PANORA — The Panorama football team completed two passes last Friday, one for five yards and one for a loss of three. It hardly mattered, as the Panther ground game broke loose for 390 yards and six touchdowns on 40 carries to fuel a 48-6 non-district win over Woodward Academy.
Brody Rickheim ran for 120 yards on nine carries, Michael Allen for 87 yards on three rushes and Trey Cobb for 59 yards on just two hauls, but all three found the end zone once for Panorama. Gunnar Grunsted found pay dirt twice while running for 25 yards and Lucas South scored once on seven carries for 17 yards to account for the ground scoring. Toss in the totals produced by Blaine Barber (4-46), Levi Richey (3-12), Benny Barroso (3-11), Kaleb Stogdill (4-9) and Gracen Welbers (3-4) and the domination is evident.
Grunsted got the scoring going but did so on defense by intercepting a pass and rumbling 33 yards for six points. Allen booted the first of his six PAT kicks to give the hosts a 7-0 lead after one quarter.
The Panther offense erupted in the second quarter to put the game out of reach, with Grunsted rushing eight yards for a score and South five for a TD to move the margin to 21-0. The gap swelled to 35-0 after Rickheim bolted 54 yards for a score with Grunsted adding a 17-yard sprint later in the period.
Woodward Academy’s only points came just before the intermission on a 15-yard pass play (names and individual statistics for the Knights have not been provided).
Trey Cobb’s 65-yard gallop into the end zone allowed Panorama to post a 41-6 lead after three periods, with Allen capping the scoring in the fourth frame by racing 66 yards for a TD.
Welber hit on both of his pass attempts for Panorama, connecting with Richey for five yards while Kolby Burns was dragged down for a three-yard loss. South was 0-for-6 with an interception during his time at quarterback.
The Knights were 8-of-24 for 103 yards through the air but were held to minus-six yards on 14 carries in the ground game. Academy quarterbacks also threw four interceptions, with Grunsted, South, Barber and Garrett Simmons all recording thefts.
Defensive tackle Daniel Jensen continued his terrorizing of opposing passers by recording his second consecutive three-sack outing. He also recovered a fumble for the hosts.
Panorama will receive a stiff test Friday when they open Class 1A District 6 action by visiting No. 5 Madrid. The Tigers own wins of 47-12 over Woodward-Granger and of 39-28 at Earlham. All-state speedster Michael Santi has scored eight times on just 23 carries and has 473 yards (a whopping 20.6 yards per carry average) out of Madrid’s traditional wishbone attack. Kick off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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