By Kyle Taylor
STIGLER — It’s been 16 years since Stigler could lay claim to a district title, and for that matter it’s been 17 years since they achieved an eight-win season.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, they must still continue to wait for that title as Panama came away with the upset, 17-14 Friday night in a District 2A-6 battle.
Stigler coach Chris Risenhoover gave credit to Panama but also said his squad wasn’t as physical as it had been in the past weeks leading up to the regular season finale.
“We weren’t clicking in our passing game,” he said. “We didn’t create very many big plays but it was a good job by Panama of staying over the top on us making sure we didn’t create many big plays.”
The Panthers (7-3, 5-2) didn’t get out to the start they had hoped for as most of the first half their offense was stagnant.
Panama (5-5, 4-3) used that to their advantage as they were able to score on their first possession of the game behind a six-yard Chris Starr run to grab an early 7-0 lead.
After forcing Stigler to punt, the Razorbacks again drove down the field with ease. This time the Panthers managed to hold them out of the end zone but did give up a 30 yard field goal to trail 10-0 at the 10:33 mark in the second quarter.
The Panthers would start their next drive at their own 30 yard line and would answer right back as Brandon Jasna took a hand off and raced his way for a quick 70 yard score to pull closer at 10-6 with the failed extra point.
Stigler forced a Razorback punt, but on the ensuing drive quarterback Jarret Radford was intercepted by Panama defensive end Isaac Burris who returned it 52 yards for a touchdown to put them ahead 17-6 at the half.
Not to be outdone, the Panthers would answer on their first possession to start the third quarter as Jasna scored from six yards out. Stigler would try a two point conversion but failed, which made the score 17-12.
Despite not playing its best football, Stigler did have a few opportunities to take back the lead in the fourth quarter, but two drives ended in Panama territory — one on an interception and another on downs.
The news isn’t all bad for the Panthers as their season does continue into playoffs with the opponent to be determined. Risenhoover said it’s going to be tough to get regrouped for the post season.
“We’ve had a lot of momentum coming in down the stretch,” he said. “But we got 48 minutes to get it done on Friday night. We got to prepare and then whenever you come out you got to play with everything you got in your heart.”
