Panthers Move To 8-1 and Into Section Finals

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Oct 27, 2012

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

The Panthers of South Ridge High School have advanced to the Section 5 9-man championship for the first time in school history. The Panthers will face off against long time 9-man power Cromwell, with a shot at the state football title on the line.

The Panthers came away with a huge 41-6 win over the McGregor Mercuries on Saturday afternoon as the Panthers improved to 9-1 on the season with the section victory. The Panthers, the top seed in the Section 5 9-man playoffs, will take on the three seeded Cromwell Cardinals.

Devon Lee ran for three touchdowns and Kody Karppinen connected on two touchdown passes to help lead the Panthers to the 35 point victory. Karppinen connected with Drew Janke on the first touchdown of the game on a 33 yard pass to put the Panthers in front 6-0.

Karppinen connected again in the first quarter, this time it was Colton Peterson with the 35 yard touchdown reception and the Panthers led 12-0 at the end of the one. Lee scored his first touchdown in the second quarter as the Panther built up a 20-6 lead at halftime.

Lee added two more touchdown runs in the third and fourth quarters to extend the Panthers lead 35-6, and Levi McGraw scored the last touchdown of the afternoon on a 27 yard touchdown run to round out the scoring for the Panthers.

Joe Moore scored the lone touchdown for the Mercuries in the second quarter as the Panthers held McGregor scoreless in the second half. Lee’s three touchdown runs were from five, four, and one yard out in the victory.

The victory was the ninth straight for South Ridge as they move into the section championship game Friday night at Public Schools Stadium in Duluth. The game is scheduled to start at 6:45 pm but the game will follow the conclusion of the section 7 9-man championship game between Big Fork and Ely.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@northlandsportsonline.com