Undefeated! This is the statues of the Paint Branch Panthers after staging a strong five game stretch to start the season.

Bouncing back from what senior Dejuan Johnson called a “weak performance last year,” the Panthers are back on top of the division with an impressive win on Thursday, September 28th over their rivals, the Springbrook Blue Devils. At 5-0, the Panthers already have as many wins as they did all of last year, only halfway into the season.

This was an important win for both teams as the rivalry between PB and SB has heated up since the basketball season last year. Students on both sides have been strongly against the other, the Panthers feel like the Blue Devils have stolen some of their school spirit with the infamous powder toss the Panther fans are known for doing at football games. This rivalry has been tense since last year.

It was a slow start for the Blue Devils as they found themselves down 13-0 in the first quarter, after the Panther touchdowns scored off passes thrown by junior Norman Douglas. His first pass went to senior Dhedus Anugmba, and the second to junior Jordan Griffin. The extra point attempt was no good for the first score.

In the second quarter, the momentum shifted after a touchdown catch by Springbrook’s Dominic Best off a pass from quarterback Trevon Ruffin. This spark gave the Blue devils momentum on both sides of the ball. The defense was led by defensive end Noah Barnett, who seemed to be everywhere the ball was. Barnett racked up several tackles, and seemed to be the backbone of the defense in his first year with the Blue Devils.  Not long after this touchdown, a bad snap from the Panther long snapper led to a safety, and two more points for Springbrook. Just before halftime, another touchdown, this time on a long pass to Yahri Shango, put the Blue Devils up 16-13.  

The second half was very intense as sophomore Sam Doku scored a running touchdown to put the Panthers back on top 20-16. Special teams continued to haunt the Panthers, as another bad snap on a punt led to a second safety and whittled their lead to 20-18.

Ruffin and the Blue Devils took the lead on another passing touchdown. This time Ruffi threw to Markell Mcdaniel, a senior. Now, late into the fourth quarter the score had the Blue devils on top 25-20, with possession on the Panthers side of the field. A crucial drive for the Blue Devils saw Ruffin throw to Best, who had been putting on a show offensively with a couple elusive catches. Best beat the Panther defender off the line of scrimmage, but dropped what would have been a first down and gave them more chances to run down the clock or even score. The Blue Devils punted the ball.

The Panthers had less than two minutes to score a touchdown to go ahead.  The Panthers battled their way down the field with Douglass completing passes and avoiding the rush. Aided by two pass interference calls against the Blue Devils, the Panthers found themselves at the Springbrook 25 yard line. After a couple of incompletions Douglass finally came through in the clutch as he nailed a narrow accurate throw to Agbozah who was strapped down by cornerback Shemar Weisweaver. Agbozah was able to muscle through and catch the ball for a clutch touchdown that won them the game. The home crowd erupted while the Springbrook students could only look on, devastated.

The Panthers went for two to add to their scoring. The 2- point conversion was good, and the Panthers were ahead 28-25. The Blue Devils returned the kickoff and had a long way to go to score with less than a minute remaining. Ruffin threw an interception to PB senior Dejuan Johnson that sealed the deal, and the Panthers came out on top.

After the hard loss, the Blue Devils’ Barnett said, “We are going to see you again PB.” Barnett seems to be confident that the two teams will play each other in the playoffs, and that they will win.

After the game the Panthers’ Johnson was happy and showed a lot of energy. He said, “Coming into the game I knew Springbrook was gonna fight hard but I knew we would beat them.”  Fortunately he was able to end the ‘fight’ himself.