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Panthers fall short in comeback, 35-34
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| 2008 C. E. King Panther football team / Photo courtesy of Scott Tate Photography |
By DAVID TAYLOR
It was a bittersweet moment in the football locker room at C. E. King on Monday morning. The Panthers had provided avid football fans one of the best seasons, including a return to the playoffs, for the first time in three years. That was the sweet. The bitter was they made an early exit with a loss to their first round opponent, Nederland, 35-34.
It was also bitter because the Panthers had a chance to win the game in the final seconds of the game, but came up just inches shy of the goal line on a two-point conversion attempt. If that wasn’t bitter enough, they recovered the onsides kick and had moved the ball down to the Bulldog 33 yard line when the season came crashing in—a fumble. It was the irony of all ironies. The very thing that had kept the Panthers from the playoffs the last few years was hanging onto the ball. This year, they appeared to be putting that nemesis to bed. It only took one to end the season.
No one is taking the loss any more personally than Panther Head Coach Mike Malkowski.
“Their quarterback, running back, receiver were out of the game from injuries. We were moving the ball up and down the field in the second half. Offensively, we made some adjustments at half time and then we moved the ball really well against them,” said Malkowski.
The Panther defense had also limited the Bulldogs to only one second half score.
The Panther coach believed, as did his team and the rest of the coaches, that if they scored on the two-point conversion, there would be no chance for the Bulldogs to comeback on them with only 53 seconds left in the game. King had rallied from a 28-14 halftime deficit to tie the score at 28 all, then Nederland scored again to take the lead late in the game, 35-28.
The ball sat at the 3-yard line with the play to come from the bench for the Panthers. As they broke the huddle, the noise from fans on both sides became deafening.
“The problem we had was when we called the play, after we saw what they did [on defense], they guessed [the defense for the play], but they guessed right,” the disappointed coach said. Malkowski and his coaches were practically out on the numbers of the field trying to call a timeout to change the play, but the officials never saw them or heard them because of the crowd noise.
“They had overloaded that side where we were going with the ball. Normally we’re going to check away from that, but we didn’t,” he said. The play was going to their best back, Alvester Alexander (21 rushes for 213 yards, 3 TDs) who had just been ripping the defense for big yardage. “It was a play we had success with for the whole game,” said Malkowski.
The play ended like it was in slow motion. The Panthers were done.
“It was disheartening. Heart-wrenching,” said the coach.
C. E. King had an early lead, 14-0, scoring on both of their opening possessions. It appeared it could be a blowout. Terrence Guy punched in the first touchdown from the 3-yard line and then Alexander scampered in from the 10-yard line with 5:09 still left in the first quarter.
“Our defense did a great job getting a couple of stops on them early,” Malkowski said. Then it was as though someone pushed the needle off of the phonograph and it didn’t get put back onto the ‘Cats’ meow’ until the second half.
Following the Panthers second TD, the Bulldogs’ Wareall Grogan took it to the house on a 99-yard run for a TD on the kickoff return.
“We just went stagnant on offense there after the kickoff return,” said Malkowski. “It changed the momentum of the game and we got our heads down,” he said. “It took us a while, but we made a comeback in the second half.”
On the Panthers next possession, the Bulldogs came up with a big stop. A few plays later and Nederland was in the end zone again. Tied at 14-14, the Panthers punted and put the ball deep in Bulldog territory. But Grogan was off to the races again on a huge hole and a 95-yard TD. Nederland would score again late in the second quarter to take a 28-14 advantage at the break.
“I felt we were the better team. I just think we just did some things that and continued to do some things that wouldn’t stop them, especially in the first half.”
“In the end, we had our opportunity. We didn’t play our best game, but we didn’t play our worst game and we still had a chance to win it in the end,” said coach.
The Panthers went into the post-season healthy, an important aspect for longevity, but this one just wasn’t in the cards.
The Panthers will lose more than 20 to graduation this year, but Malkowski says there are juniors and sophomores ready to step up and take their place.
The Panthers finish the season 7-3 for the season and 6-1 in district.
“No one finishes the season happy. This one was just particularly frustrating,” said Malkowski.
The coach said the players were still upbeat this week and looked forward to great things next year. “We begin off season work this Thursday,” he smiled.
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