Sports from the week of September 27, 2006

Win over state-ranked MCC makes statement

By Dick Donaldson

The Panther football team upset Murray County Central, ranked fifth in the state in class A and with a 3-0 record, 37-22 at Slayton Friday night. The two teams now have identical 3-1 season records and are tied for third place in the Little Sioux Conference standings.

“We played very well, our best game so far,” said Panther Co-Coach Derek Flann. “We played hard and executed well. We concentrated on stopping Tony Falk with gang tackling.”

“Hard work paid off,” said Co-Coach Randy McIntire. “We have improved each game so far.”

It was a game that saw much more offense than defense. There were only 2 punts in the entire game, one by each team, and one of those was blocked. The Panthers had to overcome the blocked punt, two fumbles lost and a pass interception to get the win. T/M/B scored first and then quickly responded to every score the Rebels could put on the board during the rest of the game.

It was also a game in which the Panther’s offense became more diverse with both running back Seth Swan (171 yards) and quarterback Isaac Dolan (112 yards) rushing for over 100 yards.

And it was a game in which the Panther defense reasserted itself by holding the high scoring Rebels (over 36 points per game average) to only 22 points and running back Tony Falk (over 700 yards in three games) to a modest 116 yards in 16 carries.

Finally it was a game in which the Panthers, after playing the highly favored Rebels to a 22-22 tie early in the fourth quarter, emerged as the stronger team by out-scoring MCC 15-0 in the closing minutes.

The Panthers rushed 46 times for 280 yards and were 5 of 100 passing for 113 yards giving them 393 yards of total offense. MCC rushed 48 times for 157 yards and were 6 of 13 passing for 146 yards giving them 303 yards of total offense.

With 2 points for each unassisted tackle and 1 point for an assisted tackle Chris Hansen led the Panther defense with 23 points, Seth Swan had 22, Tyler Bauer had 18, Pheng Her 15, John Gervais 13, Dan Deiter and Chris Swenson had 11 each, Kyle McIntire and Spencer Zwaschka had 10 each, David Schmidt 8, Aaron Frisvold, Logan Sanow, Andrew Prairie, John Swenhaugen had 2 each and Adam LeClaire had 1 point.

First half

The TMB vs. MCC game began with the Panthers’ David Schmidt receiving the opening kickoff and returning it to the 44 yard line. From there TMB went 56 yards in 12 plays to a touchdown with Isaac Dolan going the last 6 yards on a keeper. When Kyle McIntire kicked the extra point the Panthers took a 7-0 lead with 5:22 left in the first quarter.

The Rebels then took the following kickoff from their 20 yard line and marched to the TMB 24 where a fourth down pass was knocked down by the Panther’s John Gervais.

On their second possession the Panthers were unable to move the ball and Spencer Zwaschka’s punt was blocked and the Rebels took over at the TMB 18 yard line. However the Panther defense stiffened and TMB took the ball on the 12 yard line on downs. The Panthers then moved, in 10 plays to the Rebel 30 before turning the ball back to MCC on a fumble.

This time MCC moved to a first down before a sack by Pheng Her forced a fourth down punt by the Rebels. TMB got the ball on their own 20 but fumbled back to MCC on the first play of the possession. The Rebels took advantage of the opportunity and scored, with the aid of a pass interference penalty, in six plays. The run for the conversion was good and MCC led 8-7 with 1:56 left in the half .

The Panthers returned the ensuing kickoff to the 32 yard line and, on the first play, Dolan scampered all the way to the MCC 10 yard line. A false start penalty moved the ball back but then Dolan found Chris Swenson with a 13 yard scoring pass. The conversion run was good and, with 27 seconds remaining in the second period TMB led 15-8.

As the second half began the TMB kickoff went out of bounds and MCC put the ball in play at their own 35. MCC then moved to a score in eight plays with the touchdown coming on a 20-yard pass. The conversion attempt failed and the score became 15-14 with 8:51 left in the third period.

Again TMB answered. They moved to a score in eight plays with a pass to Swenson good for 35 yards the biggest play of the drive. The kick by McIntire was good and the TMB lead became 22-14.

The Rebels responded by moving from their 34 yard line to the TMB before losing the ball on downs. On the first play of the following possession TMB gave up the ball on an interception at the Panther 37. Seven plays later, early in the fourth quarter, the Rebels tied the score with a 31-yard pass play for a touchdown and a run for the conversion.

This time the Panthers responded with 2 scores. The first came as a result of a five play drive featuring runs of 19 and 11 yards by Swan sandwiched around a 34 yard burst by Dolan. The conversion run was good with 9:41 remaining and the score became 30-22. After holding MCC on downs TMB took the ball back at the MCC 35. In six plays TMB scored and when the kick was good the score mounted to 37-22 with 4:33 remaining in the game. On the following MCC possession an intercepted pass by McIntire got the ball back for TMB and the Panthers then ran out the clock.

TMB 7 8 7 15 37

MCC 0 8 6 8 22

First quarter

TMB- Dolan 9 run, kick good

Second quarter

MCC-Falk 8 run, run good

TMB-Swenson13 pass from Dolan, run good

Third quarter

MCC- Falk 20 run, run failed

TMB-Swan 1 run, kick good

Fourth quarter

MCC- Falk 31 pass from Johnson, run good

TMB- Swan 3 run, run good

TMB-Dolan 9 run, kick good

Rushing-Swan 27-171 yards, Dolan 14-112 yards

Passing Dolan 5 of 10 for 113 yards, I TD, 1 int.

Receiving-Swenson 3-63 yards, Schmidt 1-34 yards, McIntire 1-15 yards

Penguins come close to first win

The Penguin soccer team has lost two more games but has served notice that there has been definite improvement in its play. The Penguins are now 0-8 for the season.

Last Saturday the Penguins lost to a Christian school from Sioux City, Iowa 2-1 and on Monday the Penguins lost to New Ulm 4-1.

“We started off Saturday trailing 2-0 at halftime, only giving up 4 shots in the first half,” said Penguin Coach Phil Goetstouwers. “We ended up losing 2-1. Arturo Bautista scored the lone goal. We out-shot our opponents 24-8, dominated the game, but didn’t finish the job. The other team only had 3 good scoring opportunities and capitalized on 2 of them. We had 5 or 6 really good opportunities, but only finished one of them.”

“Yesterday the Penguins played against New Ulm and lost 4-1, “ said Goetstouwers. “We trailed 3-0 at the half. I’m not sure of the shot total, but would guess the other team had about 15 while the Penguins had about 9. Arturo Bautista had the goal off of a header that went over the goalie’s head.”

Jags take Panthers in five

On Tuesday the Panther volleyball team lost a tough match in five games to Renville County West. The game scores were: 25-19, 27-25, 18-25, 16-25 and 10-15. The Panthers are now 4-12 for the season.

“We really needed this match,” said Panther Coach Cyndi Raymond. “It was a tough one to lose.”

Tracy/Milroy/Balaton played very well in the first game and were leading 20-10 when the Jaguars won their 11th point on one of the longest volleys in a long time to get back in the game. The Panthers then came back and took the first game 25-19. They continued to play well and came back from 12-4 deficit to win the second 27-25. The game was highlighted by a miraculous save Michele Lanoue made with a clenched fist hit of a ball almost past her to keep a long volley alive. Lanoue also finished the game with two straight kills for the Panther win.

The Jaguars got off to an 8-13 lead in the third game but T/M/B came back to close to 14-17 when the Panthers’ four match weekend caught up with them and they couldn’t sustain their intensity. The Jaguars, mainly on the hitting of #12 Megan Groen, closed out the match by winning the last three games.

Girls brush elbows with best at big Twin Cities meet

The Panther girls’ cross-country team participated in the Roy Griak Invitational in St. Paul last Saturday in a 5000M race.

The Panther individual results were: Karli Tholen 44th, with a time of 22:06; Jen Vroman 190th, 24:43; Jessica Mason, 214th, 25:19; Haley Hebig 226th, 26:04; Celia Brockway 229th 26:19; Carly Miller 232, 26:3; Rachel Stobb, 247th, 29:13.

“The course was very wet from the recent rains and we were the final race of eleven races so the girls ran on a very slippery, muddy course,” said Panther Coach Marie Hanson. “Even with the conditions they ran well! Karli Tholen was the top finisher, coming in 44th place. Running in such a large group can be overwhelming, but Karli ran her race well and now has some experience in such a large field. Seniors Jessica Mason and Celia Brockway also ran great races. They really seem to be coming around. They’re in good shape and are great team leaders.”

On Tuesday the boys participated in the Murray County Central Invite and finished in fourth place.

The team scores were: 1) Adrian, 23; 2) MCC, 76; 3) MCW, 81; 4)TMB, 95; 5)WWG/RRC, 116; 6)Worthington, 120.

The Panther individual results were: Ryan Tholen 2nd, 17:32; Alex Jones, 11th 18:35; Derek Evans 27th, 19:57; Sam VanNevel 33rd, 20:55; Joe Hook, 43, 22:18; Dalton Kirk 46th, 24:35.

In the junior high race Mac Tiegs was 26th with a time of 11:26.

In the junior varsity race James Prairie was 22nd with a time of 19:34 and Josh Lubben was 23rd at 19:45.

“Ryan Tholen continued his excellent season tonight with a second place finish to a tough Adrian athlete,” said Panther Coach Marie Hanson. “Ryan hadn’t been feeling well before the race, but it didn’t seem to bother him much tonight. He ran a tough race and MCC has a very tough course. Derek Evans continues to improve-he is such a competitor! James Prairie ran a great JV race. James is a hard worker and keeps improving race after race.”