This past weekend was the beginning of many high school sports football programs across Oregon, and Gold Beach Panthers head coach Chris Higgins and his Panther varsity football team came out swinging, wasting no time establishing itself as a team to be reckoned with for the remainder of the season after dominating a Blanchet Catholic team that made the trip to Gold Beach from Salem for the non-league challenge.
The Panther offense came out confident and set the tone early, breaking junior Jake Westerman, #7, free on the outside edge for an over 54 yard run that would set up a 2 yard dive from Westerman into the endzone just 2 minutes into the contest. Westerman would go on to have over 100 yards of rushing and 4 touchdowns in the first quarter of play.
Although the Panther offense put on quite a show for the large crowd gathered at Gold Beach High School’s Jay Johnson Stadium, it was the Panther team defense that set the stage, holding the Blanchet Catholic Cavaliers to only one score with just over 2 minutes left in the first quarter.
The Panther special teams would recover two on-side kicks and sophomore Chris Salcedo, #17, would recover a fumble in the first period of play. Both #3, junior defensive back Zane Gibson, and senior defensive back Andrew Rossi, #24, would cut off Blanchet Catholic passing lanes for interceptions, helping to hold the Cavaliers to just 13 points.
Gold Beach controlled the line of scrimmage as well as the game from the opening kick-off, rushing for 371 yards, passing for 32 more for 403 yards of total offense on the day, racking up 6 touchdowns while only allowing the Cavalier offense into the endzone twice to take the 52-13 opening day win.
The Panthers match up this Friday evening, September 9th, on the road in another non-league contest with the Nestucca Bobcats who are coming off a 27-6 road win against Central Linn, at Taft High School, in Lincoln City, at 7:00pm.
