Published: October 11, 2008 01:47 am            

Red Oak drops Mabank in OT

Panthers fall to 1-1 in district with 32-26 setback; Poteet next up

RED OAK — The Mabank Panthers just flat out fumbled one away Friday night.

The Panthers (3-3, 1-1 in 15-AAAA) found themselves in a 26-26 tie with the Red Oak Hawks (2-5) at the end of regulation, but turned the ball over in overtime and fell, 32-26.

On Mabank’s first possession in overtime, quarterback Kolton Browning stepped up in the pocket and inexplicably dropped the ball, and Red Oak’s Chris Manning recovered. The Hawks scored two plays later on a Nic Boyd 18-yard run that was called back by an offensive facemask penalty, of all things.

But the Hawks ended the drama four plays later when Grady Latimer pushed it across from the 1-yard line for the game-winner.

It was the first game after the Panthers’ 35-21 win over Terrell in the district opener last week — a win marred by a benches-clearing brawl that left officials calling the game off midway through the fourth quarter.

It was learned earlier Friday that both teams took disciplinary action that was given a stamp of approval by the district’s executive committee. Terrell suspended seven of its players for a week, while the Panthers suspended two, including starting running back/receiver Brandon Rascoe.

Browning was intercepted three times on the night, including twice by Jonathan Wade.

Red Oak jumped out to a 13-0 lead thanks to a six-yard pass in the second quarter from quarterback Latimer to Zach Chavez.

Browning then brought the Panthers back with a nine-play, 63-yard drive ending with an 11-yard scoring pass to Anthony Hendrix. The PAT by Michael Blackburn cut the lead to 13-7.

Red Oak came right back and scored on a 68-yard drive in just six plays to up its lead to 19-7 on a seven-yard touchdown by Boyd.

The Panthers responded with a beautiful 16-play, 80-yard drive punctuated by Jake Birch’s nine-yard touchdown catch from Browning with eight seconds left in the half. Browning — who had 112 rushing yards and 118 passing yards in the first half — had kept the drive alive with a 19-yard run to the Hawks 9 on third down.

With that score, the Hawks’ lead was trimmed to 19-13 at the half.

At the start of the second half, Browning took the Panthers on a 72-yard, 16-play drive that culminated with a fake 32-yard field goal that instead turned into Browning’s 18-yard touchdown pass to Birch.

That left the score tied at 19-19, but Blackburn missed the extra point.

Later in the third quarter, Browning was picked off by Wade, who returned the ball to the Mabank 48-yard line. On the next play, Ishmael Harrison broke out of a pack of defenders and scored to make it 26-19 with 4:48 left in the third.

Browning redeemed himself on the next drive, taking the Panthers 73 yards in just four plays. The drive included a 39-yard pass from Browning to Cory Janicke and ended with Browning’s 19-yard touchdown run.

        

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