Panthers fall to Valier
The Alberton Panthers found themselves with another loss over the weekend as they battled Valier on the road.
It wasn’t a bad game for the Panthers who scored in every quarter except the last during the game, ending in a 63-26 score.
Despite carrying the ball for at least one touchdown each quarter, the Panthers struggled to hold up defensively to Valier. The loss puts the Panthers at a 1-3 record for the season so far.
In the first quarter, the Panthers faired pretty well, Valier came out and scored on two runs, but Jake Thompson received a 60-yard pass from Cody Ishler and took the ball into the end zone for a touchdown. Thompson took the ball in again off a pass from Ishler for extra points. After each team scored again, Thompson caught a 25-yard pass from Ishler before carrying the ball in for a touchdown. The kick failed and the Panthers ended the first quarter slightly behind 13-20. In the second quarter, Valier took the ball into the end zone off of a two-yard run, putting them at 27. With a hold still on the game, Matt Foley ran the ball 35 yards down the field to give Alberton a touchdown, bringing the score to 20-27. Alberton, however, wouldn’t manage to score again during the second quarter and at halftime the Panthers were behind 20-39.
In the third quarter, Foley took the ball down the field on a 30-yard run for the Alberton’s final score of the game. Valier scored 12 points in the third quarter and grabbed another 12 in the final quarter. Coach Jake Giffin said the team cut down on turnovers, which caused them problems in the last couple of games.
“We didn’t have the turnovers like we did in the last couple of games, but we couldn’t tackle. [Valier’s] running back is a strong runner and we had three of four guys on him, but they slipped off and he just ran through them,” Giffin said. “We just couldn’t bring it all together.”
Giffin said the team “played really well” against Valier despite how the game turned out in the end.
Up next for the Alberton Panthers is a game against Lima at 7 p.m. on Oct. 1 and is the Panthers’ homecoming. Giffin said from what he’s heard of the team that Lima runs man-to-man defense.
“We’re going to try and isolate them and take advantage,” Giffin said. girls were at Charlo on Thursday. The Lady Tigers ended up losing. They took defeat in the first three games of the match, 18-25, 2-25 and 4-25, staying way down in the single digits.
Charlo scored 28 aces against the girls during the match.
St. Regis only grabbed a total of ten digs during the match.
“It was horrible,” Feasel said. “I don’t know what happened. It was odd. It’s like everybody forgot everything. We talked a bit after and they were frustrated, but you can’t get emotionally down and take yourself out of the game. Again, we were learning things.”
Stevens had three blocks and two kills. Rolisha Rhoades also had three blocks for St. Regis and Sierra Slavin had two kills against Charlo. Spencer set five assists and served up two aces.
In Arlee, St. Regis played three matches winning one against county rival Alberton.
Feasel said that the girls still seem weak on floor transitions and cover.
“Transitions and floor cover have been killing us,” Feasel said.
Feasel said that although the week was up and down again the team is still setting its sights on districts.
“Hopefully, we’ll be sharp,” Feasel said.
The girls have a game against Two Eagle this week, a team they beat a couple weeks ago.