The rally gives hope for better things ahead

By Rex Kirts

Losing to Bedford is a rare event for South's football team, which the Panthers did in their season opener, 29-27, in overtime Friday night at Fred Huff Field.
It continued an unwelcome trend of home losses. Last year the Panthers dropped all their home contests.
South took a long time to get untracked but came from two touchdowns back with under 10 minutes remaining to force overtime. If the Panthers can build on that rally they have a chance to be competitive the rest of the season.
"We just ran out of time," Kirk Kennedy told the team in his South debut. "We didn't accomplish our goal, but I liked the fight."
Kennedy has said the scoreboard doesn't define his team, effort does. Effort was good in the fourth quarter, and more of that is needed the rest of the game.
"THEY MADE ONE more play than we did," Kennedy said, referring to the winning two-point conversion in overtime. "We fought back. We didn't lose our composure, didn't panic. We did a lot of good things."
He saw the same thing on tape that he saw from the sidellines.
"Consistency," Kennedy said, meaning it wasn't there. "Missed opportunities - we had field position. We've got to get to the point where we're not beating ourselves."
There were mistakes that he was surprised at, such as errors in blocking, and he said the Panthers need to develop better pracitce behavior, be more consistent and finish these games."
The Panthers had little explosion the first half. Tailback Trae Washington's running led them to their first touchdown and a 7-6 lead in the second quarter, but they squandered numerous good field positions.
"We just need to get out of our own way," Kennedy said.
The same thing lack of punch happened to start the third quarter, denying them the chance to take control of the game. It was BNL which asserted itself to take a 21-7 lead with 9:14 left in the fourth quarter.
"I DON'T KNOW (why South was so sluggish the first three quarters)," junior quarterback Michael Bower said. Bower ran for three touchdowns and passed to Lucas Franz for another for a pretty good start to his season.
Whatever didn't motivate the Panthers exited after they fell behind 21-7. They came out determined and in a sharp drive covered 64 yards for a TD that included a 23-yard pass to Franz and the running of Keith Bunton.
Bower was 4 for 10 for 71 yards for the game, all complettions going to Franz. Bunton was the rushing leader, carrying 23 times for 70 yards.
With 4:17 left, South's Trevor Phipps recovered an onside kickoff after Derek Murphy knocked a potential BNL recoverer away from the ball.
The game-tying drive went 55 yards. The key play was a 4th-and-5 pass from Bower to Franz for 16 yards and a first down at the BNL 23. With 0:42 left Bower completed a 10-yard TD pasas to Franz to knot the score at 21-all.
Bedford scored first in the overtime and ran it in for the two-point PAT. On South's first play BOWER KEPT on a sweep around left end for a touchdown, but his fade pass to Franz on the PAT was batted away.
Asked what got the Panthers out of their funk in the fourth quarter, Bower said, "We work hard, and we're in condition. We have heart."
The Panthers have lots to improve. Blocking assignments much be firmed up, and the defense needs to stiffen inside. The next chance to accomplish those goals is Friday at Martinsville, a 31-6 winner over Terre Haute South in its opener.