Panthers fall to Lewisville

RICHBURG – The McBee Panthers lost their first region game of the 2008 season Friday night with a 28-14 loss to Lewisville.

The game was a close defensive match up in the first half, according to McBee head coach Terry Sowell. The score at the end of the first half was 7-6.

At the end of the first quarter, McBee recovered a Lewisville fumble inside the McBee 5-yard line. However, the play was called back due to an inadvertent whistle blown by a referee, Sowell said. Lewisville then scored on the opening play of the second quarter.

Lewisville received the ball at the beginning of the second half, Sowell said, and managed a touchdown drive.

On the following kickoff, McBee fumbled the ball on the return and Lewisville recovered. “That’s when it kind of got away from us,” Sowell said. “We were never able to really get back in it.”

The Panthers also suffered two injuries that Sowell is concerned with. Scotty Sanders and Delante Dunlap were both injured during the game, and the extent of those injuries was unknown as of press time Tuesday.

“We didn’t play bad. We didn’t play great,” the coach said of the overall effort. “We can’t turn the ball over against a good team.”

Sowell said the loss puts McBee in a hole in region play because of the strength of the region and because he felt McBee matched up against Lewisville well. He said this was a game he felt like the Panthers could win, and a loss here certainly puts them in a hole in the region standings.

“We thought we matched up against them well enough to get a win, and we could have. We just didn’t get it done.” Sowell said the team moved the ball well on the ground, but added that some other players will have to step into the positions of Sanders and Dunlap.

The Panthers (3-2) will play host to Great Falls Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in their second region contest of the season.