Parma sinks Pilgrims
Panthers shut out New Plymouth in second half
By Scott Ford
Argus Observer
Saturday, October 11, 2008 11:20 PM PDT
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| Scott Ford | Argus Observer
New Plymouth’s Brady Harris (19) surveys the gridiron while scrambling away from Parma’s Kieran Riley (71) during a Western Idaho Conference showdown in New Plymouth, Friday. Parma defeated the Pilgrims 47-14. |
New Plymouth—On a night when Mother Nature gave the teams of the Treasure Valley a taste of what may be to come with bitter cold winds and a few snow showers, the New Plymouth Pilgrims hosted the Parma Panthers.
When the scoreboard clock read zero’s it was the Panthers who stood on top with a 47-14 win.
The Western Idaho football Conference just became more interesting following Friday night’s action.
As fans for both Parma and New Plymouth entered the gates to the field the jeering began. Fans were parting to their respective sides of the field voicing their predictions with words like, “You guys are going down,” and “We’ll see you after the game loser.”
In the opening half of play, the two teams had to battle a stiff, cold wind which had its effects in the first quarter as neither team was able to find the end zone.
New Plymouth had two three-and-outs in the opening 12 minutes of play.
Parma ended the scoring drought early in the second quarter on a 15-play, 55-yard drive which ended with a six-yard pass completion from Rance Portenier to Cameron Stewart. The point after attempt was good off the leg of Devin Erickson and the Panthers led 7-0 with 11:48 to play in the second quarter.
After another punt by the Pilgrims, Parma marched 62-yards down the field on 11 plays for its second score of the quarter. The PAT kick was true and Parma led 14-0 with 5:03 left before half time.
Trailing 14-0, the Pilgrims responded with a three-play 65-yard score. Pilgrim quarterback Brady Harris found a wide-open Jaime Garcia in the flats, and Garcia rumbled down to the Panthers 20-yard line setting up New Plymouths first red-zone appearance of the game. Looking at a first-and-10 from the 20 yard line, Harris dropped back and hit Justin Johnson who worked his way behind the defense and strolled into the end zone for the score. Omar Garcia split the uprights on the PAT and New Plymouth trailed 14-7 with 3:57 to play in the second.
Parma responded on its next possession with a 59-yard drive in nine plays, ending with a 4-yard run by Parma’s Lance Johnson. The PAT failed, but Parma led 20-7 with 59 tics on the clock.
Not wanting to head into the third quarter trailing by two scores, the Pilgrims raced against the clock and battled the Panther defense on a seven play 67-yard scoring drive.
On the first play of the drive, Pilgrim offensive coordinator reached into his bag of tricks and called for the halfback pass. Harris handed the pigskin to Garcia who in turn threw back across the gridiron to Johnson for a 28-yard play, moving the chains and putting the Pilgrims on the Panthers 39 yard line.
After three incomplete passes and a motion penality by the Pilgrims, New Plymouth was looking at a fourth-and-15 from the Parma 44-yard line, when Harris came through with a big pass completion to Kyle King netting 20 yards and a fresh set of downs.
Harris ended the drive with a 24-yard completion to Johnson for the score. The PAT was good and the Pilgrims trailed 20-14 heading into the lockerroom.
The second half, however, was a different story for the Pilgrims as they gave up 27 unanswered points, and committed two costly errors that netted Parma 14 points in the third quarter.
The first, on a punt attempt, New Plymouth’s Casey Pfeifer was back to punt, when the snap came up short, and Pfeifer, while attempting to field the bounding pigskin, dropped his knee to the turf and the official called the play dead at the spot giving Parma a first-and-10 at the Pilgrim’s 15-yard line.
Parma took advantage of the error with a five play scoring drive to boost its lead to 28-14 following a successful two-point conversion.
On the Pilgrims next possession, Harris fumbled the shot-gun snap on the first play. Parma recovered and made the Pilgrims pay with a one-play 32-yard score. This score sank the Pilgrims ship as they trailed 34-14 with six second remaining in the third quarter.
“ In the second half, it wasn’t us (the Pilgrims). It was not the team we had seen all year,” Porter Lacey said. “After those two mistakes, things just snowballed on us.”
Parma added two more scores in the final 12 minutes of play, the first on a 55-yard drive which ended with a five-yard run from Parma’s Justin Johnson with 6:49 to play, and the second on a 21-yard run by Dalton Koplin with 4:25 left in the contest.
“We will have to hit it hard this week at practice and improve on what we did wrong tonight,” Lacey said.
With the loss the Pilgrims fell to 4-2 overall, and 1-2 in the WIC, while the Panthers moved to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in conference play, which put them into sole possession of first place following the Nampa Christian (5-1 overall, 2-1 WIC) 41-0 win over Melba (5-1 overall, 2-1 WIC).
New Plymouth will have another tough assignement this Friday as they host Nampa Christian. The game is scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m.
