PANORA — Class 1A District 8 play begins Friday, with Panorama (3-1) hosting Clarinda (1-3) at 7 p.m. Other district contests feature Mt. Ayr (3-1) at West Central Valley (1-3) and Van Meter (4-0) at AC/GC (1-3).
ABOUT THE PANTHERS — Panorama defeated host Fort Dodge St Edmond, 41-14, in week one before blasting visiting NW Webster, 52-8. A 34-13 loss at Interstate-35 followed, but the Panthers bounced back to claim a thrilling 49-40 Homecoming win over Central Decatur last week.
Luke South and Alejandro Mendez have given first-year head coach Mike Kauzlarich a two-edged weapon. South is 37-57-4 through the air for 504 yards and five touchdowns, with Mendez 12-19-0 for 166 yards and a score.
Gracen Welberg (15-205, 1 TD), Zach Rizzuti (8-178, 3 TDs) and Allias Stahl (11-126, 2 TDs) have been the lead receivers, with South (66-475, 7 TDs) and Mendez (50-214, 4 TDs) pacing the ground attack.
Trey Cobb’s 29 tackles leads a defense that has intercepted four passes and recovered three fumbles. Trent Hambleton has 19.5 tackles, with Hunter Holmes mixing three sacks among his 19 stops.
ABOUT THE CARDINALS — Clarinda posted a 37-19 win over host Shenandoah to start the season, but has since lost three games by a total of 12 points. A 28-21 setback to Red Oak was followed by a 21-20 road loss at Atlantic, with visiting Southwest Valley claiming a 20-16 win last week.
The Cardinals are all about 5-10, 245-pound senior quarterback William Shull. He is just 8-25-3 for 95 yards and three scores through the air, but leads the team with 483 rushing yards and six TDs on 83 carries.
Shull has rounded out his statistical sheet by averaging 39.7 yards on 14 punts.
The defense has picked off six passes and fallen on four fumbles from their opponents.
