Ellsworth Community College returned to Cadet Field on Saturday after a four game road trip. The Panthers faced rivals Iowa Central Community College and fell 51-6 as the Tritons won the ICCAC title.
In the opening half, the Panthers (1-7, 0-2) had no response to Triton signal caller Demarcus Irons. He was 15 of 19 for 297 yards and three touchdowns – two of which went to Jason Young.
Partway through the second quarter, it was a 10-0 ICCC (5-4, 2-0) lead. On second and five from the 50, Mychael Hamilton broke free and found pay dirt – scoring ECC's first touchdown in nine quarters of play. The Panthers missed the extra point, making it 10-6.
ECC's defense set up third and 16 but a 29 yard bomb from Irons to Terrell Carey moved the ball inside the red zone. Quickly ICCC led 17-6. The momentum continued to swing in the visitors favor after Panther quarterback AJ Payne was picked off and in three plays, the Tritons found the end zone again, taking a 23-6 lead into the break.
Back-to-back special teams snafus set up ICCC with short field position as they quickly built on their advantage – 37-6 after three quarters.
The visitors tackled on two more scores to end the contest with the 51-6 commanding lead.
Once again, the passing attack by ECC was stifled. Payne was just 2 of 6 for 11 yards and an interception, while Yannie Scott was 1 of 4 for 0 yards.
On the ground, Hamilton led all rushers with 10 carries for 80 yards (50 coming from his touchdown run).
The Panthers they will play Butler Community College (7-2) for Homecoming this weekend.
"We know what the scoreboard says but I think if people watch the tape with us and taking it from game one when we first started, technique-wise and schematically, everything is improving and you saw that. Again it just comes down to a couple of details," ECC coach Mitchell Kleinschrodt said. "We still have a lot to work through because the scoreboard does say one thing, we're happy where we're at. We just have to keep going. Nobody is happy with the loss, but our guys are still coming in every day to work and we continue to punch or ticket and do what we need to do."
For more on the game and for more photos visit timescitizen.com (http://www.timescitizen.com/sports/former-panther-coach-tops-league-in-rivalry-game/article_3baa0062-f419-11e9-9330-9f5273707ba3.html )
