North Lamar Football vs Pittsburg

Posted Date: 10/17/2023

This first week of district play has come and gone. After an excited defensive battle your North Lamar Panthers are 1-0 in district beating the Pittsburg Pirates 14-7! 

The freshmen and JV teams both traveled to Pittsburg on Thursday and both came up short. The freshmen lost 21-0. It was a tale of two halves. The first half we stuffed them and it was 0-0 at the half. Offensively we were plagued with fumbled snaps causing multiple turnovers and in the second half the Pirates were able to capitalize and score three touchdowns. Following that game the JV squad fell short 8-0. It was a great back and forth game where both defenses played very well and both offenses were stalling out. If you pay attention to each play you will see the improvement is being made for these boys and I’m excited to see how they continue to progress. 

Friday night was one of the most nerve racking games I’ve coached. We received the opening kickoff and marched 84 yards on 7 plays to score the first touchdown when Blake Hildreth connected with Dalton Nichols on a 23 yard touchdown pass. Dallas Foster punched the PAT through giving us an early 7-0 lead. The defense forced a punt where the snap went over the punter's head giving us great field position. We failed on a fourth down pass that fell incomplete, stopping our attempt to take advantage of the great field position. Defensively we hung tough, forcing Pitt to drive the full length of the field. They attempted and missed a 39 yard field goal so the score remained 7-0. We take over and are forced to punt on a 3 & out. Pittsburg responded and scored their only points of the night, throwing a 22 yard touchdown pass with 3:10 left in the 2nd quarter tying the game 7-7. After receiving the kickoff Blake Hildreth orchestrates a 10 play 52 yard drive where he punches in the quarterback sneak with 10 seconds before half. We took a 14-7 lead into halftime. The second half was a defensive battle! We kickoff and immediately shut them down, forcing a punt. We took over and drove the full length of the field but came up short on the three yard line, turning the ball back over to the Pirates. Pittsburg pushed the ball to midfield before punting, pinning us inside the 15 yard line to start the 4th quarter. We are forced to punt after three plays and Blake Hildreth sends a missile of a punt going 60 yards to flip the field. The Pirate offense drove to the 27 yard line but BJ Jackson made a big time play catching an interception to get the ball back with just over 5 minutes to play. After a penalty kept us from getting a first down we’re once again forced to punt. Three plays later Blake Hildreth caught an interception with two minutes remaining to ice the game…so we thought. After failing to get a first down, allowing them to use their timeout we were forced to once again punt the ball back with 20 seconds on the clock. The Pirates were able to get a decent return leaving them one last shot to the endzone. A long pass down the right sideline was caught by the Pirate receiver but Rhett Bestul and Blake Hildreth were able to finally end the game by tackling him short of the goal line. It was an exciting game that literally came down to a hail mary attempt. With this thrilling victory we advanced to 5-1 on the season and 1-0 in district play. This Friday we welcome the Spring Hill Panthers to R.L. Maddox with a chance to all but secure a playoff berth and prove who the real Panthers are in this district!

Thank you for your continued support and remember It’s Always A Great Day To Be A Panther!