Top Ranked Team Ends Panther's Season

The Concordia High School football team will hit the road after their loss to the Norton Bluejays at home where they took on the Andale Indians in the first round of the KSHSAA Class 3A playoffs on Friday, November 1st but lost 51-7.

The number 1 ranked team in Class 3A West Andale (9-0) hosted the number 16 ranked team Concordia looking to continue their historical dominance in the playoffs. Dominate is exactly what the Indians did after receiving the first kickoff of the game as they methodically drove down the field 52 yards for the score, capped off with an 11 yard touchdown run by Andale running back Cooper Marx.

The Panthers got the kickoff hoping to put up an early score, but after a handful of plays Concordia quarterback Drake Blochlinger threw an interception to Andale's Sam Harp. It didn't take long for Andale to capitalize off the turnover, as they put up another score after a 2 play 76 yard drive finished with a 69 yard rushing touchdown by Ian Schrandt. Concordia trailed 14-0 with 5:20 left in the first quarter.

The Panther offense looked very rough on the next couple drives, as two straight punts led to two straight touchdowns for the Indians. A bad punt by the Panthers left Andale with great field position and scored off of one play as Sam Harp passed the ball to tight end Hunter Grimes for the 37 yard score. Then after the second straight punt by Concordia, Andale scored early in the second quarter off of another touchdown pass, this time from Sam Harp to running back Landon Harp, which brought the score to 28-0. 

The Concordia offense with yet another miscue on the very next drive as Blochlinger threw his second interception of the game giving the ball back to Andale on their own 15 yard line. Making quick work off of the turnover was Cooper Marx as he ran it all the way back for an 85 yard touchdown run on the very next play for Andale with 7:02 left in the first half.

After yet another punt by the Panther offense, Andale was driving to score another touchdown. A 9 yard pass from Sam Harp to Landon Harp capped off a 44 yard scoring drive by the Indians. Looking to possibly run out the clock and take it to halftime, the Panthers fumbled a snap which Andale recovered and retaliated with yet another 1 play touchdown drive, the score coming from running back Hayden Horsch on a 20 yard touchdown run bringing the score to 51-0 heading into halftime.

With the score differential being over 45, a running clock was put in effect for the second half, but this didn't stop the Panthers from coming out of halftime firing. Of off two chunk yardage passes and a few rushing plays, Concordia scored their first touchdown of the game as Drake Blochlinger rushed for 3 yards and the score which finished off the 6 play drive. 

While the first drive of the second half looked promising, nobody scored again in this game. The clocked ticked away, the final score being 51-7 in favor of the Indians. 

The H&R Block of the Game belonged to Tre Hamiel who was the lead blocker for Blochlinger all night and did a tremendous job doing so. The Altius Awards Players of the Game belonged to all of the seniors on the football team for their tremendous leadership and play on the field. An honorable shoutout for player of the game was Parker Jackson who racked up multiple catches, a great chunk of yards, and an interception in the fourth quarter.

Concordia ends their season 1-8 after battling all year with injuries and an extremely tough schedule with multiple state ranked opponents.