The Pine Raiders football team faced off with the #2 Sterlington Panthers last Friday on the road in the quarterfinals of the DIII playoffs. After a 20-20 deadlock at halftime, the Panthers pulled away in the second half for a 33-20 victory.
The Panthers scored on the opening drive of the game on a 19 yard run before Pine used a long sustained drive to score when Luke Spears passed to DJ Garrett for a 25 yard touchdown and a 6-6 score. The Panthers returned the kickoff for a touchdown to retake the lead. Pine again answered with another long drive to tie the game when Aiden McIntosh went in from two yards out.
The Panthers scored on the ensuing drive to go up 20-13 before the Raiders tied it again with :50 left in the half when Spears went in from a yard out.
The Raiders had possession first in the second half and drove from their 23 to inside the Panther 10. The drive was stalled out when the Panthers intercepted a pass at the goal line. Sterlington scored on the drive to take a 27-20 lead.
The Raiders offense then stalled for the first time in the game as they punted. The Panthers again scored on a one play drive to go up 33-20 midway of the fourth period.
The Raiders then drove from their 20 to the Panthers 38 before turning the ball over on downs there. The Panthers then moved the ball, running the clock until they ran out the time to preserve their victory.
Coach Bradley Seal was proud of his team after the game. "First off, I want to thank our seniors and what they have done for our program. We played hard tonight, just came up short to a very good team. Proud of what we did this year. We have a lot coming back. The future is bright for our program."
Senior quarterback Luke Spears was 17 of 28 passing for 185 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also ran for a touchdown. DJ Garrett was the leading receiver with 11 receptions for 139 yards and a touchdown. James Owens had 3 receptions for 36 yards and Von Johnson had 2 receptions for 4 yards.
James Owens had 57 yards rushing on 8 carries, Chris Williams had 5 carries for 13 yards, Aiden McIntosh had 11 carries for 48 yards and a touchdown and Von Johnson had 10 carries for 40 yards. Pine was penalized four times for 30 yards and they had 16 first downs.
Sterlington was penalized six times for 58 yards and had 12 first downs. The Panthers rushed 28 times for 319 yards with no yards passing. Their quarterback was 0 of 1 passing with an interception.
