West Park can't capitalize on chances, loses to Reed

A 42-35 loss to Reed hurt the West Park Panthers and hopefully it helped teach a lesson to the Panthers as well. The Panthers, 1-3 on the season, fell behind 21-7 after the first quarter and trailed 35-13 at halftime, thanks in part to some team discipline that had nine players sitting out various lengths of time. When most of those players returned in the second half, West Park picked up its play and outscored Reed 22-7 in the second half, but in the end the Panthers came up seven points short. "We suspended nine kids to start the game and we dug ourselves a whole," West Park coach Jason Tenner said. "We will continue to do the right thing at West Park. I hope those kids learned a lesson. I'm proud of the effort as we climbed back into it. The kids played hard." Isaiah King scored his first varsity touchdown on 59-yard touchdown pass from Jaden Jackson to tie the game at seven before Reed scored 28 unanswered points. Declan Shindelbower scored on a one-yard plunge late in the first half to make the scored 35-13 at halftime. West Park scored twice in the third quarter; the first time on a 10-yard run by Shindelbower and the second on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Jackson to Abe Hunter that brought the score to within a eight points, 35-27, with a quarter to play. West Park had the ball at the Reed one-yard line with eight minutes to play on first down and couldn't punch it in on three run plays. A penalty moved them back to the six-yard line and a fourth-down pass was incomplete. While the West Park defense continued to play well, the offense, led by Jackson (257 yards passes, 2 TDs) and Shindelbower, who gained 128 yards on 28 carries, marched down the field and scored on a 10-yard run from Jackson with 1:29 to play in the game. The ensuing two-point conversion from Jackson to Jack Lynch tied the game at 35. West Park, unfortunately, couldn't stop Reed, as a 15-yard personal-foul penalty saw Reed with the ball near midfield and with plenty of time. A circle pass to the running back out of the backfield and two missed tackles by West Park had Reed with the ball at the one-yard line and they scored on the next play with 38 seconds to play. West Park moved the ball to near midfield, but an interception on the last play ended their chances. "We've lost three one-score games because we can't execute in the red zone," Tenner said. "We can't win games if we can't execute in the red zone."