Panthers Move to 2-0Conference play begins Saturday

On Saturday, before a very partisan home crowd, Ferrum hosted the Newport News Apprentice School Builders. Meeting for the first time since 1999, both teams came into the game with a week one win. While I believed that Ferrum should handle this game, it was hard to guage where the Builders were as a team. Yes they had an impressive win over Greensboro College in week 1, 39-7, but the question that came to mind was, "Is Newport News turning a corner?" On the surface, the score, and the stats from their first game could give you pause.
Ferrum came to play, and this was a total team effort that made the victory look very easy.
Zach Clifford started his first game at quarterback, and took full advantage of his opportunity. Clifford was 20 of 27 passing and set a single game Ferrum record with 347 yards. He had three touchdown passes in the effort, and ran for one. The defense was also very impressive, holding the Builders to just 6 points well into the fourth quarter.
On the receiving end of Clifford's strikes were several receivers, but no receiver had a better day than Johnny White. White had six receptions for 139 yards, and two touchdowns, the longest touchdown reception was 71 yards. The best reception of the day was a amazing one handed catch that gave Ferrum the ball at the three yard line. This play led to a Ferrum field goal, and a 23-0 second quarter lead. Incidentally, that play was submitted to ESPN as a potential top ten play.
With a fourth quarter lead of 40-6, Ferrum initiated some liberal substitutions, getting some non starters some much needed game time. The Builders added two late touchdowns, and Ferrum closed out the game with a 40-20 win.

So now, Ferrum is 2-0, and has a tough opponent in that of conference foe, the Averett Cougars. Averett is 0-2, but they have faced two very strong opponents in Hampden-Sydney and Randolph Macon. Against the Tigers, the Cougars lost by three points, and in there second game versus the Yellow Jackets, they lost by four. Averett is strong, but Ferrum needs to exact a little revenge on the Cougars. Yes we beat them last year in Danville, but the revenge needs to come for the loss the Panthers suffered in 2015. That game was the only game played at W.B.Adams stadium that year, and represented the first game played on Ferrum's new turf field. Ferrum will be facing a team that I said in an earlier post, could defeat any team in the conference. While it is not going to be an easy path to victory, Ferrum must be ready for the challenge. This represents a must win situation for Ferrum. A victory would put the momentum train at full speed going into homecoming.

Predictions will be posted later this week.

Go Panthers!