Panthers Roll With 42-18 Win

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Sept 29, 2012

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

The South Ridge Panthers started fast Friday night as they picked up their fourth straight victory this season as the Panthers knocked off the Night Hawks of Northeast Range Friday night in Culver. The Panther defeated the Night Hawks by a final score of 42-18 as the Panthers pick up another big conference win.

The Panther struck first Friday night
when Kody Karppinen connected with Drew Janke on a 32 yard touchdown pass and the Panther led 6-0. Minutes later the Panther would strike again; this time it was Karppinen throwing a 44 yard touchdown pass to Colton Peterson.

The Night Hawks cut the lead to six as they scored on a 5 yard touchdown run, but the Panthers struck back quickly, scoring their third touchdown of the quarter
when Dominic
Janke ran the kickoff back for the score to answer the Night Hawks touchdown, and it was a 18-6 lead for the Panthers after one quarter of play Friday night in Culver.

Robbie McQuade made it 24-6 as he scored on a 1 yard touchdown run. The Panthers added one more 2nd quarter touchdown as Karppinen connected with his third touchdown pass of the game and this time it was Peterson receiving his second touchdown pass on a 29 yard scoring play. The first half came to an end with the Panthers comfortably in front 30-6.

The Panthers added two more scores in the third quarter as Bill Redding scored on a 25 yard touchdown run and McQuade scored his second touchdown of the game. This time McQuade intercepted a Jordan Villebrun pass and ran it back for a 70 yard touchdown to give the Panthers a 42-6 lead after three quarters of play.

The Night Hawks added two late scores in the fourth quarter to make the final margin of victory of 24 points but the scoring came too late as the Panthers pick up the victory at home. Karppinen finished going 8-8 passing for 200 yards on the night and three touchdowns, and Colton Peterson had 2 receptions for 93 yards and two touchdowns in the big win.

Friday night’s victory moves the Panthers to 4-1 overall on the season. The four wins equal the past three seasons win total combined for the Panthers. The Panthers won one game in 2011 and went winless in the first year of a combined AlBrook-Cotton squad. In 2009 they won three games as the then AlBrook Falcons

The Panthers will be in action again on Friday when they travel to Cook to take on the Grizzlies, who lost Friday night to Mountain Iron-Buhl in a battle on unbeaten teams. The Night Hawks fall to 1-4 and they will host Silver Bay in a 9-man battle next Friday in Babbitt.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@northlandsportsonline.com