The underdog Gold Beach Panther football team traveled to the Dalles for a Saturday afternoon first round play-off match-up at Dufur High School in what would be the first post season play for Coach Chris Higgins and his football program.
The #9 Panthers traveled to the home of the #8 Dufur Rangers, for a 1:00pm match-up that would extend one teams season, and end anothers.
The Rangers would set the tone within seconds after receiving the kick-off, and completing a 40 yard pass play for a touchdown, putting Dufur up 6-0 less than a minute into the contest.
The Panthers would fumble on their following possession on the Dufur 36 yard line, only to have Gold Beach return the favor by forcing a fumble and Ranger turnover on the 40. The Panthers would put together a drive down to the 5 yard line, and senior quarterback Trenton Storns #13 would take the ball on a sweep to the right and tie the score at 6-6 to end the 1st quarter.
The Rangers would score early in the 2nd period after taking the ensuing Panther kick-off down to the 5 yard line on a quarterback dive.
The Panthers then returned the kick over 70 yards for a touchdown that would be called back for a block in the back. Coach Higgins then called junior Landyn Miller #11 to take the 2nd and 9 snap from the 45 yard line, and completed a long pass to senior Trenton Storns #13 who would outrun the defense to once again tie the score at 12-12.
The Gold Beach defense then put the Panthers ahead after disrupting an option play, picking up the loose ball and sophomore Nelson Wilstead #11 then outran the Rangers to score a 48 yard touchdown putting the Panthers up 12-20 for the first time in the game with just over 9:00 minutes left in the half.
The Rangers would put their line to work, putting together a 60 yard drive and score, missing the extra point and leaving the score 18-20.
Gold Beach answered again, calling play action pass to junior Chase Sprinkle #87, who finished the 30 yard play in the endzone, putting the Panthers up 18-26 with just over 4:00 minutes in the first half.
The Rangers would score two more times to close out the half 32-26. The Panthers sophomore Jake Westerman #7 took the 2nd half kick-off 70 yards to tie the score at 32-32.
The Rangers then abandoned their option play, and mixed passes to edge with their already established run game and drove down to the Gold Beach 5 yard line, and scored to take the lead 38-32.
The Rangers used their run game to take time off the clock, and would not trail in the game again, even after the Panthers put together another long drive to score in the 4th quarter to close the gap to 52-40. But the Dufur run game was too much, and scored once again to extend the score to 58-40 as time ran out.
Talking with coach Higgins after the game, “This loss hurt in more ways then one, knowing your season is over, and knowing our one and only senior won’t be suiting up for our Panther team again.” he said. “Even though we came out with a loss,” he continued, “this young team was able to experience the atmosphere of a playoff game, and that will be crucial for us going forward.”
Congratulations to Head Coach Chris Higgins, his staff and the Panther football team on an excellent season.
