There is a reason special teams has special in the name, and the Nease Panthers football squad proved just how important of a role in a game’s outcome en route to a 10-7 season-opening overtime victory over the Jackson Tigers tonight.
Senior Daniel Jones buried a field goal from 20 yards out on the Panther’s first possession of overtime to secure the win to start the season.
The opportunity was made possible after junior Elisha Luckett came barreling off the edge and blocked the Tigers’ field goal attempt after they got the ball to begin the overtime period.
It was the second missed field goal of the contest for the Tigers (0-1), who missed one in the final minute of the first half, as it was Luckett once again combining with Jack Rorex to provide pressure on the holder and kicker which led to the errant attempt.
That miss proved important because it kept the Panthers’ (1-0) deficit at one possession, 7-0, heading into the halftime break.
Sophomore Jacob Curry came up with a timely sack on third down during the Tigers’ overtime possession, which forced fourth down and the field goal attempt.
When Nease got the ball, head coach Collin Drafts decided to go for the field goal on third down in case of a bad they would have had one more attempt at it.
Junior quarterback Nate Harry scored the first touchdown of the season for the Panthers with a run to the left inside the 10-yard line to tie the game at 7-all in the second half.
Starting running back Cam Smith had a couple of nice runs out of the gate before getting hurt and coming out of the game on the first drive.
From there, Andrew Moses and Quinn Bradfield took over splitting carries in the backfield as the offense adapted as the game went along, including using a lot of option runs and quarterback keepers with Harry.
The Panthers’ defense held the Jackson offense in check and held them scoreless in the second half.
