For the second straight week, the North Platte football team (3-4) put up a fight early against one of the top teams in the KCI Conference but ultimately fell short as Lawson (5-2) won 45-12 on Oct. 7.
The Cardinals – who are a class above the Panthers, being in Class 2 – entered the contest with two straight victories where their defense only allowed 12 total points, but North Platte put that many points on the scoreboard in the opening quarter. While Lawson went up 7-0 in the first 1:55 of the contest, the Panthers responded with two straight touchdowns.
Colton Kirkham got the scoring surge started with a 3-yard rushing touchdown but the point after touchdown was unsuccessful. Liam Servaes also bullied his way into the end zone – with another failed Panther 2-point conversion in the aftermath – to put North Platte up 12-7.
Corbin Britting rushed for 31 yards on three attempts in North Platte’s 45-12 loss to Lawson on Oct. 7.
Things started going downhill for North Platte after taking a 5-point lead with 6:19 left in the first quarter. Lawson regained a 14-12 lead in the period and rattled off 20 unanswered points in the second quarter to lead 34-12 at the break.
The Panthers were unable to add to the scoreboard after the opening six minutes of the contest and the Cardinals put the game away with a pair of second half touchdowns to come out with a 33-point victory. The North Platte offense struggled as Kirkham had three interceptions and only completed two of his six pass attempts for 44 yards, but the junior had a solid day on the ground as he ran for 67 yards – 25 of which were after contact – on 12 carries.
Corbin Britting had three rushes for 31 yards and Servaes ended with 58 rushing yards and a touchdown on 10 attempts. On defense, Kirkham and Jaxson Carpenter both pulled down an interception, while Chance Garber had a team-high eight tackles and two tackles for loss.
The loss bumped North Platte down from the No. 3 seed to the No. 4 seed in the Class 1 District 8 seedings as West Platte (3-4) currently overtakes the No. 3 spot. The Panthers and Blue Jays are huge rivals – with the winner of each year’s contest getting to hold bragging rights to ‘battle of the tobacco stick” – and the tight district seedings make the regular season matchup even more pivotal.
West Platte has won the last two matchups against North Platte by an average of 38 points, but this is the first time the squads have identical records heading into the game since they were both 1-4 in 2018 when the Panthers won 18-14. West Platte will host the high stakes contest on Oct. 14 at 7 p.m.