By Airik Myers
The Seattle Medium
In our final regular season game of the week, we had a battle of highly talented teams. The CD Panthers visited the Seatac Sharks in a highly touted 12U matchup that was full of great offense, defense and special team play.
The first half was a defensive barrage for the Panthers. There were several tackles for a loss, sacks, fumbles, and pass break ups that were almost intercepted. Although the Sharks offense got into a groove and drove down the field, they were not able to put together a successful scoring possession against the Panthers defense.
The Panthers offense started rolling in the first quarter and didn’t stop for the rest of the game. Romari Fleeks started the scoring with a 5-yard touchdown run after being put in great field position by his team’s defense. But the Panthers showed that they were not just a rushing team, as they started to air out the ball in the second quarter to their dominate receiver, Jeremia White. After one great catch that forced the Sharks’ defense to respect the passing game, the Panthers offense continued to use the run game to march down the field. While at the 10-yard line, White made another spectacular catch, this time tipping the ball to himself for the touchdown to put the Panthers up 13 – 0.
The second half was the same as the first for the Panthers offense. It started off with a long touchdown run that felt as though it was a game breaker by Rasaan Thomas to open the third quarter.
The Panthers’ defense remained just as dominate for them as they were in the first half. The defensive line continued to shut down the run game of the Sharks, while the linebackers and defensive backs broke up pass after pass.
After a huge touchdown reception by Oteko Mwamba, the game looked out of reach for the Sharks. But after putting in extraordinary effort all day, Sharks QB/Running back Paris Sanders finally broke free for a last second 40-yard touchdown run to avoid the shutout.
Final CD Panthers 26, Seatac Sharks 8
