Danbury loses lead, game late

[Martin DeBerry]

Danbury loses lead, game late
Staff reports ~ The Facts
September 26, 2009

DANBURY — It was a tale of two halves Friday night in Danbury.

After being dominated by the Danbury Panthers and falling behind by two touchdowns in the first half, the Ganado Indians turned it around with 21 unanswered points in the final two quarters to pull out a last-minute 21-14 victory.

Even more difficult to swallow for Danbury fans, Ganado scored its last two scores on two huge plays with less than four minutes left in the contest.

The first game-changing play came on a fourth-and-10 run by Indian running back Josh Labay. With a 14-7 lead and a chance to put the game away at the 3:20 mark with a stop, the Panther defense was unable to corral Labay, as he broke a few tackles before racing 47 yards for the score. After the PAT, the game was tied 14-14.

On their next possession, Danbury moved the ball down to Ganado’s 44-yard line. However, a fourth-down pass from quarterback Dillon Peltier with one minute to play was intercepted by Jacob Benavides, who raced down the sideline for the eventual game-winning touchdown.

Danbury had a final attempt in the waning moments to tie the game, but four incomplete passes sealed the Ganado victory.

The Panthers also played the final few minutes without Peltier and running back Garrett Zimmerle, who were both sidelined with injuries. The status of their injuries was unknown immediately after the game.

Ganado also scored a touchdown early in the third quarter on a 12-yard run by Labay to erase a 14-0 halftime deficit.

“I’m proud of the way we played tonight,” Danbury coach Jimmy Thomas said. “We’ve been improving and we continued to improve in this game.

“That was a good team over there that we just played.”

In sum, Danbury (0-4) outgained Ganado (3-2) in total yards 270 to 203. Ganado won the second-half battle, though, with 149 yards to 63.

The first half was another story.

Actually, to say that Danbury dominated the first half would be a big understatement.

The Panthers’ offense held on to the ball for most of the first half and jumped out to a 14-0 lead.

In fact, Danbury held possession for 17:32 of the first half, compared to only 6:28 for Ganado. The Panthers also had 14 first downs, while Ganado went into the locker room with three.

Along the way, Danbury accumulated 203 first-half yards — including 102 rushing yards from Zimmerle — compared to 54 yards for the Indians. Thirty of the Indians’ yards came on a run as the first-half clock was about to expire.

The opening-half dominance was so strong that Kendel Ever’s 13 carries was more than Ganado’s 11 total plays from scrimmage.

The Panthers used an 11-play drive to score on the opening possession of the contest. Evers capped the drive with a 1-yard plunge, followed by the extra-point kick by Ismael Ayala.

As good as the Panthers’ first drive was, their second possession was even more impressive.

After stopping Ganado on its initial drive of the game, Danbury went on a time-consuming 16-play, 81-yard drive to grab a 14-0 advantage. Zimmerle ran for a total of 34 yards on the drive, while Dakota Sebesta sprinted for 18 yards.

Peltier snuck the ball in from the 1 for the score. The Panther drive took more than eight minutes off the clock.

Danbury also went on an eight-play drive before the half ended, but turned the ball over on downs.

Ganado’s Labay led all rushers with 162 yards on 16 carries.

Danbury was paced by a 116-yard rushing performance from Zimmerle.

Evers and Sebesta added 77 and 51 rushing yards, respectively, for the Panthers.


Individual statistics

Rushing: (D): Garrett Zimmerle 12-116; (G) Josh Labay 16-162.

Passing: (D) Dillon Peltier 1-7-8 yards, 1 Int.; (G) Charlez Ortiz 1-4-16 yards, 1 Int.

Receiving: (D) Zimmerle: 1-8; (G) Travis Cook 1-16.