By Karrington Kincaid, The Seattle Medium
Sunday morning was very foggy entering the game of the week matchup between the 6U Heir team and the CD Panthers. The environment did not disappoint, as Chief Leschi Stadium was rocking, with tons of fans cheering for their respective teams. The CD Panthers were fresh off their 32-6 win last Saturday against the 5U Heir team, while the 6U Heir were coming off their 8-0 win against the 6U Tac City Bolts.
But despite the success both teams have had, there’s a little bit of a rivalry between these two specific teams, because the pathway to a championship in the 6U division appears to come through them. But the Panthers specifically are coming in with a big chip on their shoulder as they think they should be undefeated at this point.
“[This is] a team that should be undefeated,” said CD Panthers Field Manager Larry Evans, who believes that the game should be settled on the field without the influence of refs. “[Against Benson, the lone blemish on the 6U Panthers’ record], we had four touchdowns called back, and they only had, I believe, one, so there was a big disparity [of penalties] in that game.”
The 6U Heir head coach Bruce Stevens had other things in mind to slow down the high-powered Panthers.
“I predict my defense coming out ready to shut them down and coming out flying. You know swarming to the ball… I’m going to let my defense speak for themselves,” said Stevens.
The first half of the game was completely even for most of the series as both teams took huge blows against each other by fumbling the ball. Both teams had a total of two fumbles, with one being recovered by the opposition.
The opening drive for the Panthers looked promising. However, a fumble in the red zone that was recovered by Heir’s Sosaia Toutai quickly changed the momentum of the game. Heir would turn the fumble into points as they marched down the field and scored on a 5-yard touchdown run by King Holiwell, putting them up 6-0 after a failed extra-point attempt.
The CD Panthers responded by scoring a touchdown of their own, as James Nelson Jr. scored on a 35-yard run, tying the game at 6-6 with 4:11 to go to the half.
After a shaky start to their final possession before halftime, Heir would score on a 40-yard run by Holiwell, giving them a 12-6 lead after another failed extra-point attempt going into the half.
Despite being down going into halftime, CD Panther Coach Sharief Rodriguez was feeling good about his team’s performance.
“So far, it’s a solid game on both offense and defense,” said Rodriguez. “We’re doing pretty good, small mistakes here and there.”
At the beginning of the second half, the Panthers came out firing on all cylinders as they got a huge defensive stop with a forced fumble. This fired up the Panthers’ offense. Led by the physical running style of Syn’cere Williams and James Nelson, Jr., the Panthers chewed up as much of the clock as they could to wear down Heir’s defense.
With fourth and short on the goal line, the Panthers would fumble the ball, which ruined their chance of tying the game at 12-12. This missed opportunity turned into points for 6U Heir as they managed to get a long touchdown run by Holiwell late in the fourth quarter to seal the fate for the Panthers.
Heir would win the game 18-6 in a hard-fought battle against the CD Panthers.
Heir 6U Coach JU was very happy with the way his team played.
“Today was a great game on both sides,” said Coach JU. “The CD played us tough, our boys fought hard, I was proud of how the boys came out and played today. They played with a lot of confidence, and I’m just happy we got the win.”
Coach Stevens was also impressed by the performance.
“[It was a] good job on both sides of the ball,” said Stevens. “The game was a great competition for us, and we look forward to teams like CD, you know, you gotta love it.”
Heir 6U takes on the 0-5 6U Renton Rangers next Sunday at Chief Leschi Stadium at 9:00 A.M. As the CD Panthers prepare to take on the undefeated 6U 5 Star Cougars this upcoming Saturday at Foster High at 9:00 A.M.
