Lack of experience, not pickle juice subdues Parkway in 46-27 loss to Cavalry

- Josh Lozano reporting on the Panthers for JAWS.

The Parkway Panthers start their season with a copious amount of unanswered questions and their performance last Thursday at Jerry Barker Stadium didn’t help clear any of the questions up.  How good are they without Brandon Harris?  Can Parkway repeat the success they had last year? Who on the team is going to step up? Will Coach Feaster ever punt? While it’s hard to get a concrete answer to any of these questions, one thing is for certain after Parkway's 46-27 loss to Calvary--this is a talented, but extremely inexperienced football team.

Turnovers and severe cramping hampered Parkway all evening.  The Panthers turned the ball over seven times– two happening on huge potential scoring drives within Cavalries 10 yard line and dealt with several key players missing substantial time due to dehydration and cramping.  Despite these issues, Parkway managed to play extremely competitive as they were only down by 6 points early in the fourth quarter.   In the end, Calvary took advantage of the outstanding field position and play of highly-recruited standout QB Shea Patterson and RB Orlando Bradford to pull away from the Panthers.  Bradford’s 60-yard run late in the fourth quarter ended any hopes of a Panther comeback.  Calvary's Shun Brown also contributed three big TD receptions for the Cavs.

On a more positive note, the ceiling for this young, athletic Parkway squad is extraordinarily high. The Panthers marched down the field with little resistance on their opening drive highlighted by a 5-yard TD pass from Keondre Wudtee to Artavious Lynn. After Calvary answered back early in the 2nd quarter, Dante Williams came up with a huge special teams play blocking a Cavalier punt and recovering it in the end zone for a touchdown. Cavalry was gifted with great field position most of the night and at times threatened to blow the young Panthers out if it not for a string of gritty defensive stands that lead to a couple of three and outs.  Junior Semaj Tarver and seniors Hunter Huckaby and Dante Williams led the defensive stand for Parkway.  

Offensively, the few returning seniors on Parkway’s roster had a strong showing, from Jared Lancaster’s 83 yards receiving and a rushing touchdown, Stacy McCray’s 78-yard reception, Artavious Lynn momentum shifting 50-yard touchdown catch, and William (Boo) McKnight’s 68 yards rushing. With Parkway showing flashes of what they can accomplish, the thought of them as an unfinished product should bring concern to any team down the road.    

While Thursday’s game is going in as a loss on the stat sheet, Parkway is a much better team because of it. Next week, Parkway will take Marshall High School (TX), Saturday at Independence Stadium at the 4th annual Battle of the Border.