Mother Nature Won

Originally Posted -- Saturday, September 13, 2008

    Well, it was a battle of man against nature Friday night, as the Panthers battled the Ottawa Cyclones in a driving rain storm. Thank goodness the game was played on Field Turf at Ottawa University, had that not been the case, the Panthers white away uniforms would have looked like the all black home unis rather quickly. The Panthers are learning quickly this year that the turnover can make or break a game. In their season opening loss to Baldwin the Panthers gave the ball away five times, losing 21-7. Against Ottawa, the Panthers again had a hard time holding on to the ball, but with the conditions, that was to be expected. Ottawa had a little more trouble keeping the pigskin in their possession, and Paola quickly built a 14-0 lead thanks to two turnovers and six yards of total offense. If the Panthers are going to be successful at all this year, they’re going to have to learn to maintain possession of the ball. We don’t have the offensive weapons to give the opponents extra possessions. 

    But overall, the real winner in this contest was Mother Nature, when the game is played in those kind of conditions, it’s hard to maintain and semblance of offensive or defensive consistency. Plus, it’s hard for all the others on the sidelines too! We put our camera away at half time -- and taking notes on a game is next to impossible. The stats crew improvised with ponchos and trash bags -- one even went an spent the second half in the press box! The only good thing that we could say was, “at least it’s not cold!”