Panther freshmen win home opener

The Creston/O-M football team improved to 2-0 Friday night with a 38-12 victory over Atlantic.

Owen Henderson opened the scoring for the Panthers with an interception returned for a touchdown.

Gannon Greenwalt had three touchdowns including a 75-yard kickoff return and two rushing touchdowns of 15 and 6 yards. Noah Felix caught a 36-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Strider for the other Panther score. Strider ran for a pair of two-point conversions and passed to Henderson and Trey Chesnut for two other conversions.

Strider ended the night 11 of 17 passing for 154 yards and one touchdown. Felix had two catches for 74 yards, Greenwalt had two receptions for 39 yards and Chesnut caught five passes for 34 yards. Having one catch each for short yardage were Garret Fry and Carter Henderson.

Greenwalt carried the ball eight times for 50 yards and Cade Wurster totaled 92 yards on three attempts.

Austin Seaton led the Panther defense with seven tackles. Other leading tacklers were Andre Davis and Payton Conley with four each, and Ty Morrison, Owen Henderson, Kyle Strider and Greenwalt with three each. Wurster, Greenwalt and Davis each had one quarterback sack and Henderson had the team’s only interception. Payton Conley, Seaton and Davis each recovered a fumble.

“It was great to get a win in our first home game of the year,” said Creston/O-M coach Kevin Cooper. “Our defense played great all night and put our offense in good position. We have to clean up some simple things on offense to be more effective as we progress throughout the year.”