couple passes but most of them were on target," Wright said. "He was getting hit every play. He was out for two weeks before and I think he had a good game. He is a tough kid."

Wright said the team did give up a lot of sacks and that is how a lot of Panther drives would end.

"We would march, march, march, then penalty and then sack," Wright said. "They scored in the 3rd quarter to be up two touchdowns and then we scored in the 4th and we were only down five points. If we had scored, we would have won."

Wright said the team had their chance with two minutes left, but the Panthers just could not pull it off.

The score ended 21-16 in favor of the Doggers.

"I want us to be way better at blocking," Wright said. "We have three weeks to get there. It is an urgent matter now. When I look at the films I see how good we could be. I think we have been focusing a little too much on the teams and now it is time to focus on us."

Wright is still excited about the potential of the team and how good they can be.

"Games that you can win, you need to do exactly that," Wright said. "We have to improve our blocking and we have to get back to tackling a little better."

Wright said with three games left the team has to play their best games.

Heston Fisher and Tuker Carricato were the players that scored. Fisher on a pass from Johnson and Carricato ran his touchdown in. Fisher had 191 yards. Wright said Slayd Daley and Carricato have championship enthusiasm and are super physical.

"I really do feel we should have beat them," Wright said. "But we just didn't. That is why it is why we need to figure out what we can in the next week."

The Saratoga Panthers will be hosted by the Southeast Cyclones at 6 p.m. on October 8.