Lewis County Middle School Panthers dominate Community in season opener

The Lewis County Middle School Panthers hosted the Community Middle School Vikings on Thursday night, August 4th at A.B. Sisco Field to open their 2022 campaign under the leadership of new head coach Brad Skelton.

The Panther defense shut down the Vikings on the opening possession, limiting the visitors to only 4 plays and the offense took the field led by quarterback D.J. Stewart. The Panthers struck fast as Kobe Feichtinger broke free on the second play from scrimmage and sprinted 32 yards for the game's first score. D.J. Stewart tacked on the two-point conversion and gave the Panthers an early 8-0 lead. The Panther defense would make quick work of the Viking on the following possession and set up another quick strike as D.J. Stewart rumbled 34 yards to the endzone on the second play of the possession, but the 2-point conversion pass fell incomplete as the Panthers held a 14-0 after one quarter of action. The Vikings continued to struggle against the Panther defense, and an interception by Kobe Feichtinger would put the Panthers in Viking territory and Lewis County would put points on the board behind a 1 yard run by Feichtinger and another failed 2-point try made it a 20-0 game. Lewis County would tack on two more scores, a 20-yard run by Gavin Coker and a 5-yard dive by Feichtinger to put the Panthers up 36-0 with successful conversions on each score. The Vikings would finally gather momentum against the Panther defensive reserve and score on the final snap in regulation, a 53-yard touchdown and a failed conversion to make it a 36-6 final.

Kobe Feichtinger led the Panther attack with 7 carries for 110 yards and 3 touchdowns, D.J. Stewart had 4 carries for 61 yards and a TD, Gavin Coker 3 carries for 43 yards and a score, Brodie Unger 1 carry for 6 yards, and Shawn Lewis 1 carry for -2 yards. Stewart completed one of five passes for 9 yards and an interception. Phenix McDonald had one reception for 9 yards.

The Panthers limited the Vikings to only 110 yards of offense in the game. Gavin Coker had 8 tackles and 1 for loss for the Panther defense, Brett Odom had 5 tackles, 2 for loss, and forced a fumble, Clay Jackson 4 tackles and a sack, D.J. Stewart 3 tackles and a sack, Kobe Feichtinger 2 tackles and 2 interceptions, Shawn Lewis 2 tackles and a sack, Brodie Unger, Kaden Pace, Levi Graham, and Colby Cates each had 2 tackles, and Riley Stephens, Zeke Wiebe, and Michael Henkel each had a tackle.