In the aftermath of a gritty 18-7 win, senior Seth Cruz lifted the tobacco stick surrounded by the North Platte football team (4-4) towards the crowd as the Panthers earned bragging rights over West Platte (3-5) on the gridiron for the first time since 2019 on Oct. 14.
It has become a tradition for the two rivals that the winner of the annual regular season matchup would be rewarded the ‘tobacco stick’ after the game finishes. Considering the Panthers entered this year with two straight winless seasons, it had been a few years since North Platte beat West Platte, but that changed in the most recent matchup under first year head coach Jared Quigley.
“Coming in, I knew some of the tradition behind the stick and the boys have been really excited about getting the opportunity to play at West Platte,” Quigley said. “Coach (Newsted) does a great job, and his guys play hard so we knew that this was going to be a battle after watching them and how they went toe-to-toe with Lathrop last week.”
North Platte senior Seth Cruz (#58) holds the Tobacco Stick alongside his teammates after the Panthers defeated West Platte 18-7 in the Blue Jays senior night on Oct. 14.
It was a highly penalized game, with both squads being flagged numerous times on the night. West Platte was called for 11 penalties for the loss of 85 yards and North Platte had 13 flags for 140 yards lost.
“I think we relied a lot on our resiliency. We had a lot of situations that were kind of on us, so I’m proud of my boys on how they just bounced back from those tough situations and rose up to finish the game off,” Quigley said.
The Blue Jays had two crucial offensive penalties in the opening drive – a pair of consecutive false starts – to stall the series, which resulted in a punt. North Platte marched down the field and Liam Servaes ran in from 18-yards out with 6:35 left in the first quarter to take a 6-0 lead after the failed 2-point try.
The Panthers’ offense struggled to take care of the football at times and had short series as West Platte had 47 first half plays and North Platte only had 15 plays. The Blue Jays also had offensive struggles, consistently putting up solid drives deep into Panther territory but failing to get any points out of it.
“I knew we’d have a rough time running the ball against their big line of scrimmage and tough linebackers,” West Platte head coach Jim Newsted said. “After last week’s success in the gun against Lathrop, the decision was made that we had to exploit the passing game against a Panther team that has struggled defending the pass, but we came up short too many times in the red zone.”
Twice in the first quarter, West Platte passed the 50-yard line and failed to convert on 4th and short situations. After turning the ball over on a 4th and five midway through the opening period, West Platte forced a fumble by Servaes on the Panthers’ first play of the next series and Afton Buckler recovered it.
West Platte failed to get on the scoreboard after the fumble and North Platte started the second quarter backed up deep in its own territory after an offensive pass interference penalty. On a 3rd and 21 at the North Platte 24-yard line, Colton Kirkham connected with Kaden Mullendore on a tunnel screen and the senior wideout took it the distance, but Dylan Armstrong’s extra point kick was no good and the Panthers led 12-0.
West Platte’s Afton Buckler (#15) recovers a fumble in the first quarter as the Blue Jays recovered three Panther fumbles on senior night at West Platte High School.
“Our challenge coming into this game was to set the tone. Our defense can be pretty salty when we take care of our jobs and we play really disciplined football in that first half and they did a great job even when their backs were against the wall,” Quigley said.
North Platte had three defensive personal foul penalties on the ensuing drive and the Blue Jays got all the way to the 1-yard line but were called for a pre-snap illegal procedure before 4th down. With a chance to score a touchdown, West Platte quarterback Kane Cogan was sacked on 4th and goal by Chance Garber and the Panthers came up with a big stop.
“It was just a hard-nosed football game; our kids showed up tonight and I’m very proud of how they played. Our philosophy is make them snap it again so they just kept doing that and the defense played a great game,” Quigley said.
West Platte picked it up in the closing minutes of the first half, with Lane Scott sacking Kirkham on 3rd down with right under four minutes to play to force a punt. The Blue Jays converted on two 3rd downs and one 4th down, but an offensive holding penalty made it 4th and 16 with under 20 seconds left and West Platte turned it over on downs and headed into the locker room with a 12-0 deficit.
“We knew we had to be solid on both the run and the pass tonight and that it would be a tall task to do both. I thought we would handle their running game and struggle with their passing game coming into the game, but the opposite came to light,” Newsted said.
North Platte started the second half at midfield after recovering an onside kick attempt, but Kirkham had a fumble and the Blue Jays recovered. With right under two minutes to play in the third quarter and facing a 3rd and 19 from the 22-yard line, Cogan had an impressive pass over the Panthers’ defenders and into Xavier Reynolds’ hands in the end zone, cutting the lead to 12-7.
With the game coming down to the wire, North Platte punted and West Platte turned it over on downs before Scott came up with a big defensive play. He forced the third North Platte fumble of the night, recovered it and gave the Blue Jays an opportunity to take the lead.
“I thought we had a chance midway through the fourth after Lane (Scott) wrapped up the quarterback in the backfield and basically just took the ball out of his hands, but we came up short on the drive on 4th and two when a shovel pass was dropped by Afton (Buckler). From there, the Panthers used the great field advantage and the momentum to score their final touchdown and put the game out of reach for the Blue Jays,” Newsted said.
North Platte junior Liam Servaes (#25) runs past West Platte’s Dalton Woodward (#10) and Ayden Dowd (#26) for the first of two rushing touchdowns in the Panthers 18-7 win on Oct. 14.
Servaes came up clutch down the stretch, running in for a 16-yard touchdown with 6:31 to play and giving the Panthers a two-possession lead. The senior also intercepted Cogan with 1:34 left and North Platte was able to run the clock out to secure the victory and bring home the tobacco stick.
“I feel bad for our seniors; they played their tails off on senior night and overcame adversity throughout the night to put themselves in a situation to win and maintain the tobacco stick. In the end, we just had too many mistakes that killed too many drives,” Newsted said.
Servaes ended the night with 199 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, while Kirkham had 54 rushing yards and 76 passing yards. Garber had 11 tackles along with two sacks and three tackles for loss.
Scott led the Blue Jays with 10 tackles and two sacks, along with a stripped and recovered fumble. Cogan finished the night with 21 completions on 39 attempts with 185 total yards as Peyson Chandler led the receiving corps with 10 catches for 87 yards.
The victory put North Platte in third place in the Class 1 District 8 standings and West Platte has been bumped down to the No. five seed. To close out the regular season, the Panthers will host Lathrop (2-6) on Oct. 20 and the Blue Jays head to Penny (3-5) on Oct. 21.