Sue Sitter/PCT Rugby’s Macen Heisler breaks free of DLB defenders to score Rugby’s only touchdown against the Lakers at Rugby’s Johnsen Field Sept. 10.

The Rugby Panthers have a two-win, two-loss record after a 22-6 defeat on their home turf at Johnsen Field against the Des Lacs-Burlington Lakers Sept. 10.

The two losses come from home games against Bishop Ryan and the Lakers, while the two wins come from away games at South Prairie and Stanley.

The Panthers’ ten seniors and their parents took center field before the game against DLB began. With their moods boosted by the cheering crowd, the Panthers welcomed back Brody Schneibel as their quarterback at the start of the game. Schneibel continued a pattern of relying on carries by rushers that had worked the week before in Stanley. The strategy seemed to pay off at the beginning.

Then, the first penalty of the game set the Panthers back ten yards for holding.

Still, Riley Tuenge, Kory Vetsch and Will Kuntz made steady progress, setting the stage for a Logan Harner rush that broke through a tackle into the end zone for the Panthers’ first and only TD.

Gains by the Panthers grew smaller in the second quarter. A first down by Vetsch failed to give the Panthers’ offense any more opportunities. The Lakers pushed the Panthers back with a defense that cut off passing opportunities. A desperate fourth-and-long pass by Schneibel gave the Lakers the ball at their own 20. The Panthers defense stayed tough, too, forcing a Laker punt minutes later.

The Panthers saw more small gains wiped out by the Lakers. After a Rugby punt to midfield, Lakers running back caught a Carson Yale pass at Rugby’s 20-yard line. Despite pressure from the Panthers, a handoff to running back Caleb Rist to the four-yard line set up a TD by Lakers wide receiver Rylan Olson for DLB’s first TD of the game. A two-handoff play by Paxton Ystaas put the Lakers ahead 8-6.

The Panthers stayed neck-and-neck with the Lakers early in the third quarter, however, ball carriers found themselves swarmed by Lakers, who broke up pass after pass as well. Vetsch came through for the Panthers on a fourth and five play when he faked a punt, handing the ball off to wide receiver Hudson Hooker instead for a first down.

Bright spots for the Panthers faded as the game went on. A Schneibel pass broken up by Rist, then a personal foul on the Panthers moved the ball closer to the Lakers’ goal. Fortunately, the Lakers caught a penalty of their own, which moved the ball back to midfield. Another pickoff, this time by Lakers tight end Chance Mikelson, came with a face mask penalty against the Panthers. Vetsch broke up Yale’s next pass before Foster gave the Panthers breathing room by picking Yale’s next pass off at the Panthers’ 10-yard line. An offensive holding call hurt efforts by Tuenge to carry the ball for the Panthers.

Two incomplete passes later, the Panthers punted. After a long carry, Rist received help from the Panthers when a defensive face mask penalty put the ball on Rugby’s eight-yard line. Next, Rist ran around a wall of Panther defenders for another Laker TD. A second two-point attempt for the Lakers failed.

A rush by Heisler gave the Panthers a first down and sparked hopes to get a drive going for a TD of their own. Two more carries failed to give the Panthers the yards they needed. An attempted lateral from Schneibel to Tuenge resulted in a fumble. The Lakers took over on the Panthers’ 20-yard line. Slowed by the Panthers, the Lakers called timeout on their fourth down with the ball just four yards from the goal. After connecting a pass to Mikelson, Yale handed the ball to Rist for another Lakers TD. A two-point conversion attempt succeeded. The Lakers went home with the 22-6 win just over two minutes later.

“We keep hurting ourselves,” Panthers’ Head Coach Travis Risovi said after the game. “We keep making mistakes at times we can’t do it and it’s cost us a couple of games now. We’ve got to make plays when they’re there for us.”

“We just can’t get behind the chains,” Risovi said of the game’s scarce first downs. “We have to stay ahead of them, second and six, 3rd and two is good. We get behind the chains on offense and that cost us a little bit. That’s not where we want to be on offense.”

“Defensively, we just wore down a little bit and they put a couple of players in there late and that was the difference,” Risovi said.

Risovi said Schneibel “did a nice job” on his return to football.

“Brody’s a little rusty. He did a nice job. He looked at the right reads. He played hard and got after it,” Risovi said. “He’s going to get better each night. He hadn’t done anything in the past six or seven months. He did just fine. He’ll come around.”

The Panthers would next face the Velva/Garrison Aggies in Velva Sept. 17. “They’re picked to be the favorite in the region,” Risovi said of the Aggies. “They’re sitting at three and 0 right now. They’re a really nice team. We’re going to have to go and get after it and take care of business. We’re going to have to clean up a few things and play well.”

On Sept. 24, the Panthers return to Johnsen Field against Westhope/Newburg/Glenburn. The game will cap off homecoming week, but it will be no reason for the Panthers to let their guard down. “Our region is really pretty tight, especially in the top middle section. It’s going to be a dog fight and we’re going to have to fight our way through it to make a playoff spot,” Risovi said.