On Thursday night, as the beached-out crowd surfed into the stands, the Einstein Titans (0-4) faced off against the undefeated Paint Branch Panthers (4-0) at home. The early October evening sparked with excitement right from the start by the Panthers.
The Panthers chose to start off the game by kicking off to the Titans, which resulted in a penalty as Gibbs Tinne booted the ball out of bounds. However, this didn’t harm the defense’s ability to stuff the Titans and get the ball into the hands of the Panther offense. Senior quarterback Danon Davis-Cray started the game strong with a long completion to junior wide-receiver Jalen Davis, who had made a big impact on the team so far this season. The result of the drive ended with a 30 yard rushing touchdown by Davis-Cray, who strolled into the end zone with ease.
The strong start by the Panthers kept rolling as they went on to score two more touchdowns in the first quarter, one by sophomore JD Guerrero on the receiving end, and yet another rushing touchdown by Davis-Cray. The Panthers headed into the second quarter of play with the score 22-0.
With all of the game’s momentum on their side, it was beginning to look like this game was going to be a blowout victory similar to the week 5 game last year when the Panthers finished on top of the Titans, 54-7.
The second quarter started, and the Panthers didn’t slow down one bit. The defense continued to shut down the Einstein offense, and the offense kept up their high pace with Davis-Cray hooking up with fellow senior Fanta Fanta for a 15-yard score. With Einstein battling hard to stay in the game, they were able to convert a couple of first downs with some long runs and completions, but they seemed to be haunted by turnovers the whole night. The Panthers, on the other hand, took advantage every time they had possession of the football and ended their scoring in the first half with a 48-yard touchdown pass from Davis-Cray to senior captain Ryan Stango.
The second half started with an uneventful third quarter, which consisted of no scoring for either team. However, Einstein came out strong in the fourth quarter and scored both of their touchdowns to change the score to a more respectable 35-14. A broken leg suffered by an Einstein player caused a lengthy delay as an ambulance had to come into the stadium to take him to the hospital. Despite the injury to the player, the teams finished the game, and the Panthers were able to celebrate a hard-earned win.
As the Panthers head into their game next week against the defending state champion Northwest Jaguars, they look to use their 5-0 start to their advantage and defeat the number-one team in Maryland.