Panthers trounce Kent County behind Ayers’ 3 TDs,

can either have a meeting on Monday to turn in your equipment, or have a meeting on Monday to scout our next opponent.’ And that was a direct message I sent to the kids at the pregame meal and they came out and executed.”

From the jump, the Panthers were firing on all cylinders.

After the Trojans’ first drive was cut short by an interception from Panthers senior defensive back Jaiden Proctor, it took just a single play for Perryville’s skill-position players – a couple of which had a huge night – to kick off the scoring parade.

On the first offensive play of the night for the Panthers, Ethen Gunter, the team’s star junior running back, proceeded to take the handoff 41 yards to the house, giving Perryville an almost immediate 7-0 lead.

Then, just two offensive plays later, he did it again, scoring on a 38-yard run on the team’s third offensive play of the evening.

Gunter carried the ball just five times for a whopping 96 yards – a mind-boggling 19.2 yards per carry – and two touchdowns in the win, a stellar performance given he and most of the team’s starters didn’t touch the field in the second half.

While Gunter had one of his best games of the year, the star of last Friday’s postseason opener was senior jack-of-all-trades Zack Ayers, who scored three times in three different ways.

After junior quarterback Ty Patchell threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to Proctor to make it 21-0 in the second quarter, Patchell came back again on the next possession and fired off a beautifully executed 81-yard touchdown pass to Ayers, who used his speed to get behind the entirety of Kent County’s defense to score.

Then, on the following Panthers drive, Ayers scored again, but this time on a 13-yard run that featured him weaving his way through his blocks as he found the right corner of the end zone to make it 35-0 Perryville.

On the ensuing Kent County possession, Perryville’s defense forced a safety to make it 37-0, which loomed even larger when Ayers returned the Trojans’ kickoff for a touchdown on the next play, breaking a couple of tackles en route to a footrace to the end zone.

In total, Ayers racked up 140 yards of total offense (5 carries for 45 yards; 2 catches for 95 yards) and scored three touchdowns in the win.

But perhaps even more impressive, Ayers took his versatility to the next level, going 6-for-6 on PATs and having a perfect night as both the team’s kicker and punter.

“Ethen has kind of been the focal point of the offense since the Edgewood game, but when they tried to zero in and load the box to stop Ethen,” Sandora explained, “it gave Zack an opportunity to get on the perimeter with Jet. … He’s got all of the explosiveness and the talent in the world.”

The Trojans scored twice in the second half as the Panthers allowed some of their younger players to get some reps, but it was much too little, much too late, as Perryville cruised to the 30-point win.

With the victory, Perryville moves on to visit the Green Street Academy

Chargers (4-3) this week, where it’ll play with a state quarterfinal spot on the line in its first road game since Sept. 30.

“I feel like our team is more mature than it was the last time we traveled,” Sandora said. “We’ve just got to continue to dominate the line of scrimmage. We’ve got to displace people and get some running lanes for Ethen so he can get going. And then when they give us some one-on-one matchups on the outside, beat our man and make the throw and catch.”