The remarkable turnaround from two consecutive winless seasons to an above .500 record finally came to a close when the North Platte football team (6-5) fell to Mid-Buchanan (10-1) 41-6 in the Class 1 District 8 Semifinals on Nov. 4.
North Platte quarterback Colton Kirkham throws under pressure by Mid-Buchanan junior Jackson Wahlgren in the second quarter of the Panthers 41-6 postseason loss to Mid-Buchanan on Nov. 4.
A 75-yard touchdown run by Mid-Buchanan quarterback Xavier Arambula on the first play from scrimmage set the tone for the postseason contest with the North Platte offense failing to put any points on the board on the night. After Arambula rushed in for a 10-yard score to push the lead to two possessions, North Platte junior Jaxson Carpenter returned the ensuing kick 80 yards to the house for a special teams touchdown to cut the deficit to 14-6 with 4:24 left in the first quarter.
Mid-Buchanan scored the next 27 points of the contest – heading into the locker room with a 20-6 lead and leading 34-6 after three quarters – to come out with a comfortable postseason win. The Dragons have advanced to their fifth district championship game in the last six years and took advantage of a short-handed North Platte squad that was without lead running back Liam Servaes who was out due to an injury.
While the historical season came to an end in the second postseason game, the Panthers made huge strides and accomplishments. Ahead of winning the road opener 20-0 against Maysville with Winston (4-6) on Sept. 2, North Platte had lost its last 23 games but used that victory as the first of six throughout the season.
Winning football games had been few and far between for the past decade, but the first year under head coach Jared Quigley was different. In the prior four years from 2018 to 2021, the Panthers only won six games – which they matched with this season alone – while losing 35 of them in that stretch.
Four of the five teams that North Platte lost to this season have won a double-digit amount of games and are currently still alive and will be playing in district championship games on Nov. 11. Gallatin with Tri-County (10-0), East Buchanan (10-1), Lawson (7-4) and Mid-Buchanan – who beat North Platte once in the regular season and once in the postseason – were the only opponents that the Panthers came short of defeating this fall.
Many of the players who suited up for a game this year had never experienced a varsity victory, yet they were able to put together a pair of two and three-game winning streaks this year. The Panthers were peaking at the right time – winning five of their last seven games ahead of the postseason loss to Mid-Buchanan – but were unable to take down one of the most respectable programs in the area in the Class 1 District 8 Semifinals.
Some accomplishments that the Panthers achieved in 2022 were winning a postseason game for the first time since 2018 and putting together more than one win in a row for the first time since 2019, along with finishing in the top-4 of the KCI Conference and being a top-3 seed in districts for the first time in more than a decade. Quigley helped bring North Platte back to relevancy with six talented seniors – Kaden Mullendore, Jayce Gibson, Will McCracken, Seth Cruz, Ian Bledsoe and Dylan Walker – and will look to keep the strong play going into year two next fall.