Pana offense held scoreless as Greenville takes SCC lead
PANA — Four turnovers doomed Pana’s offense and perhaps ended the Panthers’ chances at a South Central Conference title.
Greenville’s defense didn’t allow a Pana score in a 20-6 win on Friday in a game of SCC unbeatens.
“I don’t remember a game where the offense didn’t score,” Pana coach Trevor Higgins said. “It was very frustrating. We had it in the red zone and we had a fumble down there. I think we moved the ball, we just couldn’t finish drives.”
Pana’s Sam Sims had a 90-yard interception return to give the Panthers (4-1 overall, 4-1 SCC) a 6-0 lead with 5 minutes, 10 seconds left. He picked off Greenville quarterback Ben Hutchinson and went down the far sideline before cutting back to his right for the final 30 yards.
Little did the Panthers know, that would be their only celebration.
“Four-and-oh versus 4-0. Pana’s tough — we know that — (and) they have been for a long time,” Greenville coach Todd Hutchinson said. “We went toe-to-toe and our kids did a great job of fighting, holding our ground and keeping the game close. Our guys have worked hard to get to this point to win second halves. Hats off to our guys for playing four quarters, for being a family and for finding a way to get this win.”
Mired in turnovers
On Pana’s first drive, the Panthers set up a first-and-10 from the Comets’ 13-yard line and running back Isaiah Harbert got Pana to the 7. On third-and-four, quarterback Wyatt Kile fumbled to erase a possible scoring chance.
Pana’s second offensive possession ended when Kile was intercepted by Greenville’s Gus Olson. Even a third turnover didn’t result in a Greenville score when Harbert got the ball knocked loose.
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But the Comets (5-0, 5-0) finally broke through on the scoreboard on their sixth possession. QB Hutchinson was 4-for-7 passing with 59 yards on the drive, punctuated by a 15-yard touchdown throw to Eli Shadowens for a 6-6 tie with 5:05 left in the half.
It was on the fourth Pana turnover that Greenville finally capitalized.
Starting its possession on the Pana 38 then gifted 15 yards on a personal foul penalty by the Panthers, the Comets got a 23-yard TD run from Dayton Oliver. Pana couldn’t block a second extra-point kick and Greenville took a 13-6 lead into halftime.
“No frustration right now for me,” coach Hutchinson said of the team’s inability to score off three turnovers. “We did what we had to do. We’re playing a team that practices all week and plays at a high level. Pana plays some great defense.
“I thought our guys did a good job of keep pounding the rock, pounding the rock, pounding the rock until you crack it and then you smash it. I felt like our guys did a good job of winning snaps and when we lost snaps, maybe we won them anyway in the long run.”
Studying what went wrong
It will be a long film study for Higgins in preparation for the Panthers’ Week 6 game at Hillsboro.
“Way too many self-inflicted wounds. That’s just uncharacteristic of us,” Higgins said. “Kudos to (Greenville). Offensively, I probably didn’t prepare our guys as well this week for the defense that we were going to see. We’ve got a lot of stuff in film to look at and get better.
“As I told our guys, one loss isn’t the Super Bowl; it’s not the end of your season: we win out and we cheer for Carlinville and Vandalia to knock them off and we’re still conference champs. We’re still in a good spot.”
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Greenville has Vandalia at home next week before heading to Carlinville in Week 7.
Kile finished with 84 passing yards on 19 attempts. The Panthers ran for just 68 yards and had seven total first downs.
Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Turnovers spoil Pana homecoming celebration in battle of SCC unbeatens
