In the final game of the regular season, the Ganado Indians capped off district play with a 60-0 thumping of the Danbury Panthers, finishing with a perfect 6-0 district record for the second consecutive season.
“It’s a really special moment for the guys, having such a young group of guys and building off of what last year’s group did, it’s awesome” was Ganado Head Coach Josh Ervin’s response to the second district title in as many years.
It was a bittersweet moment for seniors Austen Pena and John Utley as it was the final home game for them, “It is a little sad, but we came out and showed up, so we’re happy with how tonight went.”
Danbury won the coin toss and deferred to receive the second-half kick, meaning Ganado was on offense first. Sean Willis set the Indians up nicely with a return into Panther territory, and Landyn Arriaga followed that up with a quick 33yard rushing touchdown to give Ganado the 7-0 lead.
Arriaga made his presence felt on the defensive side of the ball as he intercepted the Panther quarterback to get the ball back for his offense with good field position. After moving into the redzone, Arriaga would get his second rushing touchdown of the game, to extend the Indian lead to 14 points.
Ganado continued to apply pressure as on the following kickoff, they would recover the onside kick and set themselves up again on the Danbury side of the field. Following the kick recovery, the Indians picked up a couple of first downs before being set up inside the 10-yard line. Then Arriaga dropped back and connected with Cade Nixon in the endzone for another Ganado touchdown to make it a 20-0 game.
Danbury couldn’t string together positive plays on offense and had to punt it back to a Ganado offense they had no answers for. Willis got things going on the drive with a 43-yard run into the redzone, and Arriaga capped off the drive with a 16yard touchdown pass to Pena, giving Ganado the four-touchdown lead.
Ganado’s defense continued to apply pressure and forced another punt out of the Panthers. On the first play of the drive, Arriaga launched the ball deep into Pena’s hands in the middle of the field, and he outran defenders en route to endzone for the 71-yard touchdown.
The Panthers’ offense had no answer and failed to string together any positive plays on the following drive, which meant another punt back to Ganado. Pena took the punt and returned it 55yards for the touchdown, his second in as many touches and his third total touchdown of the night.
Danbury continued to struggle mightily on offense as they had to punt it away again after failing to pick up a first down. Ganado’s offense took the field inside of Danbury territory and picked up first downs all the way down to the 11-yard line. Arriaga finished the drive with another rushing touchdown, his third of the night, to give the Indians a 47-0 advantage just before halftime.
Out of halftime, Danbury took the first offensive snaps but couldn’t generate any offense, punting it away. With the running clock on their side, Ganado’s offense began to pound the Panther defense with their running game. Pena lined up in the backfield, took the handoff and went 58yards for his fourth touchdown of the night.
Danbury would finish the night with zero first downs, as they were forced to punt on their final two possessions. Ganado found the endzone one more time before the end of the game, with Kole Bures breaking off a 32-yard touchdown run to give the Indians the 60-0 lead. The game ended with Ganado’s offense scoring on all possessions, and the defense not allowing a single first down.
Ervin spoke of the team’s mindset going into the postseason, “We have to focus and go 1-0 every week, but the guys’ confidence is growing every week which is great to see. I’m seeing the improvement every game, and we just need to keep showing up every practice.”
Arriaga added, “We just want to get better and go harder in practice, as long as we play as a team we’ll be fine.”
Ganado (9-1) will face off Three Rivers on Thursday, November 13 at Taft’s Greyhound Stadium at 7:30 p.m. in the Bi-District playoff round.
