Conference Crown finds a home for 2009…Watervliet

The Panthers took the trip east on I-94 Friday night to face the Lawton Blue Devils in a SAC South showdown.  Both teams came in sporting identical 7-1 records, 4-0 in SAC South play.  The winner of the game would take home the SAC South Crown and as a bonus would likely earn a first round home game in the MHSAA playoffs, which start next week.

Things started out great for the visiting Panthers.  After the defense stuffed Lawton on their opening drive the offense took little time to take advantage.  On the first offensive play of the night Senior QB Kevin Eastman hooked up with Junior WR Aaron Dabicci an a deep post and Dabicci did the rest, taking it 75 yards for the TD.  Senior kicker Marco Montejano added the extra point and the Panthers took an early 7-0 lead.  The defense was stout again on the next Blue Devil drive getting the offense the ball back quickly.  This time Watervliet decided to do it on the ground.  Sophomore RB Tyler Scott led the way, breaking off several long runs as the Panther ground game marched it right down the field.  Senior RB Collin Buck finished off the drive with a 1 yard TD plunge behind big “fullbacks” Jake Elliot and DJ Howley.  The extra point was good and the Panthers ended the first quarter with a 14-0 lead.

The defense continued to play tough, shutting down the Lawton run game time after time.  Midway through the second quarter, the Devils faced a 3rd and 20 from their own 15.  With the defense shutting down the Lawton screen game they decided to go deep.  Junior cornerback John McCarthy was in great position, but the ball was tipped up and caught by a Lawton receiver who did the rest, going 85 yards to the endzone.  With that the Panther lead was cut in half at 14-7.  The offense, facing a tough headwind, had a tough time getting things going in the second quarter.  They were able to get a bit going on the ground, but could never sustain a scoring drive.  As the half came to a close the score remained 14-7.  The Panther defense, with the exception of the long pass, had dominated the half holding Lawton to -13 yards rushing.

The Panthers had the wind in the third quarter, but were unable to take advantage.  A few passes were dropped and Lawton did a good job of bringing pressure.  Meanwhile the defense remained stingy, not allowing Lawton to come anywhere near the endzone.  Lawton continued to try to test McCarthy who continued his excellent coverage knocking down several long pass attempts.

With 5 minutes to go in the game the Panther run game became reenergized.  After nice runs by Scott and Buck, Eastman decided to do a little work on the ground himself.  Dropping back to pass Eastman saw a running lane in the middle of the field and went on a gutsy 22 yard run breaking tackles along the way before being stopped at the 1 yard line.  With a chance to seal the deal the Panthers went back to Buck whose attempted dive over the goalline looked like it was successful as at least one official signaled a touchdown.  However, the ball had come loose and after a lengthy discussion the officials ruled it a fumble and gave Lawton the ball on their own 1 yard line still only down 7.  It was now up to the defense to come up big again, and they were up to the challenge.  After Lawton earned one first down, the Panther Defense made Lawton go the other way, finally failing on 4th and 20 from their own 6 yard line.  The visitors went to Buck once again, and this time there was no doubt about the result as Buck rumbled in for his second TD of the night.  The extra point was blown left by the strong wind, but the Panthers were now up 20-7 with 2:30 to go.

Lawton put together their only sustained drive of the night with Panthers playing deep and keeping receivers in front of them.  However the D stiffened up once Lawton got in the red zone, stopping them on four straight pass attempts.  The offense kneeled out the clock and the Panthers had earned their first Conference Title since 2005 and their first outright title since 1999.

Offensively, the Panthers struggled through the air for the first time all year.  Eastman went 3/12 for 90 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT.  Dabicci had one catch for 75 yards and a TD, Senior WR’s Cory Quinn and Marco Montejano each added a catch for 7 and 6 yards respectively.  The ground game was more successfull, churning up 188 yards on 36 carries.  Scott led the way with 19 carries for 119 yards, his first 100 yard game as a varsity player.  Eastman tucked and ran 10 times for 46 yards, while Buck had 6 carries for 22 yards and 2 TD’s.

Defensively the Panthers were outstanding, especially against the run allowing only 55 yards on 28 carries.  It was the 7th time this season the defense had allowed opposing offenses less than 3 yards/carry.  The defense also continued its streak of keeping opponents to under 300 yards of total offense, a streak that has lasted each of the Panthers’ nine games.  Collin Buck and Kevin Dembinski led the way with 9  and 8 tackles each.  DE Max Goodrich added 6 tackles and a sack, OLB Michael Johnson added 7 tackles.  DJ Howley had one sack while his DT mate Jake Elliot had two sacks.

Next up for the Panthers (8-1, 5-0) is the MHSAA playoffs.  The opponent will not be known until 7:00 Sunday night as the MHSAA announces its playoff pairings.  The playoff selection show will be broadcast live at 7:00 on Fox Sports Detroit.  Regardless of the first round opponent the game will almost assuredly be played Friday night at Panther Stadium.  If you can’t catch the selection show, check MHSAA.com for playoff pairings or check back here for an update on Watervliet’s next opponent.