Contributed by: Jake Fox
Aug 26, 2011
Pittsville falls to 1-1 on the season.
Stratford–The Pittsville Panthers came into Stratford High School Friday night with a lot of confidence that this could be the year they knock of the perennial powerhouse Tigers. Roughly two hours later, it was made clear that there was a lot of work to be done. The Tigers took advantage of two Panther fumbles and also had an interception in a convincing 35-8 win.
For a brief moment, it looked as though the Panther defense brought their “A” game, forcing an impressive three and out on the Tiger’s first drive. However all momentum would be seized just two plays into the next drive when they would fumble away what looked to be a first down reception.
Stratford took over from there. After starting at the Pittsville 38 it would only take four plays for Nolan Bargender to find Greg Belter for a 14 yard touchdown reception. The Panthers would then fumble the ensuing kickoff to give Stratford the ball in good field position once again.
The game remained 7-0 until a ten-play scoring drive from the Tigers. A big pass play to Joe Franklin of 28 yards set up a steady dose of running from Travis Urlaub and Eli Temanson. Temanson’s 5 yard score put the Tigers up 14-0.
Stratford played a solid game defensively with the big play on that side of the ball coming on a Drew Spaeth interception to end the first half.
The route was on early in the third quarter when the Tigers capitalized on a fake punt by Kellen Borbach after it looked like the Panthers had a key stop. A few plays later Temanson found the end-zone yet again, this time on a 12 yard run to all but seal the deal. Not to be outdone by his teammate, Belter would score on a 17 yard play to stretch the lead to 28-0 at the end of the 3rd quarter.
In the fourth quarter the Tigers put the continuous clock rule into effect with a 6 yard touchdown run from Urlaub.
The Panthers added a late scoring drive to avoid the shutout that included nice catches from Nathan Potter and Jared Fox. Running back Eric Hahn, who had a huge week last week scored on a short run to give him his sixth touchdown in two weeks.
Week 3 won’t get any easier for the Panthers as they host 2-0 Marathon. Stratford will look to keep their winning ways going when they travel to Phillips.
