Friday, Oct. 30, 2009

Loss to Knights may penalize Panthers

Miscues lead to setback, blow to postseason hopes

MYRTLE BEACH -- The good feeling at Carolina Forest surrounding the Panthers controlling their own postseason destiny are over.

Coach Drew Hummel's team dropped a frustrating 30-12 game to previously winless West Florence on Friday night, meaning Carolina Forest's shot at the playoffs just got that much harder. The Knights took control of an already sloppy game late in the third quarter and didn't stop until they had turned a one-point game into a rout.

It started to head downhill when Carolina Forest - which ran for 98 yards in the first quarter alone - all of the sudden couldn't find positive yards rushing the football.

"They put us with some six people in the box; then they'd put seven in the box," Hummel said. "It gave us opportunities in the pass game, and we've been hitting them all year."

Not on Friday, however. Quarterbacks Robert Gray (who left the game in the second half with an apparent leg injury) and Danny Daly combined to complete just nine of their 31 pass attempts. Each quarterback had a span of six consecutive incompletions.

In most of those cases, balls were overthrown, dropped or were overturned via penalty.

The Panthers cost themselves several first-half opportunities because of undisciplined football. Carolina Forest was flagged eight times for 40 yards in the opening half, including an illegal shift that negated a 30-yard touchdown pass from Gray to Ronnie Moses. The previous play, which was also negated because of penalty, brought back a 23-yard pass from Gray to Marlon Horton that would have put the ball at the 2-yard line.

In total, the Panthers were penalized 12 times for 80 yards.

"I don't know that I've been a part of a game that we got that many penalties called against us," Hummel said. "It just seemed every time we got something going and take charge of the game - which we needed to do to win the game - we shot ourselves in the foot."

The Panthers certainly didn't enter the game appearing as if they were going to play one of their sloppier contests of the season. On top of knowing a victory would keep Carolina Forest in the driver's seat for the playoffs, the Panthers also looked extra spirited about 30 minutes before the game.

Carolina Forest started a mini-ruckus when a number of players - and then the entire team - approached midfield and started exchanging words with West Florence. The teams came together, and while no punches were thrown, coaches were violently ripping the players apart.

The game officials were already on the field, and they brought the coaches together to try to settle down their respective players.

About an hour later, much of that energy was gone.

Now, the Panthers have to beat Conway - a school Carolina Forest (3-7 overall, 1-3 Region VI-AAAA) has yet to beat in its relatively short program history - and root for South Florence to beat its rival, West Florence, next Friday. That would set up a tie with South Florence for the third seed from and the Panthers would win that tiebreaker based on their head-to-head victory. Any other scenario would likely leave the Panthers out of the postseason.