Lusby, MD – “We’re going to the bank.” With those five words from Coach Steve Crounse, the realization of the current situation set into the Panthers team. They started nodding their heads, and exclamations of “Yeah we are”, and repeating their coach’s statement.  As the team rose from their knees, they exclaimed in unison, “ We’re going to the bank!

The Panthers will take this victory with a bit of a grain of salt, as they may be without wide out Jared Massengill for the state championship. He injured his knee cap with a minute left in the game.

This is the third trip to the state finals for Patuxent’s football program, and third trip for their athletic department this season, as their volleyball team and field hockey team advanced to the state title game. The theme for Patuxent will be “Third time’s the charm”.

The game started with Patuxent receiving the opening kickoff, and going 3 and out. Dunbar took the punt, and took off on a long drive. They ate up three minutes of the quarter only for the drive to come up empty. The Panthers defense tightened up, and forced a turnover on downs inside their own 10 yard line. Patuxent was forced into another punt, and gave Dunbar a first down on the Patuxent 47.

Patuxent’s defense tightened up again, and forced another three and out. Then, to break the trend, Patuxent picked up a first down, and then was forced to punt. Dunbar took over on their own 49. A 10 yard penalty pushed them back to the 41 yard line. They had a two-yard carry, and afterwards, their quarterback Darius Jones-Clark dropped back, and saw Juan Campbell with a step advantage on his defender. He threw the ball, and put it on the spot as Campbell scored a 57-yard touchdown catch. The two-point conversion was good, and it was 8-0 Dunbar with 2:19 left in the first quarter.

On the ensuing kickoff, Tyler Gross received the ball, and found the hole. He hit it hard, and burst through. He outran everybody en route to a 97-yard return for a touchdown. The extra point was good, and the Panthers pulled within a point, 8-7. That was the score of the game as the first quarter ended.

Patuxent forced Dunbar to punt on their following possession, and another trend started. Four straight possessions went by with every possession ending in a punt, or a turnover on downs. Patuxent even forced a turnover on downs by a single link on the chains. That trend was broken when Patuxent had a touchdown on the final possession of the first half. Jared Massengill took a snap from the wildcat formation and plunged into the middle of the line. He was stood up at the 3 yard line, and was pushed into the end zone by Patuxent lineman. It was 14-8 Patuxent following the touchdown. Patuxent’s defense, aside from the touchdown, did very well in containing the Dunbar offense. However, there was still another half of football to play.

In the third quarter, Dunbar was turned the ball over on downs twice, and punted once. Patuxent couldn’t do much better, as they punted once, and turned the ball on downs once. That punt was blocked, and Dunbar looked to seek a big shift in momentum as they took over on the Patuxent 31. However, after four plays, and three yards, they turned the ball over on downs.

Patuxent finished the third quarter with the ball, and started their longest drive of the season. They started with 26 seconds left in the third quarter, and after having seven plays inside the 10-yard line, were forced to kick a field goal with 5:35 left in the game.

Dunbar had one last chance to pull out the game out, but were faced with a 4th and 10 with 4 minutes left in the game. They called a pass play, and their quarterback rolled out to the right. While he was looking downfield, two Patuxent defenders came at him, and flattened him. Patuxent took the ball following that play, and ran the clock out. Massengill was injured attempting to pick up the first down to clinch the game.

After the game, Coach Steve Crounse addressed his team saying “ … No one thought we could make it boys, but we’re there. It’s finally here, but we’re not done yet. We have one more win to go.”