PERRYVILLE PANTHERS FOOTBALL

ties proved costly as North Harford closed the gap late in the second quarter and went into halftime down 22-14.

The Hawks evened the score early in the 3rd quarter on a 52-yard touchdown run by Kent Holcombe on 4th-and-two. Holcombe almost took down Perryville Friday night with several lengthy returns that gave North Harford premium field position to start drives.

It was Ayers’ pick 6 that broke the game open in the third quarter for the Panthers. Perryville followed that up with a running touchdown from Ethen Gunter to give the home team a 14-point lead and put the game out of reach for the Hawks. Gunter had 20 carries on the night for 166 rushing yards and 2 rushing touchdowns. Ayers had five carries for 46 yards, two receptions for 20 yards and was 5-for-5 in PATs. Kyle Richards added two receptions for the Panthers for 61 yards and a touchdown catch. Quarterback

Rob Siek tossed two touchdowns and threw two interceptions on the night. For Perryville defensively, Sydney Phillips led the team with nine tackles, Ayers had five tackles and Cy McCall and Kyle Huth accounted for four tackles each. Huth and Ayers each had interceptions for the Panthers. Perryville next faces Joppatowne this Friday night at home at 7 p.m. in a matchup of teams who started winning their season openers.

VARSITY ROSTER:

Head Coach: Matt Feeney

Elkton Overcomes 17 Point Deficit To Defeat Rising Sun

one is the chemistry is unlike any I’ve seen from an Elkton football team in a long time.They genuinely care about each other and play for each other,” Feeney said.

“You’ve seen me on the sidelines in the past. I’m screaming, losing my mind and throwing things,” Feeney added. “I stayed calm. I’m not going to sit here and say we’re going to go undefeated. I just know that these guys won’t ever quit. They won’t because … for each other. That’s just a testament to the character of those men.”

The Golden Elks got on the board on the ensuing possession when Latshaw connected on quick strike to Huffstutler for 55yard score to make it 17-6, but the Tigers responded with a three- yard touchdown by Russell early in the second quarter to make it 24-6.

Elkton got itself back in the game with a short touchdown run from Tyreke Kane and a long 71-yard touchdown pass to D. J. Piner, making it 24-18 with 4:19 left in the second quarter.

Russell scored his third touchdown of the first half on the next possession to give Rising Sun a lead. That 13-point lead was cut to five as Latshaw connected with Jaden Nichols for a 28-yard strike to make it 31-26 with less than a minute left in the first half.

Golden Elk head coach Matt Feeney had nothing but praise for the Tigers’ offense, particularly Russell, who finished the game with 247 yards on 36 carries and four touchdowns.

“They have dudes over there. They make blocks. They’re running our guys over. Gannon Russell is a Guy. He’s a Guy, man. We felt that dude tonight,” Feeney said “You can come in with a gameplan, but the boys start playing ball. They were making plays.”

Rising Sun held onto its 31-26 lead until the final play of the third quarter when Latshaw connected with Huffstutler for a 13-yard touchdown pass, and the Golden Elks made it a three-point game at 34-31 when they converted the ensuing two-point conversion.

The Tigers regained the lead when they capped off a 8-play, 49-yard drive with a Russell five-yard touchdown run with 5:58 remaining, and the successful extra-point gave Rising Sun a

38-34 lead.

“They retook the lead, but we wanted it back,” Huffstutler said of Elkton’s mindset after the Tigers’ go-ahead touchdown. “That’s the mentality. We’re not going to take the foot off the game, and we’re going to keep going and going. That’s exactly what we did.” continued on A-7

The Golden Elks did not waste time getting into scoring position as they got to the endzone in four plays, scoring on a 21-yard touchdown connection between Latshaw and Huffstutler with four minutes remaining to make it 4038.

Huffstutler made an adjustment to his route on the eventual winning score as he noticed the Rising Sun safety had strong coverage on the play.

“The funny thing is that we called a route that I didn’t do correctly, but I saw the safety had really good coverage on me,” Huffstutler, who caught six passes for 117 yards and three touchdowns, said. “I ran my own thing just to help my team out. There was great coverage on me, but I had to make sure to be myself and win for my team.”

VARSITY ROSTER:

“They blitz every single play. They brought six, and their linebacker went to the bubble, and their safety almost made a great play,” Latshaw added. “Huffy (Huffstutler) made a great play, caught it and got the touchdown.”

The Tigers got to the Elkton 34 on the ensuing possession, but the Golden Elk defense did not break, forcing an interception on a desperation pass on fourth down and 22 to seal the victory.

“You know, yes. A walk usually gets egos inflated. Listen, we knew we weren’t getting a walk. We never get a walk with Rising Sun,” Feeney said of the victory. “It’s going to be four quarters. Like I said, it’s going to be who has the ball last. We got lucky that they had the ball last, and we made a play.”

The biggest takeaway Tiger head coach Clem Vaughan said his team can learn from their tough defeat is to learn how to put games away. “How to finish. When you have somebody on the ropes, you really have to finish. We’re there. We’re that close. We just need to finish,” Vaughan said.

Indians Drop Season Opener to Mustangs 34-7 After Costly Penalties

BEL AIR, MD - Coming off a 1-9 season last year, the North East Indians looked to erase the memories of last season with a big win on Friday at C. Milton Wright against the Mustangs. The Indians looked good in the first quarter and were able to contain the Mustangs offense and kept their opponent out of the endzone. The Indians were able to move the ball and were gaining confidence.

The Indians would lose three of their starters to unsportsmanlike conduct penalties when a fight broke out on the field at the end of the first quarter. Those three players would seem to be key parts to the Indians early success as the team lost its momentum from the first quarter and the home team Mustangs would start to pull away and quickly started to put the game out of reach for the Indians.

A late score would put the Indians on the scoreboard but that would be too late for the Indians to rally and they end up with the 34-7 loss.

First-year QB, Senior Luke Keefer would pass for 122 yards going 10-20 with one TD and one INT. Keefer also would lead the team in rushing picking up 34 yards on nine carries.

Garrette Kirby and Mason Boyd both rushed for 17 yards on five carries each. DJ Anthony would get 16 yards on five carries.

Marcus Rivera caught one pass for 46 yards and had the only

TD of the game. Evan England would snatch 4 passes for 41 yards.

The Indians put up 215 total yards of offense with 122 in the air and 93 yards rushing.

Standouts on defense were #8 Collin Fulks who had 10 total tackles in the game with eight of those solo tackles. RJ Boyd #5 had 12 Total Tackles.

Next up for the Indians is a trip to Fallston for an unusual Saturday game at 12noon on September 10 at Fallston High School.

The Indians will host their Home Opener on Friday September 16 against the Joppatowne Mariners.