September 8, 2012

Douglas Pugh
FlaVarsity.com

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NEW ORLEANS - The Plant Panthers ran up against a juggernaut in John Curtis on Friday night in the second game of the Allstate Sugar Bowl Prep Classic by a score of 33-3 in the Louisiana Superdome giving up nearly 300 yards of total offense to the Patriots and losing some valuable players to injury as well.

The Panthers were held to just 45 yards on 31 carries, due in large part to the absence of Florida State OL Commit Richy Klepal, who suffered a concussion in practice on Wednesday leaving the Panthers with some big adjustments.

Things didn't get much better after that when RB Wesley Bullock suffered an injury to his shin on the same leg that he twisted his ankle vs. Jesuit last week causing him to miss the majority of the game.

Panthers QB Aaron Banks was also knocked out of action when he was hit on his blindside by John Curtis' Brandon Porter.

Curtis finished the game with 299 yards, with 238 of those coming via the ground attack. The Patriots leading rusher was Sherman Badie with 94 yards on 10 carries and three touchdowns.

Afterwards, a much calmer and collected Bob Weiner than during the game was poignant in his assessment of his team's performance.

"33-3 score, and it was probably a 33-3 game. They were better than us in all three facets of the game," Weiner said. "Can't give up 21 points in the kicking game and get ransacked early in the game like we did."

Curtis' ground game was all they needed to get the job done only needing to attempt eight passes on the night, yet not converting a single third down. The Patriots were however 3-for3 on 4th down attempts including a fake punt that Badie took 40 yards to the end zone.

Weiner also was candid in his statements about what it was they prepared for, and what it was they were dealing with this evening. Yet still, the season moves on for the defending 8A State Champs.

"They have way more speed than I saw on film," Weiner said. "That's who we thought they were really like was the Bergen Catholic team from last year, but they were way quicker than what we saw in film study."

" We'll go back and look at how we can correct the intellectual part of the game, not the emotional part. We'll look at the film and find those teachable moments and then go home and get ready for Jefferson."