Panthers blast by Owen's Rebels, 21-7

The Owen County Rebels and the Carroll County Panthers met on the gridiron last Friday night, and the Panthers came out on top, 21-7.

Playing on their home field, the Panthers took control early with an interception by Cody Boles; Panther Zach Wise then scored with 8:45 left on the clock in the first quarter.  

The point after by Josh Kates was good, and the Panthers were off with a 7-0 lead.

Senior quarterback Casey Cable worked hard on both sides of the ball as he broke up plays and threw with precision.

The Rebels gave up the ball on downs often throughout the night, and also had to throw the ball away on several occasions.

Penalties were an issue for the Panthers, as they received a flag several times for delay of game and off sides.

A frustrated Coach Mike Weedman didn’t wait for his players to get off the field for a timeout; he went out to them. Several seconds later, Weedman went to the field again, not liking what he was seeing in the way his team lined up.

Wise, a sophomore, carried the ball into the endzone twice for the Panthers during the first half of the game.

Colby Dawn made an interception with only 10 seconds left on the clock before the half.

Chris Hendrick went down in the third quarter, but went off the field under his own steam and returned to the game several plays later.

Near the end of the third quarter the Rebels carried the ball in without a scratch and it was 14-7, with the point after.

The Panthers were able to hold the Rebels to seven points and after a personal foul against Owen County the Panthers came alive.

After a heroic effort by Cable trying to squeeze the ball across the goal line, he was able to carry it across on the next play. With a good point-after kick, that’s where the game ended, 21-7.

Even though the team won, Coach Weedman reminded them they hadn’t played a great game

“We knew that they were going to stop our running game so we knew we had to throw,” Weedman said.  “We executed real well in the first quarter, but after that we just kind of went flat.”

“For whatever reason, every county in this area gets up to play Carroll County,” Weedman said.  “I don’t know what that is.  This is Gallatin County’s superbowl, this is Trimble County’s superbowl and it’s Owen County’s superbowl.”

Sharon Graves is staff writer for The News-Democrat. Contact her at sgraves@mycarrollnews.com.