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Photo by Ryan Kerwin, JTV Sports

By Mike Moore

Staff Writer

 

Jackson — In the simplest of terms, this was a season ender turned to a season saver.

 

The Parma Western football team was starring into the abyss last Friday night, with an 0-2 record and facing a Marshall team that anyone not wearing a Panthers uniform expected to run the score up from start to finish.

 

And then a funny thing happened.

 

The Panthers were the ones that ran the score up early, and hung on late.

 

The Panthers were the one who laughed at said abyss, and came out on the other end with a thrilling, and surprising, 32-30 victory.

 

Season saved.

 

“It was huge. It meant the world to us, really,” coach Dave Mifsud said of the two-point win. “We were 0-2 and making a lot of rookie mistakes. They were mistakes due to inexperience and youth. Then we’re faced with the team that had just beaten Coldwater, a Marshall team I picked to win the conference.”

 

So what did the Panthers do?

 

“We saw it as an incredible challenge,” Mifsud said.

 

Western jumped out to a 13-0 lead in the first quarter on a short run and then a long pass by Steele Fortress.

 

Even when Marshall came back to take a 14-13 lead in the second, the Panthers had an answer, and a 19-14 lead at halftime.

 

Eventually, the lead swelled to 15, before the Redhawks scored 13 in a row and had a chance to tie things up on a 2-point conversion early in the third.

 

“We just kept making plays,” Mifsud said of what was a 32-30 lead.

 

His guys would stop the attempt, and then make a number of other key plays down the stretch to hang on.

 

Season saved.

 

“Big play after play,” Mifsud said of his guys. “We had life, and that was great to see. It was a great battle the entire fourth quarter. We got some big first downs, but then had to punt. Then we had some key stops. We stopped them on fourth down. We forced them into some tough plays. I mean, it was just a bunch of big plays.”

 

Last week is just that, though.

 

Now the Panthers, still 1-2 and still needing to win a whole bunch down the stretch, bring in a 2-1 Coldwater team that reached the Division 3 semifinals in 2015.

 

Oh, it’s also Homecoming for Western.

 

“That’s a darn-good team that is very well coached,” Mifsud said. “Our challenge is to step up our defense again. I think we got stops against a good Marshall team that we didn’t get in the first two weeks. Now, we see their offense, which is even a bigger challenge. We have to play the same way we did last week.”

 

Who knows if momentum can carry from one week to the next.

 

But Mifsud was quick to point out that confidence sure can.

 

“The kids believe in themselves a little more than they did before the win,” he said. “I think there was time after time in that game where they could have pouted or folded. But they sucked it up. They played as a team. That’s the confidence and momentum we have to take into this game.”

Mortgage 1 Jackson

Mike Moore is a play-by-play commentator and Sports Writer for JTV Sports. You can reach him at mjm12@albion.edu. He’s also the author of ‘Love, Defined; A Dedication to the Love, Sacrifice, and Magic of Motherhood.’

Love, Defined is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Tate Publishing or by contacting Mike directly.

Visit http://lovedefinedbook.weebly.com for more information.

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