After practices and several close losses the Ellsworth Community College football team put it all together this past Saturday when they took home their first win of the season with a 27-21 victory over College of DuPage.

The Panthers first touchdown of the game came in the first quarter with a 13-yard pass from Josh Shim (Atlanta, GA) to Jaylan Scott (Chicago, IL). "This was really exciting to see," commented ECC Head Coach Tony Haynes. "We just moved Jaylan up and he is already contributing to the team."

ECC had one more touchdown in the first half with a five-yard touchdown from Byron Jarrett (Des Moines, IA) to Luke McCall (Zirconia, NC). This was McCall's first touchdown of the season. The Panthers went into half up 17-14.

They would come out and make one more touchdown in the game with a 11-yard pass from Shim to Tariq Young (Lakeland, FL) which proved enough for the Panthers to come out with the 27-21 victory.

Kicker Adijan Muhamedjic (Waterloo, IA) had a perfect game, going 2 for 2 in field goals and 3 for 3 with extra points.

Shim started for the Panthers at quarterback. He had seen some time earlier in the season but this was his first start of the year. He had 158 yards in the game and two touchdowns. Byron Jarrett (Des Moines, IA) had 29 yards and one touchdown for ECC.

Marquis Mickens (Orlando, FL) led the team in rushing with 123 yards. Young was leading receiver for ECC with 78 yards including one touchdown.

The Panther defense held DuPage to three touchdowns with only one in the second half. Ali Shockley (Rock Hills, SC) led the defense in tackles for the Panthers with twelve including two tackles for a loss. Marchalo Judge (Tampa, FL) had a big game for ECC picking up three interceptions and returning the ball for 56 yards. He also had six tackles and one tackle for a loss. Sam Cirksena (Cedar Falls, IA), Sam Gerst (Waterloo, IA), Lawson Cook (Dacula, GA), Isaiah Childs (Greenwood, MO), Roland Williams (Memphis, TN), and Ernest Austin (Rockford, IL) each had a tackle for a loss.

The Panthers will return home Saturday, Oct. 6 to play in their first conference game of the season against Iowa Western Community College with kickoff at 2:30 pm.