South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Football Panthers fall 40-21 to Kirkwood High

By STEPHEN GLOVER

For the Call

The Mehlville Senior High football team suffered another disappointment Friday, dropping a 40-21 decision to Kirkwood.

Despite the loss, the Panthers made some significant improvements in their running game as running backs Jeremy Doss and Rashad Wilson both had more than 100 yards rushing.

“We did a better job blocking,” Mehlville head coach Gary Heyde told the Call. “I thought we made some big improvements this week.”

The Panthers (0-6, 0-4 Suburban West) got onto the scoreboard early in the first quarter as wide receiver T.J. Brown caught a 69-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Kevin Mahler.

“Kevin did pretty good out there,” Heyde said. “He had two interceptions where the ball was in our hands and it bounced out for an interception.”

Kirkwood responded near the end of the first quarter as Jocelyn Jones scored on a four-yard run with 2:08 left to play. The Pioneers scored again in the second quarter as Mike McNeill hauled in a 67-yard pass from Marcus Harris with 11:47 left to play in the first half.

Kirkwood extended its lead to 21-7 when Jeremy Maclin snared a pass for an 89-yard touchdown interception with 8:59 remaining in the half. Jake Hilton added to Kirkwood’s lead with a 34-yard field goal at the 5:44 mark.

Mehlville finally responded to Kirk-wood’s scoring outburst with a two-yard touchdown run by Jeremy Doss.

“He’s a hard runner,” Heyde said. “I thought that he had another good game this week.”

Heyde was pleased with rushing efforts of Doss and Wilson, despite the loss.

“Rashad had a really good game,” Heyde said. “It was his best game of the year and I think his effort is beginning to pay off.”

After a field goal by Hilton with 50 seconds to play in the first half, Kirkwood scored again on a 52-yard interception for a touchdown by Delvon Adams with 9:31 left to play in the third quarter.

Doss scored again for Mehlville at the 11:57 mark in the fourth quarter to bring the score to 33-21.

But Kirkwood sealed the Panthers’ fate just two minutes later as Jocelyn Jones scored on a nine-yard touchdown run with 9:46 remaining.

The Panthers are back in action Friday when they travel to Marquette for a Suburban West Conference meeting with the Mustangs.

Marquette is currently 1-5 overall as the Mustangs are coming off a 42-14 win over Northwest.

“They (Marquette) run a wide-open styled offense,” Heyde explained. “So we’re going to have to contain their speed because their running back and quarterback are pretty fast.”

Mehlville’s game at Marquette begins at 7 p.m.

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