In a wild conclusion to the homecoming festivities for Concordia Junior Senior High School and officially marking the halfway point to what’s been a rollercoaster first half of the season, the Panther football team gritted out a 7-0 victory over NCKL foe Marysville.
Marysville started the game with a 7-minute drive that ended with a punt, thanks to a costly penalty on the Bulldogs. Concordia drove down the field on its first drive of the game, highlighted with a big pass from Drake Blochlinger to Ayden Krier, with the quarter ending mid-drive to enter the second quarter 0-0.
Continuing their first drive of the game, the Panthers went for it on fourth down and couldn’t convert. After a first play tackle for loss, Marysville progressed down the field, with the Panthers keying on the quarterback and forcing a turnover on downs. On the following drive, Concordia once again progressed down the field, before an interception pinned the Bulldogs back on their own 5-yard line.
The Panthers retaliated strongly and forced a Bulldog punt out of their own end zone, and after a bad punt, the Panthers took over on the Marysville 18-yard line. Marysville’s defense retaliated with a strong defensive stand and after a penalty, the Panthers attempted a long field goal that missed. After a Panther sack on the following play, the game remained 0-0 entering halftime.
Concordia took the ball to start the second half and marched down to the field before the offense stalled out and failed on a fourth-down conversion. After a strong panther stand, Marysville punted the ball, and the Panthers stalled, but a great punt placed the bulldogs on the 1-yard line. Marysville held the rest of the clock marching down the field and the game entered the fourth.
After back-and-forth play from both sides for the first half of the fourth, with 5:27 remaining, the ball made it into the end zone with a Blochlinger run to make it a 7-0 game. Marysville went down the field on their following drive, but turned the ball over on the Panther 45-yard line. After draining the Bulldogs of their timeouts, the Panthers ran the clock out to secure the victory.
Blochlinger went 6-12 passing for 76 yards, with 38 yards on the ground and a touchdown.
Braytin Hake had 50 yards rushing on 14 attempts.
Krier had 37 yards receiving on two catches.
Koehn Williams had 10 tackles, leading the team. Blochlinger and Hake each had a sack in the contest.
