After opening the season with a disappointing loss to Canyon Lake, the Blanco Panthers traveled to Comfort and easily handled the Bobcats to pick up their first win of the year. The Panthers never trailed in the game, while scoring 35 unanswered points to pull away for a 42 to 14 victory.

The game began with both teams punting on their opening drives. However, Blanco put together a 6 play 55-yard drive on their second possession to score on a Colton Childress 1-yard run. Aikman Elrod added the PAT to give Blanco an early 7 to 0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

With the first quarter coming to an end and the second quarter underway, the Bobcats answered and tied the game on their next drive, going 74 yards in 9 plays to score on a 1-yard run, followed by a successful extra point kick. The Panthers would not be outdone, as they returned the favor, driving 75 yards in 12 plays to regain the lead on a 23-yard run by Childress. Elrod added the point after to make the score 14 to 7. The Panthers wasted little time in scoring again before the half as a long pass play on their first play set Blanco up for an 11-yard Alex Palos run. Although Blanco missed the extra point attempt, the halftime score was 20 to 7.

The second half saw more of the same for Blanco, with QB Sam Isenberg connecting with Chad Marshall for a 35-yard TD, followed by fourth quarter TD runs of 30 and 3 yards by Tim Goodman and Isenberg respectively. Elrod added 2 PATs while Isenberg bulled over a Bobcat defender for a 2-point conversion run to close out the Panther scoring. Although Comfort added a late 15-yard scoring run and extra point kick, it proved to be too little too late as Blanco ran out the clock from the Comfort 1-yard line to end the game.

Offensively, the Panthers totaled 291 yards on the ground and 129 through the air, picking up 21 first downs. Tim Goodman led all rushers with 87 yards on 15 carries, followed by Colton Childress with 71 yards. Sam Isenberg completed 4 of 6 passes for 80 yards, while Childress added a completion as well on a halfback pass for 49 yards.

Blanco’s defense held the Bobcats to just 13 first downs and 214 yards on the night, forcing four punts and a fumble recovered by Britton Wagner.

The Panthers now return home at 1 and 1 to host the Luling Eagles who are also 1 and 1 after losing last week to Rice Consolidated. Kick-off is set for 7:30 pm at Panther Stadium.