First Win for Panthers

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ The Pinckneyville Panthers varsity football squad was finally able to get the monkey off of their backs in week six, beating up on winless Sparta 40-18 for their first win of 2008.

The Bulldogs took the opening kickoff all the way to the house for six, but the relentless Panthers were not to be denied, scoring the last 20 points of the contest to break their losing streak.

"We haven't talked about it, and we don't talk about it, but you know it was on their mind, they didn't want to go (0-9)," said Panthers' head coach Tod Rushing, adding "they've really been more competitive in practice (as of late)."

"We gave up one long touchdown at the start of the second half when we missed a tackle, but other than that our defense really limited their yardage, I thought our coverage was the best it has been all year."

Thomas McConnell made the emergency start at quarterback in place of Nathan Morton, who had been hospitalized with an abscessed tooth on game day.

"(McConnell) did what we asked him to do, just do what you have to do, and don't try to make plays you can't make," Rushing said. "He did a good job on fakes and handing off the ball, both of which are key in the 'T' (formation)."

"We know we can do more things with Nathan, he's got a little more arm strength, but the big thing is the kids are confident in either one of them."

Morton did practice on Wednesday, but Rushing said a decision had not yet been made as to who would start on Friday, as there was still some swelling from the two root canals Morton had to have performed.

With Ben Harriss likely out for the remainder of the season, and Bryant Lively nursing an injury, Jake Bathon, who had an early 44-yard touchdown run, and sophomore Neil Kellerman were the two players getting most of the handoffs against Sparta, and neither would disappoint.

"Neil stepped up and really came up big for us, we're a little thin right there," said Rushing. "Jake (Bathon) got us started with a long run and then got a little banged up, but we only had one negative play all night long, that's a big thing."

The Panthers did an excellent job of clock management against Sparta, with a number of lengthy drives, including a 64-yard 10:07 drive at the end of the first and beginning of the second quarter.

"We had the ball for, literally, 70% of the time," Rushing said.

With homecoming this week, and coming off of a victory, the team appears ready to take on Chester, who beat Sparta in similar fashion earlier in 2008.

"We're probably going to have to play a better game than we did at Sparta, but it's a game where we feel like if we go out there ready to play, don't make mistakes and limit their big play capability, we can win."

Chester (2-4) needs to win its last three games (vs. PCHS, Nashville and Dupo) in order to reamain eligible for the post season.