By Airik Myers
The Seattle Medium
In a battle of unbeaten teams, this week’s game of the week featured the Seatac Sharks visiting the CD Panthers in a highly touted 12u matchup. This was a gritty defensive game full of tough tackling and spectacularly forced turnovers. The Sharks opened up the scoring in the first quarter as Isendre “Papa” Ahfua stormed down the field on several powerful runs, dragging and running over defenders, that eventually led to a 6-yard touchdown run by Leilani “Stitch” Savelio. The offensive line was huge on the drive, playing nearly perfect together, completing several pancake blocks and creating huge holes for their running backs.
After an extra point run by quarterback EJ Caminong, Jr., the Sharks were up 7-0 in the first quarter. The first half ended with a few more big runs and plays by both the Panthers and the Sharks, but ultimately, no one scored again until the third quarter. This time, the Panthers scored on a 25-yard touchdown catch by Angelo “Angry Bird” Wilson, and with the extra point run by Jermaine Matthews the game was tied 7-7.
In response, the Sharks opened up the 4th quarter with a 65-yard touchdown run by Quiten Chandler, Jr. Although the extra point was no good, the Sharks went up 13-7.
With some gritty defensive stops, and some errors on the Panthers part, the Sharks got the ball back, and they went back to what worked. Chandler again had another huge touchdown run, this time for 35 yards to put the Sharks up 19-7. With an extra point attempt by “Papa” the Sharks put this game out of reach. The Panthers had some good moves on their final drive of the game, but ultimately a turnover to the hungry Sharks defense sealed the deal. With some solid gains on offense to run out the clock, the Sharks held on to with the game. Final score Seatac Sharks 20, CD Panthers 7.
After the game, the Seatac Sharks coach had this to say about his team’s performance against the Panthers.
“We executed our game plan to run the ball on offense with good tempo,” said the coach after the game. “Our offensive line played well throughout the game and our backfield kept pounding the rock.”
The coach was also excited about the way his team played on defense, including having four takeaways on the day.
“We just played aggressive and tenacious defense,” said the coach. “Hats off to our defensive coaches and their game plan going into the game. Four takeaways, three of them being interceptions is something we are very proud of. CD played us tough as they always do, we have nothing but love for their program.”
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