Lusby, MD – Patuxent was in the region final for the third straight year, and for the second time, played Gwynn Park. They played Gwynn Park in 2013, and won that matchup 35-28 on a touchdown run by Tyler Crounse. This go around, it was Reese Crounse who was the hero of the Panthers.
The game started off with Gwynn Park receiving the opening kickoff, and the Patuxent defense held firm as they forced Gwynn Park to punt after 3 plays. A short punt gave Patuxent the ball on the Gwynn Park 45 yard line. The offense got rolling on the drive until they got to the red zone where two runs, and a slip by Jaelen Gross rolling out forced Andrew Kalinoski out onto the field for a 33 yard field goal. The hero last week with his 3 kicks, Kalinoski again delivered. Patuxent held the early lead 3-0 with 5:58 left in the first.
Patuxent again forced Gwynn Park to punt, and got driving again. However, Gross let the ball slip from his hands, and Gwynn Park came out of the bottom of the pile with the ball. They were in the middle of their next drive at the end of the quarter.
On the first play of the second quarter, Gwynn Park quarterback Aaron Parker had a designed run play called, and he trucked his way through some Patuxent defenders for a 19 yard run. However after the play, Patuxent defensive back Joel Torney was face down on the ground, and not moving. He stayed down for a number of minutes until his right leg kicked into the sky. The backboard and stretcher were brought out for safety reasons, and the ambulance on duty came onto the track to take him to the local hospital.
Following the injury timeout, Aaron Parker gashed the Panthers defense, eventually finding his way into the end zone with a 16 yard run.
The Yellow Jackets led 7-3 with 9:59 left in the half. Patuxent punted the ball away on their following possession. But, on the second play of the Gwynn Park drive, Parker lobbed a pass into tight coverage, and Jared Massengill came down with the interception on the sideline. Unfortunately for the Panthers, they got nothing going, and were forced to punt. Gwynn Park then ran the ball all the way down the field, eventually giving them an opportunity to push their lead to 10-3. Their field goal came up short, and the score stayed at 7-3 going into halftime.
Following the half time break, Patuxent went on a long drive, playing inspired ball with Reese Crounse in at quarterback. The drive was thwarted when the Panthers suffered their second red zone turnover of the game. This time Chris Long mishandled a pitch, and put it on the ground, only to be recovered by Aaron Parker. Gwynn Park’s offense then became confused by the Panthers defense, and had a 3 and out. Patuxent was driving as the quarter ended, and capped it off with their first touchdown of the playoffs. Chris Long pushed it in from a yard out following a 15 yard run by Reese Crounse to the 1. Patuxent had their first lead in over an hour of actual time 10-7, and there were 7 minutes left in the game.
On Gwynn Park’s next play, they attempted to throw a seam route, but Tyler Gross intercepted the pass. It was Gross’ third straight game with an interception, and second straight game with a pick in the fourth quarter. This interception he returned down to the Gwynn Park 14 yard line. Patuxent turned it over on downs as the Gwynn park defense tried to put their offense back on the field. But their offense could do nothing with it, and turned the ball back over to the Panthers. The Panthers scored again, and seemed to have it iced when Chris Long ran over a defender to go up 16-7 with 2:30 left in the game. But on the first play of the ensuing Gwynn park drive, Parker threw the ball backwards to Andre Gray, who then took a crow hop and chucked the ball downfield to a wide open Tyjah During, who turned and ran untouched into the end zone to make the score 16-14 with 2:33 left in the game. Patuxent recovered the ensuing onside kick, and after Crounse took a massive hit on the previous drive, Jaelen Gross was back in the game at quarterback for Patuxent. They ran the clock all the way down until there was 1 second left when they turned it over on downs. Gwynn Park had one play to thow it down field and hope for a miracle. That throw never occurred as Mikey Donaldson broke though the line, and sacked Parker to end the game. The Panthers won the game, and the 2A South region, 16-14.
The Panthers will advance to play the 2A North winner Dunbar next Friday at 7 PM. Follow us @TheBayNetSports on twitter for live updates from that game.