With the front half of the season complete, our Panthers sought to turn their fortune upward with the start of league play beginning at JeffCo Stadium against the Lakewood Tigers. Lessons learned in our non-league showdowns stood in the forefront of the team's conversations and preparation immediately after Week 5 closed. The message from HC Jones to the program was simple - every game from the midpoint of the season would be critical to our overall success. The playoffs start NOW and each game has “win-or-go-home” implications on the rest of the year. We were facing a team that hadn’t won in nearly 3 seasons - we had a decision to make as a squad about the destiny of this football team.
Credit to our Panthers for the way they struck in week 6 given all of this pressure - turning a game that could’ve slipped between our fingers into a large triumph! The Tigers came to play, causing 1 fumble that turned into a scoop-and-score and scoring a touchdown on the ground all in the 2nd quarter. We answered with 2 touchdowns on the ground in the 2nd and 3rd quarters to put us up 14-13 to close out a nail biter! With just 10 seconds remaining on the clock, Tigers ball at our 1 yard line, Lakewood had used all of their timeouts in the early goings of the 4th quarter and had none to spare as the clock hit 0:00 for us to seal our 2nd win of the season. We escaped a gritty game with a W and that would help propel us into our next game against MRHS.
Week 7 was a way different story - although successful - we had a slightly different focus and approach to playing against Mountain Range. In his weekly interview with The BHS Football Insider, Coach Jones stated that the Panthers’ personnel as a whole were focused on “striking early and often” on offense and by, again, sending a message on the defensive end, making stops in every way possible. Jones mentioned that MRHS football would put us to the test, as the game was winnable but it was not going to be easy.
10/10/2024 at Adams Five Star Stadium, BHS Football proved that it has grown as a force to be reckoned with this year in grand fashion. Putting Mountain Range away in the second half of a game in which we trailed by 3 in the first half, our Panthers gained a large momentum boost! Pitching a shutout on defense (only allowing two made FG’s in the first half, holding MR scoreless in the second half) and putting up a total of 23 points to win the game (Final 23-6) gave a glimpse into the maturation of our football program thus far this season. It was a complete team win that took wits, execution and composure from the first person on the field to the last Panther on the sideline.
Satisfaction would be no feat, though, as the team would be set for another Thursday night matchup against Northglenn come 10/17 and the implications on our league standings would be VITAL.
Coach Jones and the staff entered Week 8 exclaiming that our Panthers needed a “signature win and a statement game” to solidify our recent growth and success in finding our identity as a team. Would the Panthers finally get a clear, cut, and dry win? With changes and buzz abounding around the program, this matchup was set to tell us more about our fate for this year.
True to the beautiful game of football, Northglenn stood in the way of us and our goals and would not budge, taking an early lead of 7-0 and then carrying a 14-0 lead into the 4th quarter. Our Panthers refused to be steamrolled on their own turf and began the comeback train immediately in the 4th quarter with a corner TD pass to bring the game within one possession making it 14-7. We gave NHS the ball back and were able to make a large stop on defense to get the ball again. We received the ball and were able to rush for a TD with 5:55 left to go in the 4th.
And there was a sudden magic in the air.
After battling on defense and preventing a TD with a game saving push-out by our defense to close up regulation we went into overtime knowing we had to make stops and score from the 10 yard-line in order to win and we did just that! Stopping Northglenn on defense all 4 downs causing a turnover leading to us with the ball in overtime, at the 10, with the opportunity to win the game. No plays ran on this possession, HC Jones opted to kick a field goal to win his first ever OT thriller at BHS. The kick hit the right upright, dropped to the cross bar and bounced in to make the BHS Football Panthers 4-4 on the season and 3-0 in league.
With Overland and Westminster football left for Weeks 9 & 10, our BHS Panthers are looking to capture a league title and a playoff berth to stamp and further elevate the program beyond its outcomes in recent years. This Friday at Overland will prove just how much the players are prepared to fully make history under the sharp coaching they've received since the New Era's inception in 2023. Coaching changes and injuries in previous weeks have redirected the teams' efforts toward rallying together and not just relying on one Panther or the other. Will our Panthers Football team finish league play strong to complete a statement season?
~BHS Football Insider