Panthers Blast CougarsHead to CNU 3-1

On an overcast day in Danville, Ferrum came out and established their offensive dominance on their first possession. After stopping the Cougars opening drive on a three and out series, Ferrum put together a 13 play 50 yard drive that ended with a 24 yard run to the end zone by QB Tim Reynolds. After the Puschell extra point, Ferrum led 7-0.

Averett answered that drive with a scoring drive of their own. Mostly on the ground, Averett's very big offensive line, opened holes, and put their quarterback in position to put up a 21 yard scoring strike. The xp tied the game, and I personally became concerned that we could be in for a shootout.....that thankfully was not the case.

On their ensuing drive, Ferrum went three and out, and punted to Averett. After one play, Averett fumbled, and Ferrum recovered. On their first play, Quarterback Tim Reynolds fumbled, and Averett recovered. There seemed to a lot of parity between the two teams to this point.

Ferrum stopped Averett on their drive, and forced a punt, and this ended the first quarter.

After each team traded possessions in the second quarter, Ferrum found pay dirt on their second possession of the stanza with a Tim Reynolds keeper. The Puschell extra point put Ferrum up 14-7.

Ferrum and Averett each traded possessions again, and on their ensuing drive, Averett was stopped again, this time by a Kenny Tapscott interception. This gave Ferrum the ball with :36 seconds left in the half. This is where things got really strange. On the next play, Reynolds ran the ball for an 18 yard gain, giving the Panthers first and ten with :18 seconds left. The chains moved, Ferrum set up, and the whistle was blown, marking the ball ready for play and starting the clock. When the ball was snapped, a flag was thrown due to the fact that Averett had too many men on the field when the ball was snapped.  As all of these things happened at almost the same time, (Whistle blown, ball snapped, and flag thrown) it appeared that the play had been stopped...it had not. Tim Reynolds and Tyler Brubaker realized what had happened, and Brubaker ran to the end zone. Reynolds thew the pass and even with the completion, it was not clear exactly what the call was. The Referee conferred with Averett's coach, explaining what exactly had happened. The play was still live, and the touchdown was good. The extra point made the score 21-7 at the half, and seemed to take the wind out of the sails of the Cougars.

In the second half, Ferrum kept up the offensive performance and the defensive pressure, and extended their lead to 49- 7 before the back ups took the field. It was a good conference win for the Panthers, and really brought their offense in line as far as scoring goes. It was good to see that many points go on the board. Final- Ferrum 49  Averett 28.

Rest for now Panthers, but do not lose focus or intensity. This coming Saturday will be a big test....one that you need to pass.