“Our team needs to play with a lower pad level and keep our feet moving on contact,” Coach Jeff Koenig said of what was necessary following a loss to Durand this past Friday. “ Defensively we need to tackle better. The kick return was called back late in the game due to an illegal block on the return.”

As things happened, early hopes of victory evaporated last Friday night, with the Stanley- Boyd Orioles racking up their first loss of the season against Durand. The final score was 47 – 20 in Durand’s favor. Prior to game start a moment of silence was held for Don Halterman Jr. along with Durand football player Gabriel Sabelko, who died unexpectedly on August 4 in Eau Galle, at home. Durand football team members wore a number 27 in honor of their deceased teammate, remembered for his sports passion.

Coming out of the gate at 7 p.m., the game kickoff by Durand was returned to the 26-yard line by the Orioles before being turned over to Durand at the Oriole 20-yard line, a harbinger of things to come. With 10 minutes and five seconds still on the first quarter game clock, Durand scored its first touchdown, bringing the score 6 – 0 in Durand’s favor. Following quickly with a two-point conversion via up the middle run that was ruled good by the referees on site, the Panthers widened their scoring advantage to 8 – 0 against the Stanley-Boyd Orioles. With some push back from Stanley-Boyd, it all but set the theme for the night.

Following another kickoff from Durand, Cooper Nichols of Stanley-Boyd returned the ball to the 23-yard line for the Orioles, the band playing “Dynamite” and a girls cheer section on the front railing—mirroring a largely male cheering section in the girls volleyball bleachers against Spencer, cheered their team on. Across the way, meanwhile, Durand had its own girls cheer section, while a light drizzle from above made the night somewhat hazardous for electronics, moisture clinging to many a surface.

With a turnover that followed a short gain at the 45-yard line, it wasn’t long before “first and goal” was announced for the Panthers, the score shortly changing to 14 – 0, with an extra twopoint conversion bringing the Panther lead to 16 – 0. Meanwhile, there was Oriole pushback.

Pressing their case and marching to the goal line, the first chance for an Oriole turn around came with just three minutes and four seconds left in the first quarter, with Landon Karlen and Lucas Smith making it to the end zone, with a following field goal kick by Mike Karlen setting the score board at 16 – 7 in the Orioles favor.

Later during the second quarter, an end zone run by Brady Potaczek for the Orioles brought things even closer to 16 – 13 with Durand in the lead, while the failed two point conversion following left the score where it sat. Before long, it was time for announcing the ticket holder with a chance at $2,500 from Forward Financial, the ticket number in question being 9810484.

As it turned out at halftime, Eric Couillard with children attending Stanley-Boyd almost made it into the barrel from the 15-yard line for the win, but ultimately fell short—better luck next year.

As to the Junior Class raffle, the winning ticket for the game against Durand was 434873, the holder eligible to collect $145 “American dollars,” as the announcer put it.

Returning to game play after the half, Durand continued to expand its lead to an insurmountable 47 total points on the scoreboard, while an end zone run by Brady Potaczek almost scored a touchdown, but for a flag on the play.

“Potaczek returns the ball for a touchdown, but there’s a flag on the play,” the announcer made known. With an illegal block on the return, the kick was called back and touchdown not counted.

With the Oriole’s Matt Mahr taking the ball all the way to the end zone with just one minute and thirty-five seconds left in the fourth quarter and a follow-up kick by Karlen being declared good, the final score for Friday night’s faceoff with Durand at Oriole Park came back as 47 to 20 in the Panther’s favor—and that was that, for the football game.

The Stanley-Boyd Orioles varsity is next scheduled to play against Fall Creek at Fall Creek High School September 10, with kickoff starting at 7 p.m.

Jacob Nesterick (30) gets up from a tackle Friday night at Oriole Field, as Tate Derks (63), Aiden Mahr, and Ben Millsen (52) walk in the background. Photo by Joseph Back.