The Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers improved to 2-0 in the pre-season last week after putting nearly 40 unanswered points on North Vancouver’s Handsworth Royals.
The Panthers punched in five touchdowns in the first half alone en route to a 39-0 victory on home turf Sept. 13.
Mike Carter, Panther head coach, said he was pleased with the strong effort in all three phases of the game—offense, defense and special teams.
He said his O-line turned in a dominating effort, limiting any penetration into the backfield by Handsworth Royals D-lineman and linebackers. Carter said Matteo “The Truck” Kopec, Jake Johnson, Gabe Reinhardt, Finn Meberg, Jonas Weiss-Feldhaus, and Grade 11 Lucas Taylor all played very well in the O-line trench.
Grade 11 wide receiver Matthew Reid had a stand-out performance, scoring two big touchdowns, one on O and one on D. Reid was awarded the “Big Play Belt” for his efforts, which is a “man-of-the-match” award that looks like a wrestling or boxing championship belt.
Reid scored his first TD on a 55-year bomb from QB Chase Thurston. He then added a 35-yard pick six when he was playing defensive back and intercepted a Handsowrth pass.
Carter added his three running backs, Peyton Mansfield, Jerin Harinen, and senior Brody Muller ran the ball well up and down the field, attacking Royals defenders with full force.
Mansfield, a tailback, racked up 154 yards on a mere eight carries, averaging 19.25 yards per touch. Mansfield crossed the gridiron goal line twice to add two TDs to his performance.
Running back Harinen added 38 yards on three runs, averaging 12.6 yards per carry.
Muller ran for 20 yards and added a TD.
JUNIORS
Handsworth Secondary also brought their junior varsity squad to Tweedy Sept. 13. Unfortunately for the Junior Panthers, they dropped the contest to Handsworth by one point, losing 14-13.
During the game, the Panthers had two TDs called back after penalty flags were thrown during the scoring plays. The loss of those 12 points proved costly to head coach Mike Reamsbottom’s squad, as they dropped to 1-1 on the season.
Both the junior and senior squads play their next games away versus Robert Bateman in Abbotsford, with the junior varsity squad playing Wednesday, Sept. 18 at 3 p.m. (after press time) and the senior team playing Friday, Sept. 20 at 3 p.m.
