It wasn’t quite the way he would have liked for the game to go, but Stone Memorial football coach Derik Samber will happily take his team’s 48-41 overtime road victory at Coalfield last week.
The Panthers got off to a slow start, falling behind by as many as 29 points in the first half. They rallied in the final two quarters before picking up the win in overtime. Stone had almost 500 yards of offense, including seven touchdowns.
“Coalfield is a really good team, but we helped a really good team out,” Samber said. “That’s how you dig that big of a hole that quickly. We had a turnover, and we gave up a punt return for a touchdown.
“We missed tackles, and we didn’t execute on offense. Coalfield was good enough to take advantage of all that. We were down 35-6 before the end of the first half. We were fortunate to make it 35-12 at the half. That’s a great ball team.”
The victory moves Stone Memorial to 2-0 on the year. The loss drops Coalfield to 0-2.
It was all Coalfield early in the game. The Yellow Jackets scored through the air and on the ground to make it 14-0 at the end of the first period. Coalfield later pushed its lead to 28-0 with 7:11 to go in the second quarter.
Stone finally got on the board later in the period when quarterback Noah Potter connected with Dylan Phillips for a 9-yard touchdown pass. The extra point was no good, but the Panthers were within 28-6 with 6:21 on the clock.
Coalfield scored again on its next possession, but Stone came right back with a big momentum boost right before the half when Potter found Kadyn Page with a 5-yard scoring strike. The extra point was no good, but the teams left the field at intermission with SMHS trailing 35-12.
“The message to the guys at halftime was they did it their way in the first half, and that got us to where we were,” Samber said. “They didn’t do what they were coached to do, the attention to detail wasn’t there in terms of our execution on offense or our tackling on defense. I said ‘if you’ll do it our way, one drive at a time, this will be the night that we came back from down 29 points to Coalfield. That’s kind of how it played out.”
The Panthers began to slowly get back in the game in the second half. AJ Vandever, who rushed for 167 yards and two touchdowns, scored on a 1-yard run. A 2-point conversion made it 35-20 with 8:55 on the clock.
After an interception, Kyle Hinch ran 95 yards for another touchdown. The conversion failed. The third straight Stone Memorial score came when Potter found Kadyn Page with a 29-yard scoring strike. The Panthers made the 2-point conversion and had pulled within one at 35-34.
“I told the guys when you’re down 29 points in the first half, how you play in the second half says a lot about your character and your leadership,” Samber said. “Coalfield is a fantastic football team. But when we’re not doing what we’re coached to do, we played a role in digging the hole Coalfield put us in. It says a lot about their character that they found a way to dig themselves out as well.”
Coalfield scored to push the lead to 41-34, but Stone came right back and Potter called his own number for a 12-yard scoring run. The extra point was good and the game was tied at 41 going into overtime.
Stone scored on the first play of overtime, a 10-yard run by Vandever. The extra point was good to make it 48-41. The Panthers’ defense then came up big with a goal-line stand, keeping Coalfield out of the end zone.
“I’ll be honest with you, the execution we didn’t have in the first half, we turned that around and executed really well in the second half,” Samber said. “So, we didn’t have to go very deep on the call sheet. It was pretty simple, just hand off to A.J. The kids did a good job of executing, and then on defense we had the goal-line stand. That was all she wrote.”
Potter completed 20 of 34 pass attempts for 238 yards and three touchdowns. Page led the way with 11 catches and 130 yards. Phillips had 83 yards on six receptions. Carson McCoy and Hunter Haney were also on the receiving end of Potter’s passes.
Stone Memorial will open region play on Sept. 12 when the Panthers play host to Upperman. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.