The Western 8th grade football team played host to Coldwater in their final game of the season this Wednesday evening. Our Panthers were not very polite hosts right from the first whistle. Western recovered the opening onside kick and proceeded to score on the second play from scrimmage on a 45 yard Logan Young touchdown. Later in the first quarter Dom Galloway went 17 yards for a touchdown and QB Ethan Harris threw an over the head 2-point conversion to Joel Toyer. In the second quarter Western had Young go for a 23 yard TD, Jett Archer ran in a 45 yard TD and Micheal Kiebler rushed for a 10 yard TD at the buzzer of the first half. Along the way Hudson Hayworth caught a 2-point conversion and Braysen Walniewski kicked an extra point to lead to a 35-0 halftime lead.
Western didn't let up to start the second half as Young took the first play from scrimmage 80 yards for his third TD of the game. This put Young's rushing totals for the game at six carries for 171 yards and 3 TDs. Young also finishes the season with over 1,000 yards rushing in only six games!
Walniewski kicked the extra point after Young's long TD run. Later in the game, Daltin Sands went 41 yards for a TD and wrapped up the scoring for Western making the final score 48-14 for our young Panthers.
Dawsyn Baker was a monster on defense while Rylie Robbins, Dom Galloway, Isaac Craig and Edan Mast were in on almost every tackle.
Western concludes their season with a 3-3 record, but most importantly they improved and played their best game to end the season. These young men are going to be the high school team soon and they will represent the Western community with class, toughness and pride. Way to go Panthers.
