It’s been a while since the North Platte football team (5-4) finished the regular season with a winning season - 11 years - but that changed after the Panthers took down Lathrop (2-7) 36-14 on Oct. 20.
Following two winless seasons, the Panthers are in uncharted territory as they head into the postseason above .500 and as the No. 3 seed in the Class 1 District 8 Tournament. In 2012, North Platte finished regular season play 5-5 before losing its first postseason game with 2011 being the last time it finished above .500; being 6-4 when the season concluded.
North Platte senior Kaden Mullendore brings in a 37-yard touchdown catch with 1:33 left in the first half of the Panthers 36-14 win over Lathrop on Oct. 20.
“It’s a really exciting deal, we talked about it last week and again this week,” North Platte head coach Jared Quigley said. “This is a historical season for us, and our kids have really bought in to what the coaches are trying to create in our culture; just believing in themselves and now we’re kind of getting to that belief that we can play with just about anyone.”
The Panthers haven’t had much postseason success in recent years, but they’re in position to potentially change that when they host a district game for the first time since 2019 on Oct. 28. In the past, North Platte has struggled to put points on the board consistently, let alone win games, but this year’s squad has looked recharged and renewed in the first year under Coach Quigley.
“We’ve really focused in on our execution. Earlier in the season, we were having some penalties and some mistakes that really hurt us – especially offensive turnovers – and the defense was giving up big plays and we’ve eliminated some of that in our game, which has made a big turnaround for us,” Quigley said.
In the most recent contest, the Panthers stepped onto the field with a 4-4 record against a Lathrop squad that they hadn’t beaten since Sept. 24, 2010. Due to ref shortages, North Platte played on a Thursday and not a Friday when it not only earned one more tally in the win column than the losing column, but also snapped an 11-game losing streak to the Mules.
“I told them playing on Thursday night changes our work week a little bit. We had to bring the boys in on Sunday and it kind of threw them off our normal weekly routine, but they did a good job of adapting to that, executing it and being well prepared for tonight,” Quigley said.
The Panthers struck first in the game on a 5-yard rushing touchdown by Liam Servaes with 30 seconds left in the opening quarter to take a 6-0 lead. The Mules took a 7-6 lead with 1:56 left in the half but the lead was short-lived.
On the first play of the Panther drive, Colton Kirkham kept the ball on a read option and rushed for a 43-yard gain. In the next play, Kirkham connected with Kaden Mullendore for a 37-yard score and Servaes rushed in for the 2-point conversion to give North Platte a 14-7 margin with 1:33 left.
“They’re resilient; I think after last week that really showed how resilient our team can be, bouncing back from adverse situations. “In the first quarter and first half, we still had some problems executing in the red zone, and then we came out and just dominated in the second half,” Quigley said.
North Platte put the game away in the second half, starting with a 1-yard rushing touchdown by Servaes with 5:02 left in the third quarter but Lathrop responded with a passing touchdown in the final two minutes, cutting the lead to 22-14. North Platte shut out its opponent for the rest of the way, outscoring Lathrop 14-0 in the process.
Kirkham ran in for a 6-yard score to start the fourth quarter and the Panthers ran a special 2-point conversion play to let senior lineman Seth Cruz cross the plain to push the lead to 30-14. Servaes found the end zone for the third time with 5:41 remaining in the contest and the Panthers walked away with a dominant 36-14 victory on senior night.
“At halftime, we talked about just limiting our mistakes, taking care of the ball, when we’re in the red zone and our defense. We had four takeaways and I always tell them if we can get five takeaways, we can win a ball game, so they did a really good job just executing in the second half and just owning up to the challenge,” Quigley said.
North Platte heads into the postseason with a home matchup against Carrollton (1-8) on Oct. 28. With a win, the Panthers will head to Mid-Buchanan (8-1) or host Polo (2-7) on Nov. 1.