The North Platte football team had a halftime lead for the first time since 2019 but couldn’t overcome seven total turnovers as the Panthers fell to Maysville 28-8 on Sept. 2.
After punting on their first possession, the Panthers turned it over on the next five possessions but were able to keep the Wolverines off the scoreboard. Following three fumbles and two interceptions in five consecutive drives, North Platte found itself deep in its own territory but responded with a 5-play, 93-yard scoring drive.
“It is pretty simple, if you give the ball away that many times, you can’t expect to win,” North Platte head coach Reis Wright said. “We had good protection most of the time, but there were some center to quarterback exchanges that kept us from getting the flow going early on.”
Backed up at the Panther’s own 7-yard line, sophomore quarterback Coltin Kirkham connected with Landon Bartlett for a 63-yard reception before getting taken down at the Wolverine 30-yard line. Two plays later, Kaden Mullensore brought in a 22-yard touchdown reception.
“We felt like there was some stuff that we could take advantage of, and that drive we did. We have kids that can make plays and that was a great way to go into the half,” Wright said.
Will Koontz rushed in for the 2-point conversion and North Platte took an 8-0 lead with 2:08 left in the second quarter. That was the score at the break, but the Wolverines bounced back with 28 unanswered second half points.
Panther junior Seth Cru reaches for the ball after a first quarter fumble by Maysvile.
“Once they went up where we had to score two, I think we lost a little bit more gusto than I would like to have seen. We needed to tighten the screws a little more and maybe if we did, we could have stayed in it,” Wright said.
North Platte kicked off to start the third quarter and recovered an onside kick at the 42-yard line, but that drive ended in a punt and its offense never crossed the 50-yard line for the remainder of the contest. Maysville scored a touchdown on its next four possessions, converting the 2-point try twice, to come out on top 28-8.
“We played excellent defense for a long time, but then we got gassed and they got up. Once you’re up in a situation like that, you can do what you want and they did a good job of that,” Wright said.