Panthers turn it on late

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South Medford's Austin Randall (6) moves in to tackle Sprague's Gabe Synegal during Friday's game.Jerry Clarkson

September 13, 2008

By Kris Henry

Mail Tribune

By KRIS HENRY
Mail Tribune
After a less than stellar first half for third-ranked South Medford, which trailed Sprague 14-7 at the break, it finally came time to loosen up and let it fly Friday night at Spiegelberg Stadium.
It became time for junior quarterback Josh Milhollin to put complete trust in his offensive line and his supporting wide receivers and running backs.
And, as much as anything, it became time for Milhollin to trust his own abilities.
An 8-yard connection to Mitch Singler — his first catch of the game — helped moved the Panthers from their own 5-yard line on South’s first series of the second half.
Another 14-yarder to the senior wide receiver gave the Panthers only their second third-down conversion of the game, and Milhollin added a 7-yard screen pass to Patrick Thibeault and a 32-yarder to E.J. Singler on another third down.
Although the drive later bogged down at the Sprague 42, you could see the confidence slowly build in Milhollin and you could see the Panthers were not willing to go down without a fight.
“We just kinda started letting our hair down and just said go play, and that’s kinda what we needed to do in all facets,” said South coach Bill Singler.
Once things loosened up, the Panthers (3-0) turned up their level of play to upend the Olympians going away, 42-14.
After completing only 4 of 7 passes for 30 yards in the first half of his third varsity start, Milhollin was 10-for-19 for 186 yards and three touchdowns after intermission. He also ran for a 2-yard TD for South’s lone score of the first half.
“We found our groove at the start of the second half,” said Mitch Singler, who finished with four catches for 87 yards and one TD. “We’ve been looking for it for three games, but we finally found it, and it’s a great feeling inside to know that we found what we can do. We’ve just got to keep on building with it and not look back.”
For Milhollin, the key to his second-half performance was finally finding his comfort zone.
“It just seemed like everything slowed down a little bit,” he said, giving much of the credit to his offensive line. “I think it’s just like that third game now and everything finally felt comfortable and felt good in the second half.”
Milhollin found Mitch Singler wide open on a 41-yard score with 40 seconds left in the third quarter for his second-ever TD pass, but a missed extra point left the Panthers trailing 14-13.
South’s defense then supplied a game-changing play when it forced a fumble by Chance Newkirk on Sprague’s next play from scrimmage. Brett Wallan promptly scooped up the ball to give the Panthers great field position at the Olympians’ 40.
After an incompletion, Milhollin dropped an innocent screen pass off to Thibeault, who made a quick cut to elude Sprague’s pursuit and then turned on the jets for a 40-yard score with 11.1 seconds still left in the quarter.
Things went from bad to worse moments later when Sprague (0-3) again coughed up the football on its first play from scrimmage, this time when Daniel Kinney jarred the ball loose from receiver Jeff Weisenhaus and plopped on it right in front of the Panther sideline.
Four plays later, Milhollin found a diving E.J. Singler in the corner of the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown to boost South’s lead to 28-14 in a whirlwind turn of events.
“The first two-thirds of the game we played just the way we wanted to, but you can’t beat a quality team like South Medford with turnovers like that and a couple mental mistakes,” said Sprague coach Robin Hill. “The last third of the game was very disappointing.”
A 49-yard punt return by Kinney set the stage for a 5-yard scoring run by Thibeault with 5:06 to play, and the Panthers got the ball soon after when Thibeault’s younger brother, Kevin, deflected a pass by Jeff Kidd, and Kevin Gilmore snared it for an interception.
Mario Sainez’s 5-yard TD run capped the scoring with 32.8 seconds to play after a seven-play, 52-yard drive. Cameron Kynard intercepted Kidd on the game’s final play.
And while the final outcome appeared lopsided, there was nothing in the first half that foretold of what would occur over the final 24 minutes.
“Sprague had a lot to do with that,” said coach Singler. “This is a good football team. They’re very well-disciplined, they’re well-coached and they run an offense that’s tough to defend in three days.”
“They were clicking, but yet we were clicking in the second half,” he added. “Sometimes you’ve got to learn by doing. The object of the game is to win at the end and we did, but I give a lot of credit to Sprague. They’re a hard-hitting team that’s going to win some games.”
E.J. Singler finished with six receptions for 90 yards and a score, while Patrick Thibeault carried 13 times for 63 yards and one TD and hauled in four passes for 39 yards and a score.
Sam McLaughlin also gave South a jolt with 26 yards on three carries during the Panthers’ first scoring drive in the second quarter. Thibeault was also freed for a nice 23-yard run on that drive by a clearing block from right tackle Steve Adams.
Sprague racked up 307 yards of total offense, with Kidd going 21-for-32 for 195 yards and Newkirk rumbling 17 times for 72 yards and two scores.
Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail khenry@mailtribune.com

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