1900 TEAM PHOTO

1956 Jersey County Democrat Photo turns up evidence that Jersey had a football team in 1900.

(CLICK ON LINK TO READ PHOTO DESCRIPTION)

DATE

OPPONENT

Coach Syme's Blog

TIME

SCORE

Freshmen Jersey Panthers overmatched in the first contest of the year against Jacksonville High School. Miscues and turnovers plagued us early and we got behind quick and had to scratch and claw our way back into the game. Dillion Hill got us on the board early in the 2nd quarter after recovering a blocked punt in the endzone for a touchdown. Cole Bugger got his hand on the ball that caused us to score. Right before the half  Cody Torrey caught a pass from Mitch Kimble for a 22 yard touchdown. We trailed JHS 24-12 at the Half. The second half started off like the first with some fumbles and bobbled snaps and us struggling to put anything together. In the 3rd, Mitch Kimble found Jacob Hamilton for a 15 yard TD strike. We still trailed 38-18 at that point. The 4th quarter came and we finally found our running game and Dillion Hill capitalized on a nice drive and scored from 7 yards out. He followed that up with the 2pt conversion and that was all the offense the boys could muster and ended up losing 54-26.

Lost 54-26

Saturday morning found the Freshmen Panthers facing off against Granite City at home. The rain helped soften the field, but it didn't help to soften the hits that GC ended up putting on us. We ended up losing 36-8 after a tight first half of play.  GC got on the board first and took an early 8-0 lead. In the 2nd period Mitch Kimble intercepted a pass and took it 65 yards to the house for the lone TD.  The 2 point conversion run by Dillon Hill was good making the score 16-8 going into halftime. GC's size and speed just pounded away and ended up breaking the game open in the 2nd half.

Lost 36-8

Freshmen Panthers got on the board first Saturday morning at Rochester HS after a 55 yard touchdown pass from Mitch Kimble to Jacob Hamilton. In the 2nd quarter, after a Rochester TD, Mitch Kimble took the ball on the first play from scrimmage and ran it 80 yards for a TD right down the Rockest sideline to regain the lead. The boys didn't find the endzone again until late in the 4th quarter when Mitch Kimble threw another TD pass to Cody Torrey for 5 yards. The 2pt conversion pass from Kimble to Cory Snyder was good and that was the end of the scoring. The boys played well against a very good Rochester team. Conference play starts this week.  The final score was Rochester 34 Jersey 20.

Lost 34-20

The freshmen Panthers faced their first MVC foe this week at home against the Highland Bulldogs on Thursday night.  The Panthers struck first with a 25 yard passing touchdown from Mitch Kimble to Jacob Hamilton. The 2pt. conversion was unsuccessful and the Panthers led 6-0 entering the 2nd period.  The visiting Bulldogs were able to get on the board and tie it up at 6 a piece. The Panthers were able to take a lead into halftime after Cory Snyder man a very nice run for a 15 yard touchdown. After a Cody Torrey 2pt Conversion catch from Mitch Kimble, the Panthers led 14-6.  The second half found both teams running all over each other.  Dillon Hill pounded out yard after  yard on the ground to drive them close to the goal line. On a key 3rd down play Mitch Kimble ran to the corner of the end zone for a 5 yard TD run of his own. Torrey followed that up with another 2pt conversion catch from Kimble. Highland was able to move the ball but a fumble recovery late in the game sealed our fate. Panthers 22 Highland 14. 

Won 22-14

Freshmen lost 18-14 to Mascoutah on a wet and muddy field. Mascoutah got on the board early with a 6-0 lead. The panthers marched right back down the field and scored on a Dillon Hill run up the middle and a 2 pt conversion pass from Mitch Kimble to Cody Torrey put the Panthers ahead 8-6 early in the 2nd quarter.  The 2nd quarter found the rest off the offense of the game. Mascoutah scored another quick touchdown and took the lead at 12-8. The freshmen boys ended up scoring again right before the half, in part by a long pass reception of about 65-70 yards by Jacob Hamilton that took us to the 3 yard line. After the boys punched in the TD and after the 2pt Conversion failed we had the lead of 14-12.....but that only lasted 12 seconds. Mascoutah took the kickoff all the way back for a Touchdown with no time remaining in the first half and took the lead 18-14 to halftime. The second half saw both teams stepping it up a notch. Neither team scored, even though the Panthers were in the red zone on several occasions.  We had our chance as the game was winding down. We got to the 15 yard line preparing to score. Those of us at the game saw how it ended. Our boys fought hard and played with emotion and desire. We just ran out of time.

Lost 18-14

Freshmen Panthers took a loss on a shortened game in Waterloo due to lightening. Mitch Kimble ran a kick-off back about 85 yards un-touched for the teams lone score. The final score was Waterloo 22 Panthers 6.

Lost 22-6

Won 12-0

Lost 36-6