By Nick Johnson
DHI Media Correspondent
[email protected]
COLDWATER
— The Parkway Panthers took the short trip down 118 to Coldwater High
School to take on the number one ranked team in Division V in the
Coldwater Cavaliers. The Cavs did what the Cavs were expected to do,
jumping ahead early and cruising to a 41-0 Midwest Athletic Conference
victory.
After a Parkway punt to start the game, Coldwater
quarterback and future Eastern Michigan safety Brody Hoying twice hooked
up with Neal Muhlenkamp on first down, each time for 21 yards. Hoying
capped off the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run with 7:51 left in the
first period. Kyle McKibben added the point after and Coldwater had a
7-0 lead.
Parkway turned the ball over on an interception, but got
the ball right back on a Hoying fumble inside the Panther 10. On third
down on their own six yard line, Parkway was flagged for a foul in the
end zone and Coldwater was awarded a safety bring the score to 9-0.
The ensuing Cavs drive ended with a 5-yard run by Hoying to bring the score to 15-0 with 3:56 left in the first period.
The
next two Coldwater drives end with scores as Hoying connected with
Chris Post for 10-yard touchdown pass and in the second period. Post
later scored when he ran the ball into the end zone from 6-yards out.
McKibben went 1-for-2 on the extra points and it was 28-0 in the second
quarter.
Later on in the period, Cory Selhorst tool the ball 12
yards to pay dirt to extend the Coldwater lead to 35-0 after the
point-after. With 1:01 before the break, Hoying connected with Derek
Thobe for an 8-yard touchdown pass to bring the half time score to 41-0.
“Turnovers
are killer; been killing us all year (three interception tonight),”
Parkway coach Dan Cairns noted. “Good teams can create a lot of that
stuff, and Coldwater is a good team.”
Coldwater got the ball to
open the second half and a pair of completions by Jack Hemmelgarn put
the Cavs in the red zone but the Parkway defense held strong on a
fourth-and-2 and forced the turnover on downs.
Parkway’s first drive of the second half was their best work of the night.
The
Panthers leaned hard on tailback Sage Dugan, who carried the ball five
times for 36 yards including a 12-yard rush on the first snap of the
drive. That carry gave the Panthers their initial first down of the
contest.
On third-and-short, quarterback Justin Barna hooked up
with Dugan for a 16-yard completion and, on the next play, Barna found
Kevin Flaugher for a 17-yard pass. The Panthers had worked the ball into
the red zone when, on third down, Barna rolled to his right under
pressure from the Coldwater defense. His throw to the back of the end
zone was intercepted.
“Coldwater called off the dogs in the second
half and got some young guys in there, and we did the same in the
second half,” Cairns added. “We did some nice things in the second half.
Stuff that we can build on for the last four games of the season.”
Coldwater
improves to 6-0 on the season and 4-0 in the MAC. The Panthers drop to
0-6 and 0-4 in conference. The Panthers will travel to Versailles next
Friday for week seven.
“The last four weeks of the season, I feel
are all against teams that are winnable for us. So we have to come back
on Monday and hit it hard so we can pick up those last four game and
finish the season 4-6,” finished coach Cairns.