Perry Panthers scratch and claw a 23-17 victory away from HoCo Bears at Freedom Field Friday night

The crosstown match up between the Houston County High School Bears and Perry High School Panthers kicked off the beginning of the football campaign with a nip and tuck, very competitive contest that saw the Panthers win on the road at Freedom Field 23-17.

“I liked that we played real hard. I like that we made some big plays. Early on in the game, we didn’t play real good defense but in the second half the defense played their tails off,” said Perry Head Football Coach Kevin Smith.

Early in the first quarter, Houston County junior quarterback Max Rigby connected on several passes with junior receiver Phil Powlesland. Near the goal line, off a quarterback option-read, Rigby walked into the end zone with a two-yard score that gave Houston County an early 7-0 lead.

Perry would answer right back when senior receiver Davion Ross took a 90-yard kick return for a touchdown that got the Perry crowd into a frenzy. A missed extra point made the score 7-6 in favor of Houston County. When Perry got the ball back with a short field to work with, they called a double reverse that Ross took and sprinted into the end zone for a 27-yard score. A two-point conversion by Perry pushed their lead to 14-7.

On the ensuing series, the Bears answered right back when Rigby ran for a 48-yard touchdown off a mad scramble that materialized when he stepped up into the pocket to escape incoming pressure and ran down the middle of the field where he then cut down the sideline to even the score up at 14-14.

At the top of the second quarter, Perry junior running back Tyrell Owens scored on a six-yard touchdown run. Perry went into the half with a 21-14 edge.

With both offenses producing big plays in the first half, those plays were kept to a minimal in the second half. Throughout most of the contest, Houston County utilized the screen pass and swing passes well that saw them manufacture some nice gains but no touchdowns came of it in the second half. The Panthers defense found themselves threatened a couple of times with the Bears coming closer and closer to punching in touchdowns but the defensive line clogged up the home team’s running game, while also pushing Rigby more and more outside the pocket to force him to throw on the move, which resulted into incomplete passes.

A late fourth quarter safety by Perry put them up 23-14. After Houston County kicker Ren Collier made a eight-yard field goal to trim the deficit to six, they got one more chance to win the game or send it to overtime with 43 seconds left on Perry’s 35-yard line but the Panthers defense applied just enough pressure and the defensive backs played smart positionally to walk out of Freedom Field with a victory.