Broncos suffer loss at home against Panhandle

By Sandy Anderberg

For the third home game in a row, something out of the Broncos’ control happened that caused the team to postpone their game until Saturday. The weather was the culprit the first two games, and this time electrical problems were the beast for the Broncos as part of the lights went out right before halftime in the Broncos’ 13-48 loss to Panhandle in Bronco Stadium.

Head coach Gary Jack felt the game was not as lopsided as the score revealed and wondered if the outcome would have been different had they been able to play the game in its entirety on Friday night.

“We played hard Friday night,” Jack said. “We were playing well before the lights went out and we were not out of it by any means.”

The Broncos scored first on Friday night when Charles Mason ran it in from three yards out and Jo Jo Cartwright added the kick. The Panthers were able to score twice before the delay and the Broncos only trailed by one touchdown at the break.

“We were inside the twenty-yard line several times, but couldn’t score,” Jack said. “If we could have scored those times, it might have been a different ball game.”

The Broncos still had chances even deep into the fourth period with Mason scoring again on a four-yard run according to Jack. But they could not get it done. “Panhandle is an explosive team,” Jack said. “It put a lot of pressure on our defense when we didn’t score, but it was still within reach in the fourth. It might have been a different outcome if we could have finished on Friday night. Our guys were fired up and we were playing good. But they busted a couple of plays on us on Saturday and scored on us.”

Jack noted that several players did a good job in the game.

“On defense, Bryce Hatley had a real good game,” Jack said.

“He had ten tackles, two sacks, and caused a turnover. Caleb Cobb had one sack, a recovered fumble, and a caused fumble. Zack Watson played well and Charles Mason had a recovered fumble and caused a turnover. Zack Laroe also had some big hits. Offensively, Chance McAnear had a good game running the ball and had over 130 yards rushing and Mason added about 178 yards rushing. We had over 400 total yards of offense.”

The Broncos will gear up to take on Stratford on the road on Friday, October 25, at 7:00 p.m.

“Stratford is a very good team,” Jack said. “They’re ranked number one in the state and they will be a handful. But we can’t let up. We need to keep battling to keep our playoff hopes alive.”