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Late gamble for two falls short in loss

Panthers make late rally before losing to Eagles, 22-21

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Mountain Grove’s football team had one final shot to rally in their Liberty (Mountain View) match-up last Friday night late in the fourth quarter.

With only one timeout remaining and fourth down on Liberty’s 17 yard line, quarterback Tyson Elliott heaved a passed into the front, right corner of the end zone where Jace Dowden came down with the catch for the score with 1:08 left in the game.

Now trailing 22-21, Panthers’ head coach Brandon Rodgers opted to go for a two-point conversion in the road contest instead of potentially tying the game up on an extra-point kick.

The result, running back Hollen Glenn was stopped short of the goal line. An onside kick attempt was recovered by the Eagles and the Panthers saw their record drop to 2-4 on the season.

When the game started, the Eagles appeared ready to score on their opening drive. After returning their kickoff to midfield, Liberty (Mountain View) marched the ball to the Panthers’ 26-yard line when Todd Edwards stopped them with an interception in the endzone.

Mountain Grove’s offense responded with a drive that reached midfield before it was halted when Elliott was sacked for the first time in the game with an 11-yard loss.

He would end up being sacked six times in the game totaling a loss of 40 yards.

The Eagles’ offense had another solid drive that reached inside the Panthers’ 20.

After a penalty pushed them back to the 22, it appeared that the Eagles had three straight incomplete passes to turn the ball over on downs. Unfortunately, an referee made a questionable passing interference call. One play later, the Eagles scored on an 11-yard touchdown pass. A two-point conversion pushed the lead to 8-0.

Mountain Grove’s offense responded on a drive that started at their own 35. Glenn had three straight carries totaling 23 yards and Elliott connected with Drew Vaughan for a 29-yard passing play.

The Panthers completed their 12-play, 65-yard drive with Trenton Bevan’s four yard touchdown run. Glenn’s two-point run tied the game at 8-8.

The Eagles wasted little time retaking the lead. They first completed a 27-yard pass on their third play to move deep into the Panthers’ territory.

Six plays later, they scored on a two-yard touchdown run. A failed two-point pass kept the score at 14-8 with 4:36 left in the first half.

Liberty (Mountain View) tried to get one more score in before the half. Fortunately, Glenn had two knocked down to help keep the Eagles out of the endzone.

The Panthers received the kickoff to open the second half. The offense was able to move the ball to the Eagles’ 21 before Elliott was sacked two plays in a row totaling a loss of 13 yards and a turnover on downs.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Panthers had the ball just past midfield when Brendan Rogers scored on a 38-yard touchdown run. Freshman Hoyt Mathews’ extra-point kick gave the Panthers a 15-14 lead with 7:17 left in the game.

Liberty (Mountain View) answered quickly as they went 57 yards on six plays and scored on a 21-yard touchdown pass. The two-point conversion pushed the lead to 22-12.

On Mountain Grove’s final scoring drive, Elliott did connect with Glenn on a 36-yard passing play to get the ball into the red zone.

In the loss, the Panthers had less than 90 yards of offense in the first half, but finished with 140 in the air and 111 on the ground for 251.

The Eagles had exactly 112 passing and 112 rushing yards for 224 total yards of offense.

Elliott finished the game 14-of-19 passing for 140 yards and one touchdown.

Glenn had 15 carries for 67 yards and three catches for 54 yards.

Rogers had six carries for 58 yards and one touchdown. Vaughan had three catches for 48 yards.

Mountain Grove will host Salem on Friday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m.