Panthers earn first win (and first TD) on the road — 66-6 over KMS
Going into to last week’s game at Kerkhoven-Murdock Sunburg, the Panther football team had failed to score a single point on the road. It took them just over a minute Friday to rectify that against the Saints.
“It felt like a weight came off our shoulders,” Tracy-Milroy-Balaton receiver Griffin Zick said about finally punching one in the end zone in a road game. “It felt amazing.”
A very early David Schuh touchdown run not only represented the Panthers’ first score away from Tracy this year, it set the tone for what would turn out to be a 66-6 victory — TMB’s most lopsided win since a 69-0 beatdown of Murray County Central two years and four days ago.
“We just haven’t come out ready to play on the road, and today, for whatever reason, that was different,” TMB coach Ryan Kruse said. “I don’t know really what changed, but we were ready to play today — from the first drive on, we were pretty good.”
Understatement alert. The Panthers racked up a season-high 580 yards — 428 on the ground, led by Schuh’s 263 on 24 totes, a 10-plus yard-per-carry average. The punishing senior back was as close to unstoppable as one could be. The Panthers’ offensive line consistently opened up holes wide enough that even Coach Kruse could’ve run through, and on the occasions that KMS was able to plug things up, Schuh simply stampeded through and over them all night. And he played a big role in making it clear to everyone that the team was ready to roll from the very start.
“We knew that in order to get a home playoff game, we needed to win out,” said Zick. “That was some good incentive for us. We just needed to come out with fire if we wanted to get back home again.”
TMB also had a season-best 34 first downs, controlling the line of scrimmage all night as they wore down the Saints’ defense.
“The offensive line controlled the game more than any other time this year,” Kruse said. “We were just better up front, and it makes things easy and more comfortable for your running back. You know that on first-and-10 if you don’t get any yards, you’re going to get it back; it just makes everybody relax a little bit knowing that they’re going to protect and open up holes.”
The slow-paced Saints, behind a mobile quarterback, were able to counter the Panthers’ score with one of their own, but after that it was all TMB.
The Panthers overcame two firsthalf interceptions with their ability to grind away at the Saints’ defense. TMB went up 14-6 on Schuh’s second score with 11:45 left in the second quarter, and receiver Griffin Zick connected with Aiden Sanow for the two-point conversion.
Schuh notched his third touchdown with 6:40 to go in the first half, and almost immediately got the ball back when Zick stepped in front of a Hunter Engelke pass to thwart a KMS scoring drive.
In the third quarter, TMB kept rolling, as Sanow hooked up with Zick for a 37-yard touchdown pass for a 28-6 TMB lead; a Schuh conversion run put the Panthers ahead 30-6 with 8:55 remaining in the third.
Not to be outdone by the offense, the Panther defense flexed its muscles on the ensuing drive. Lawton Verlinde started things off with the first of three TMB sacks, and after a 15-yard gain, Engelke was picked off by Connor Lanoue at the TMB 30. Then, the Schuh show resumed, as the bullying back had four runs totaling 50 yards, the last one resulting in a short touchdown and a 36-6 lead. Sanow hit Lanoue for the two-point conversion, and with just 5:30 left in the third, the win was all but sealed.
“The offensive line doing what they did created a lot of opportunities for our position players to go make some plays,” Zick said. “Defensively, we settled down and got into our defense and knew what to expect.”
TMB continued to pour it on later in the third after another Zick pick set TMB up at midfield. Three plays into the drive, Jackson Kruse hit the uncoverable Zick for a 28-yard score that put TMB up 44-6. Zick then caught another pass — this one from Engelke — and ran it back 29 yards untouched to push TMB’s lead to 50-6.
“It’s fun to see,” Kruse said of Zick’s six-catch, 134-yard, two-touchdown performance. “For him to be able to have a game like that and showcase what he can do from the very beginning is awesome.
The Panther defense kept the pressure on and sacks by Kruse and Trenton Johnson that totaled a net loss of 34 yards forced a KMS punt. TMB wasted little time in scoring yet again when youngster Braden Morgan bounced a run to the outside and raced 49 yards down the sideline. That gave the Panthers a 56-6 lead. Noah Johnson ran in the two-point conversion for a 58-6 advantage.
The cherry on top came late in the fourth quarter after Dalton Gilbery recovered a fumble. Carson Lanoue capped off a six-play drive with a 4-yard run, and Morgan ran in the twopoint conversion.
Zick finished with nine catches — six on offense for 134 yards and two touchowns, and three on defense, including his pick-six.
Defensively, the Panthers allowed just 79 rush yards. Nolan Verlinde led in tackes with six, and Sanow had four.
