Piedmont’s football team ran into an emerging 6A-II contender, the Putnam City North Panthers, who jumped on the Wildcats early and didn’t let up.
The Wildcats lost 39-3 at Panther Stadium Friday night.
It took a fumble recovery by Piedmont’s Joey Mars in the third quarter before the Wildcats converted a 25-yard field goal to finally get on the board.
But The Panthers quickly answered with more of what they had done in the first half, dominate offensively and defensively. Tyce Mythen for the Panthers scored on a 6-yard touchdown run to make it 26-3 with 6:55 remaining in the third quarter.
The Panthers jumped to a 19-0 lead in the first half.
The Panthers put together three scoring drives in the first half. After jumping out to a 12-0 lead in the first quarter, the Panthers scored again before halftime.
The Panthers held Piedmont to a three and out to open the game and then marched down the field behind quarterback Carson Laverty, son of Coach Ryan Laverty.
The Wildcats forced the Panthers into a fourth down and 8-yards to go at their own 21 yard line, but an offside penalty made the next play easier for PCN to convert. Laverty lofted a pass to the right side that found wide receiver Kayhon Russell who caught it in the end zone for the opening score. The point after attempt failed when the ball hit the crossbar and dropped to the end zone turf.
Piedmont’s offense couldn’t move the ball on the second possession, and PCN continued to flex their offensive muscle and scored again. But another failed extra point attempt left the score 12-0 in favor of the Panthers.
The Wildcats lost one fumble in the first half.
Piedmont coaches replaced starting quarterback Joey Mars with about 6 minutes left in the half with Levi Davis.
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