The BYFL Varsity team faced the #1 seed and undefeated Marble Falls Mustangs in the North division semi-finals on Saturday. The Panthers kicked off to start the game, and the Mustangs wasted no time in easily driving 45 yards for the first score on a 30 yard run. The extra point kick failed, leaving the Mustangs up 6-0. Blanco’s QB was sacked for 15 yard loss on the Panther’s first play, and unable to gain yards, was forced to punt. Again the Mustangs drove easily to the Panther 20, but Jack Morgan recovered a Mustang fumble to halt the drive.

In the second quarter the Mustang defense continued to wreak havoc on the Panthers with blitzing linebackers to force another punt, but the Mustangs forced Blanco’s punter to run for a first down attempt, and wound up taking over at the Panther 20 yard line. Devlin Moore made a great tackle for a loss, and on the ensuing play Dylan Bates recovered a fumble on a Mustang reverse attempt. Jake Breeding ran for 5 and 16 yards to get the Panthers into Mustang territory, but Marble Falls then intercepted a Blanco pass attempt. The Panther defense shut the Mustangs down with Carson Kipp on a big tackle for a loss, forcing a punt. Blanco muffed the punt and the Mustangs took over on the Panther 30, but again the defense held and time ran out for the half, with Marble Falls up 6-0.

The Mustangs tried a pooch kick to start the second half, but Jake Breeding made a great catch and returned the kick-off to midfield. Again the blitzing Mustangs kept Blanco from mounting a drive, and took over on downs. The Panther defense stepped it up with Dylan Bates and Carson Kipp making tackles for losses, and forcing the Mustangs to punt.

In the final quarter the Panthers hit pay dirt with a 53 yard TD run by Aikman Elrod. Blanco converted the extra point and took the lead 7 to 6. Marble Falls ran into a fired up Panther defense on their last drive attempt, with Andrew Burgess knocking down a pass attempt, and Devlin Moore and Dru Ramirez making big tackles for losses. The Mustangs, however, converted first down attempts, and made it to the Panther 15 with less than 2 minutes remaining. Dylan Bates tackled a Mustang runner for a loss, and on the ensuing play Dylan hit the Mustang quarterback on a pass attempt causing a bad pass that was intercepted by McKay Adamson. The Panthers took over, and kneeled out the clock, taking the victory 7 to 6. The Panthers will now face the Wimberley Texan blue team this Saturday in Blanco for the North division championship, with kick off at 7:00pm. This will be the varsity teams first and only home game this season, and all Panther fans are encouraged to come and support the team.