The Ellsworth Community College football team fought back from a 35-13 halftime deficit in Saturday's game against Coffeyville Community College, but ended up just inches shy of the goal line in a hard-fought 49-48 loss.
The Panthers' Sept. 3 battle against 6th ranked Coffeyville Community College nearly resulted in an incredible upset. ECC had tied it up early on in the first quarter but were unable to stop Coffeyville's offense from scoring four more touchdowns in the first half. ECC's two touchdowns in the first half of the game were from a five-yard run from Xavier Washpun and a 47-yard pass from JuJuan Young-Battle to Jaleel Scott.
The second half of the game belonged to the Panthers, who held Coffeyville to only two touchdowns while the Panthers scored on a 37-yard pass from Young-Battle to Jerry Jones, a six-yard pass to Johnathan Boone, a two-yard run by Young-Battle, a 28-yard pass to Boone, and a three-yard run by Washpun. Koddy Hildreth added four extra points to the Panthers' impressive scoring bonanza but missed a crucial extra point late in the game.
ECC scored its final touchdown with just seconds left in the game to pull within one, 49-48. They decided to risk it all and go for the win instead of taking it into overtime, but came up just inches short on the two-point conversion.
Young-Battle threw for a total of 336 yards and 4 TD's in the game. Boone led the Panthers with 124 yards receiving and 2 TD's, followed closely by Scott (only one yard behind) at 123 yards and 1 TD. Washpun led ECC in rushing with 192 yards and 2 TD's.
The Panthers will be on the road for their next two games with Garden City Community College on Saturday, Sept. 12, at 1 pm and Highland Community College in Kansas on Saturday, Sept. 19, at 1 pm.