Special teams blunders don’t hinder Panthers

Friday night wasn’t Palo Verde’s best on special teams.

It didn’t matter.

Despite two miscues that led to 14 points for visiting Cimarron-Memorial, the Panthers were able to roll to a 42-20 win in the Sunset Region football quarterfinals.

Palo Verde (9-1) hosts Centennial (6-4) in the semifinals next Friday.

One of those big plays came on the opening kickoff when Cimarron’s Maurice Bennett returned the ball 74 yards to the Palo Verde 16. One play later, quarterback Derek Morefield connected with Bennett on a scoring strike to give Cimarron an early 6-0 lead.

“On special teams, we gave up a couple of big plays,” Palo Verde coach Darwin Rost said. “What I was impressed with was that (Sean) Dennis caught the kid and didn’t let them score. Of course, they scored on the next play, but he didn’t give up on the play.”

After the Panthers took a 14-6 lead midway through the second quarter, the second special teams blunder sparked the Spartans. Palo Verde couldn’t get out of the way of a short punt that bounced off the leg of a Panthers player. The Spartans recovered the football on the Panthers 4-yard line. Three plays later, Michael Barnson scored on a 2-yard run and converted the 2-point conversion to tie the score at 14.

The Spartans made a costly decision late in the first half. They got the ball at their own 16 and 1:37 on the clock, and opted to try and score instead of running out the clock with the game tied. Morefield was sacked on first down and then threw two incomplete passes. After a 25-yard Cimarron punt, Palo Verde drove 38 yards in the final 37.1 seconds of the half, scoring on a 16-yard pass from Parker Rost to Jake Ortale.

That score led to 21 Palo Verde points in a 5:33 span that turned a tie game into a blowout. Palo Verde scored on its first two possessions of the second half – a 32-yard run by Darrion Finn and a 1-yard run by Rost – to end the competitive phase of the game.

Senior running back Calvin Beaulieu led the Panthers on offense, rushing for 110 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries. Finn also ran for 104 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries.

“On offense, we executed and did some things,” Darwin Rost said. “We also had some good things happen in the passing game.”

Palo Verde’s defense also turned in a strong performance. The Panthers recorded four sacks and held Barnson – the area’s second-leading rusher who rushed for 1,354 yards in the regular season – to 52 yards on 19 carries.

“This was a tough win,” senior defensive tackle Michael Hughes said. “We did our best not to underestimate them. We didn’t play the way we wanted to, but we got the (win), which is what matters. We’ll be in film fixing every mistake we made.”

Hughes had a key sack late in the game.

“I need to keep my feet,” Hughes said. “This field is tore up right now. I need to work on myself. They got me in the beginning of the game with a trap play, but I didn’t let it happen again. I want to work on playing a perfect game, not just a good game.”

Bennett led the Spartans with two catches for 46 yards and two touchdowns. He also had two kickoff returns for 108 yards.