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

Junior Billikens roll over Mehlville Panthers

The Mehlville Senior High School football team took a hard hit last weekend as the Panthers’ three-game winning streak was snapped and they lost their first district game to SLUH 38-0.

Panthers head coach Eric Meyer was disappointed with his team’s performance and the outcome of the game.

“Poor execution on our part. They didn’t play very well, ” he said. “We didn’t run the ball well. We didn’t throw the ball well. We didn’t tackle very well. Really we didn’t do much well. It was a rough one.”

Mehlville quarterback Jeff White was shut down by SLUH’s defense as he threw for just 22 yards on four completions in 12 attempts. The rushing game also was silent as the Panthers rushed for just 56 yards in 18 attempts in the game.

The scoring was all SLUH and all up front as the Junior Billikens scored 17 points in the first quarter and 21 in the second quarter — all 38 points before halftime.

SLUH’s Terek Hawkins was all over the place, scoring four touchdowns while Mitch Klug had one.

The Panthers were able to hold back the very potent SLUH offense in the second half, but were not able create much offense.

Losing the first district game puts Mehlville in a hole that may be close to impossible to escape.

Mehlville (4-4) is in a district with Lindbergh (5-3), SLUH (5-3) and De Smet (7-1). The teams play against each other in the last three games of the season. The top two teams with the best record in district play will advance into sectionals.

The Panthers most likely would have to beat Lindbergh next week and De Smet in the last game. Even though the Panthers have the talent to beat these two teams on any given night, the odds are against them but everyone will be hungry for it.

Meyer said he knows it won’t be easy, but he hopes his Panthers give themselves a chance.

“It’s very difficult right now. What we’re looking at is to try to find a way to get ready for next week’s game and you have to win the next one to even worry about that,” Meyer said of making the playoffs. “That’s what we’ll do. We’ll work on this one first. You can’t look past them. Lindbergh is a very good football team.”

He also said his squad will do what it takes to compete until the very end.

“We’ve got to really grind it out here and find a way,” he said.

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