Panthers Maul Bison
By Nick Hall
The Collinsville Panthers mauled the North Sand Mountain (NSM) Bison on Friday, September 6 to the tune of 54-28. The win moves Collinsville to 1-0 in region play and keeps them undefeated at this point in the season.
NSM lost the 4th-and-1 gamble at their 34-yard line to start the game, and the Panthers quickly 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 for the All-State, senior quarterback. Jason Perez added the first of five PATs, 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 a 27-yard touchdown run to stretch the Panther’s lead to 14-6. After another defensive stop near midfield, the 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 quarter.
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. 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 take 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 it was too little, too late. Jones added insult to injury late in the final period with a 38-yard touchdown run to help the Collinsville Panthers maul NSM 54-28. Jones finished with 158 yards of rushing while going 5-of-9 passing for 112 yards. Orr rushed 15 times for 129 yards on the night. NSM hosts Asbury this week, while Collinsville travels to Fyffe for the Mountain Valley News Game of the Week.