Published: November 09, 2009 03:49 pm      

Panther season ends with loss at Livingston

The Panthers of Stone Memorial had played the Wildcats of Livingston Academy early in the season and lost in a close contest 35-31. They traveled to Overton County Friday night along with a large contingent of Panther fans with hopes of turning that around and coming out with a big playoff win.

That was not to be the case though as the hosts, aided by penalties and turnovers, defeated Stone by a 41-0 score.

Coach Mark Wattenbarger said, "Our mistakes hurt us and we did little things that held us back."

The Panthers held Livingston on their initial drive and took over at their own 17-yard line.

Runs by Larry Breeden and Blake Fish accompanied by a pass from Dustin Dishman to Jesse Lowe produced two first downs to their 39. Kyle Miller then broke free to the Wildcat 40, but that play was nullified by a penalty.

Two plays later, the Panthers fumbled the ball away and Livingston then completed a long pass to the Panther 11 and took it in from there to take a 7-0 lead at the 2:04 mark of the first period.

Chris Green almost broke the kickoff return for the Panthers, but he was stopped at the 34. Stone was unable to move the ball from there and Green hit a good punt that stopped at the Wildcat 20. The first period ended with the Panthers trailing 7-0.

The early part of the second quarter proved to be the undoing of the Panthers.

Livingston Academy scored at the 11:01 mark for a 14-0 lead. After stopping Stone on their next possession, they quickly scored again with 9:32 remaining in the period for a 21-0 margin.

The Wildcats again held and Evan Persinger made a touchdown saving tackle on the following punt return that went to the Panther 29. The hosts scored on the ensuing play on a 29-yard TD toss to take a commanding 28-0 lead with 7:20 remaining before halftime.

Livingston added another score with less than a minute remaining in the half for a 34-0 margin.

The Panther defense stepped it up in the second half and stops by Karl Davenport, Blake Fish and Lowe gave the Panthers the ball at their own 24 yard line. Runs by Breeden and Miller along with a well executed screen pass from Dishman to Breeden moved the ball to the Wildcat 30 yard line.

Green then took the ball into the end zone for an apparent Panther score but Stone was whistled for holding and the drive then stalled and the third period ended with the score 34-0.

The Panthers mounted a drive again in the fourth period with runs by Miller and Donny Jackson, but penalties again proved to be their undoing after they had advanced into Wildcat territory and the drive ended with a sack at the Panther 45.

Livingston scored again with 2:08 remaining in the contest after recovering a fumble at the Stone 35-yard line for the final margin of 41-0 ending the Panthers' season.

Wattenbarger commented, "We accomplished one of our goals by getting into the playoffs and I'm very proud of our seniors for the leadership that they showed. They had a hard task coming into a new system with a different philosophy and they adapted well. We're losing some good players."

The first-year Stone mentor added, "We have some positives from this season. We learned how to compete and to practice to win. The kids know what the coaches expect of them and we will get better. I'm excited about workouts this winter. There are lots of things that we need to work on and fine tune and we have a good group coming back and they know what is expected of them. They know that when they get between those white lines it has to be all business."