Panthers knock off sixth-ranked O'Hara

O’Hara.
Oak Grove.
Oh, my!
If this early season Class 3 football tilt didn’t get the blood pumping Friday night, then not much else would.
Both squads, having never faced one another in their storied histories, entered the contest 1-0. Oak Grove knocked off the sixth-ranked Celtics 28-21 on a cool, crisp, overcast evening at O’Hara High School.
Patience was the name of the game for the Panthers after falling behind 14-0 early on. The deficit didn’t seem to phase head coach Pete Carpino and his team.
“Did you see us on the sideline?” he said in reference to his team’s overexuberance in the first half.
Then it seemed to click for the Panthers on both offense and defense as Oak Grove scored 21 straight points in the second quarter to take a 21-14 lead into the locker room. The defense held O’Hara (1-1) to just seven points the rest of the way.
“All the credit goes to our kids,” defensive coordinator Kirk Gross said. “It was an 11-man effort. We watched the Clinton tape, and they ran the ball at them last week, so we knew we wanted to make them throw the ball to beat us, and we had to adjust to get our corners more help in the second half.”
And that’s exactly what they did.
Defensive back/wide receiver/place kicker Jacob Horn, did everything he could to shut down O’Hara’s top receiver Joe Pepple. Pepple had 119 yards and a touchdown, but the bulk of that came in the first half.
“They came out passing, and I had a couple of bad plays,” said Horn, who also had a touchdown and booted all of the team’s extra points. “But, we started playing as a team and overcame the adversity.”
Offensively, the Panthers were able to control the line of scrimmage with two really long drives to chew up the clock. The first came at the start of the second quarter. It was a 14-play, 5:46 drive that was capped with a three-yard touchdown run from Trey Rigby.
The other was a 10-play, 6:30 drive that ended with a Rigby fumble, but that was wiped clean when O’Hara when three-and-out on the ensuing position.
Rigby finished the night with 37 carries for 130 yards, and even played cornerback.
“I feel a little wore down,” a tired and emotional Rigby said after the game.
Quarterback Caleb Barnhill had a solid game for the Panthers tossing 9-of-19 for 115 yards and two touchdowns. Darrick Smith had four catches for 43 yards, and Landon Grego had four catches for 41 yards and a score.
Although it was just the second game of the season, the tension from the stands and both sidelines made this feel more like a playoff or district game, and the emotion afterward from each team showed it.
The Oak Grove student section rushed the field to celebrate with their team at midfield, while a dejected O’Hara team met in the end zone.
“We know it’s going to be like this every week,” Carpino said. “They’ve been working so hard in the weight room during the offseason and working on agility drills after school. It’s good for our kids. That right there was definitely an offseason win for us.”