French Camp football coach Nathan Wright saw his Panthers making a lot of familiar mistakes on their home turf in the first half against Nanih Waiya on Friday night. But after trailing 17-7 at the half, the Panthers outscored the Warriors 21-3 in the second half and rallied to take a 28-20 win for their first victory of the season.
French Camp improves to 1-3 on the season and will host Hamilton on Friday night.
Wright said even though it wasn’t a perfect game, he was proud of the second-half performance of his team.
“Overall, I was pleased with our second half performance,” Wright said. “I thought we came out and played a complete half and was pleased with that. I thought the defense played well and got stops when needed and the offense put up 21 points. I hope that we have turned the corner.”
He continued, “I’m just very pleased with the guys and glad to see them have a victory and do a lot of things well. We still made some of those mistakes, and it looked like we were doing the same old junk we have been doing in the first half.”
The Warriors got the ball to open the game and put together a 13-play drive that ended with a 41-yard field goal by Jake Vick with 5:03 left in the quarter for an early 3-0 lead.
The Panthers responded with a five-play, 61-yard drive. After Ethan Wright hit Avery Summers on a 44-yard gain, Silas Hodge completed the drive with a 13-yard run with 3:13 left in the first quarter. Reese Churchill hit the PAT, and the Panthers led 7-3.
The Warriors fumbled on their next drive while the Panthers drove down to the Nanih Waiya 25 before turning the ball over on downs. The Warriors then put together a seven-play, 75-yard drive as Mason Jones scored on a 3-yard run to finish off the drive. The PAT failed, and the Warriors led 9-7. The Warriors then recovered the ensuing kick and went back to work on offense. This time they went 44 yards in three plays as Jones scored on a 13-yard run with 4:34 left in the first half. Eli Stanton scored the two-point conversion, and Nanih Waiya led 17-7.
French Camp put together a nine-play drive and got inside the Nanih Waiya 10 but fumbled as the Warriors held the 17-7 lead at the half.
French Camp got the ball to start the game and kept the ball for more than eight minutes as they went 81 yards in 15 plays. Hodge finished off the drive with a 5-yard run with 3:56 left in the third. The PAT was blocked, and Nanih Waiya led 17-13.
The Warriors responded with a long drive of their own, going 13 plays before settling for a 36-yard field goal to take a 20-13 lead.
French Camp answered again with a five-play, 53-yard drive as Ethan Wright scored on a 7-yard run with 5:43 left in the game. Wright ran in the two-point conversion, and the Panthers took a 21-20 lead.
The Warriors then drove down to the French Camp 13 before turning the ball over on downs with 3:11 left in the game.
French Camp then added some insurance points when Wright scored on a 30-yard run to cap off a seven-play, 87-yard drive with 34.4 seconds left to play. Churchill hit the PAT, and French Camp led 28-20.
The Warriors had their best offensive night of the season with 241 yards rushing and 78 passing for 319 yards of total offense.
For French Camp, the Panthers had 290 yards rushing and 84 passing for 374 yards of total offense. Wright was 5-of-9 passing for 84 yards and rushed 19 times for 127 yards. Hodge rushed 13 times for 114 yards and had two catches for 24 yards. Summers had two catches for 55 yards.
“We had a good night running the football,” Wright said. “Both of them went over 100 yards, and the line blocked a lot better. We are still missing some blocks, but as a whole, it looked a lot better than it has been so far. They are both workhorses. I wished they had a little more speed, but they will throw it around and get the tough yards.”
On defense, Wright had 13 solo tackles and 10 assists for a total of 23 stops. Max Bronson had five solo tackles and five assists while Summers had five solo tackles. Rylan Moore had two solo tackles and five assists along with a fumble recovery.
This week’s game:
The Panthers will try to make it two in a row as they host Hamilton on Friday night in the division opener for both teams.
Hamilton is 4-0 on the season with wins over Hatley (41-6), McAdams (53-6), Smithville (49-13), and Okolona (50-34).
“I know they are much improved over last year,” Wright said. “They haven’t lost a game yet, and I’m pretty sure they have everybody back from last year. We are expecting them to be pretty good.”
