BISON FALL TO PANTHERS
The North
Sand Mountain (NSM) Bison fell to the Collinsville Panthers Friday night. The win moves NSM to 0-1 in region play and
keeps the Panthers undefeated at this point in their centennial season.
NSM lost the
4th-and-1 gamble at their 34-yard line to start the game, and the
Panthers took advantage behind the rushing of Malachi Orr and Kaleb Jones. Jones punched in from the 1-yard line after
the short drive for what would be the first of six touchdowns on the night for
the all-state, senior quarterback. Jason Perez added the first of five PATs on
the night, and the race was on at 7-0.
The Bison countered two plays later with a 66-yard scoring run by
Fernando Luna. The PAT failed, however,
and the Bison lagged 7-6. Collinsville
relied on Orr during their next drive, and he didn’t disappoint. Orr had a run of 28 yards, followed by
27-yard touchdown scamper to stretch the Panther’s lead to 14-6. After another defensive stop near midfield,
Jones and Orr went back to work with runs of 35 and 12 yards respectively. Jones capped the drive with another one-yard
touchdown run to increase Collinsville’s advantage to 21-6 at the end of the
opening period.
After the
Panthers forced a three-and-out, Jones was picked by the Bison’s Damon
Gentle. The interception set up a
57-yard scoring drive that was capped by a 15-yard touchdown pass from Landon
Green to Cade Bell. Luna found the
endzone on the 2-point conversion to cut Collinsville’s lead to 21-14 with 7:46
left in the first half. The last half of
the second quarter proved costly for the Bison as Collinsville scored on runs
of 37 and one yard by Jones, the second coming after an onside kick by Miles
Underwood, and a 41-yard pass from Jones to Garrett Skelton on a flea-flicker
play. The Panthers missed the last PAT
and took a 34-14 lead to the locker room at halftime.
Collinsville
kept up the pressure in the third quarter, opening the half with a 9-play,
58-yard drive which culminated in a touchdown strike from Jones to Michael
Tucker. The PAT failed, and the score
stood at 40-14. Jones found Tucker again
late in the third for a 22-yard touchdown pass to extend Collinsville’s lead to
47-14.
Green fought back in the fourth quarter with a 22-yard scoring strike to Derek Bearden and a 30-yard strike to Gentle, but Jones added a 38-yard touchdown run, and the NSM Bison fell to the Collinsville Panthers 54-28.
Bison Fall To Panthers
