For the second consecutive week, Blanco faced a strong opponent as the Panthers took their undefeated record to San Antonio to take on the San Antonio Christian Lions. History has shown most of the time this game would not be decided until the final play, and this year proved that to be true.
With the opening quarter running down after both teams had done nothing more than battle for field position, the Panthers put together a 7-play 70-yard drive to take an early lead behind an 8-yard run from senior Logan Dodd. Justin Requenes added the PAT to give Blanco a 7-0 first quarter lead.
The second quarter reverted back to a battle for field position before the Lions put together a 76-yard 8-play drive to end the half on the final play with a 1-yard TD pass. The point after tied the game at 7 each.
A scoreless third quarter helped set up an exciting ending to the game as the Lions struck first in the fourth, scoring on a 21-yard run to take their first lead of the game at 14-7 following the extra point. However, Blanco stormed back, driving 75 yards in just 3 plays to score on an Adrian Dominguez 19-yard run. Requenes then knotted the game at 14 with the extra point.
On the Lions’ next possession, Jordon Wagner intercepted a pass to set up the Panthers at mid field. From here, it took Blanco 9 plays to regain the lead on a 5-yard run by Ryan Ronces. Although Blanco missed the PAT, the Panthers had regained the lead at 20-14 with only 1:50 left in the game.
SAC managed to drive past midfield into Panther territory, where, on the game’s final play, James Rodriguez and Joe Lopez combined for a game ending QB sack and fumble recovery to preserve the Blanco win at 20-14 as well as the Panthers’ undefeated record.
Offensively, Blanco did their damage on the ground pounding out 339 yards behind Dominguez and Colton Elrod who rushed for 139 and 129 yards respectively. In addition, Blanco picked up 22 first downs.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Panthers forced two big turnovers, an interception by Wagner, and the game-ending fumble recovery by Lopez, while holding SAC to 15 first downs and only 28 yards on the ground, despite giving up 301 yards through the air to one of the area’s best QBs.
Blanco will be traveling to San Antonio again this week as they take on a familiar foe in the 1 and 2 Randolph Ro-Hawks. Randolph was supposed to play Johnson City this past week but ended up cancelling the game because of field conditions following the heavy rains. Kick-off at Ro-Hawk Stadium is set for 7:30 pm.
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