Friday night was opening night for head coach Chris Higgins and his Gold Beach Panther football team, taking on a very strong Waldport Fighting Irish team coming off a decisive win last week.
The Panthers started the scoring on a 26 yard sweep to the right side with 7:28 left in the first period. However, the Irish answered less than two minutes later with a 7 yard pass to tie the score.
Waldport stopped the Panther run game controlling the line of scrimmage and added another touchdown on a 50 yard pass play only to add 2 more points off of a safety after stopping a Panther run play in their own endzone.
Racking up 24 points late in the first half and leading by 16 points, Waldport gave up a 60 yard pass play resulting in a Panther touchdown to bring the score to 16-24 Waldport as time expired at the half.
The second half started off with a much more engaged Panther team, and the third period saw both teams put 16 points on the board with big plays from both teams making the score 32-40 Waldport after three periods of play.
But the Waldport team added two more touchdowns in the 4th to take control of the game after the Panthers tied the score early in the 3rd period. A Panther interception and two offensive touchdowns each totaling over 80 yards, clinched the victory late for Waldport, with a 40-56 win as the final period came to an end.
Talking with Panther head coach Chris Higgins after the game he told the Wild Coast Compass “tonight was a heart breaking loss.., our young squad made young mistakes, but they never gave up fighting all night.” he said. “Waldport is a very good and well coached team, and our Panthers competed with a very good team. I’m very proud the team and I know we will continue to get better day in and day out.”
The Panthers will be on the road next week taking on a 1-1 Bonanza Antler team in southern Klamath County.
