OFC: Panthers bleed

It was a rough game for the Panthers last Saturday, both on the field and the scoreboard.

Their home opener against the Twin Cities Predators didn’t go as well as they had hoped, as they lost 44 – zip.

The team was missing a couple of its biggest players, however, including high school All-Star Brandon Eddie, due to previous injuries. Players that, according to head coach Bert McCallum, couldn`t be spared going up against the significantly larger Twin City team.

The Panthers also lost the versatile Tyler Noble early in the game.

“Really the heart and soul of our team,” said McCallum. “In the fourth play of the game, got hit from behind and his face got all cut up and his mask got pushed up into his face so it was tough. It took away our ability to kick field goals.”

But the injuries didn’t stop there for Hamilton, as Twin Cities played an aggressive game.

“There were a lot of complaints about how the twin cities team was hitting,” said McCallum. “Now, I’m not one that likes to complain after we get our asses kicked like we did, it sounds like sour grapes at that point. But we need to protect our guys and a lot of the guys were getting kind of run up on from behind.”

Despite the challenges, the Panthers did manage to adjust their defensive strategy and get a better handle on things in the second half of the game.

“We gave up a lot in the first half and came back and did a pretty good job of shutting them down in the second,” said McCallum. “They didn’t score 10 points in the second half, which is a good thing.”

There were other positives on the Panther’s end, despite the score. Lucas Jackson stood out, playing both ways, and quarterback Cam Wright played well.

“He really stood up,” said McCallum. “They were coming at him hard and he stood in there and played the whole game through and did a really good job.”

There were other positives that came out of the game.

“It was a good first game for us because we realized some of the things that we have to fill in backup spots,” said McCallum. “So we’ve actually already got another kicker who’s actually a pretty good kicker coming in this week. There’s two more weeks to recruit in the season so I know that every team out there is going to be doing the same thing we are; finding out where the holes are and filling those holes.”

Though the first game was against the defending champions, the Panthers’ schedule doesn’t get much easier in the coming weeks. They face off against Sarnia on Sunday, who McCallum said play a similar game.

“We need to be smarter,” he said. “And in the first match we weren’t smart enough with our systems. We weren’t active enough. Any defence, when you’re under size, can’t be static; you can’t use the same technique on your d-line play after play, because it’s very easy for a larger offensive line to guide you wherever they want to guide you. What keeps their hands off you when they’re that much bigger, and they were, is they have to not know what’s going to happen next … I think we’ll fix some things that were broken and come back hard against Sarnia. It’ll be a good test next week.”