Gowder and Owenby lead offense past Towns in season opener
By TODD FORREST Sentinel Writer

Blake Gowder scores one of his four touchdowns in last Friday's game against the Towns County Indians.

The 2007 Union County Panther Football Squad (1-0) opened its season with a 31-6 victory over rival Towns County (0-2) in front of a packed house at Blairsville's Mike Colwell Memorial Stadium.

Sophomore fullback Blake Gowder led the Panther offense, scoring four touchdowns and supplying 277 yards of offense. Of Gowder's four TD's, two came on the ground and two were off screen passes from Sophomore quarterback Kolt Owenby which Gowder broke for gains of 37 and 69 yards. Owenby went on to complete 18 of 20 passes for 280 yards, two touchdowns, and one pick.

When asked about winning his season opener, Coach Peugh said after the game, it doesn't matter if you win by one point or more, you have to get that first game out of the way. "We knew Towns County would be improved. They have a really good quarterback. I could tell by watching them on tape that they were better this year than last year," he said. The coach added that it took having his players compete with them on the field to make them really understand how improved Towns County really is.

Coach Peugh huddles his team during a time out.

Union County improved their winning streak over the Indians to 12 games, despite getting off to a slow start offensively. The Panthers were unable to take advantage of a David Harris interception on Towns County's opening drive, turning the ball over on downs twice. However, the Panthers came alive with 2:26 minutes to play in the second quarter taking advantage of a bad snap on a Towns County punt. This opportunity allowed Owenby and the Panther offense to set up shop inside the Indian 10 yard line. Two plays later Gowder broke the scoreless tie with a 3-yard touchdown run. With the Akins kick, the Panthers posted a 7-0 lead.

As the clock ran down to 22 seconds left in the first half, Gowder struck again on an Owenby screen pass which he took down the sideline, breaking tackles, as well as plowing over a few defenders for a 37 yard touchdown strike sending the Panthers into the locker room with a 14-0 lead.

When asked about the Panthers slow start offensively, Coach Peugh said, "We did what we needed to do; we just made some mistakes early on, and it seemed like we were going one step forward then taking two steps back. Overall, I wasn't pleased. We made critical mistakes at critical times."

Union County was penalized for 55 yards, coughed up a fumble inside the redzone, and twice turned the ball over on downs. All in the first half.

When Union County took the kickoff at the start of the second half, it didn't take the Panther offense long to find its rhythm. Gowder put another touchdown on the scoreboard early in the third quarter with a 69 yard reception from Owenby. Sophomore Michael Akins (who was also 4-4 on extra point attempts) added a 33 yard field goal putting Union County up 24-0 with 3:31 remaining in the third quarter. Then with :24 left in the quarter, it was Gowder again posting anotherTD on a a 35-yard run to give the Panthers a 31-0 lead. The last touchdown really put the game out of reach for the Indians. Towns County finally picked up a late touchdown with just under 5 minutes remaining in the game.

The Panthers demonstrated a balanced offensive attack piling up 280 yards through the air and 168 yards on the ground. The only negative in the Panther stat book was175 yards of penalties. Asked if the extensive penalties could be chalked up to opening game rust, Coach Peugh answered, "We only had two or three penalties that were not real smart. Most of them were from being too overaggressive and not thinking. That could be from it being the first game. But for us to get better, we have to eliminate those types of penalties."

When asked about Union scoring mostly on big plays, Coach Peugh said, "Our short passes are a lot like a run. We use a lot of short passes and screens because of our undersized line. Once you get them spread out it's a lot easier to run."

This week the Panthers will host Class AAA Creekview. Creekview defeated the Panthers last season and has an enrollment of around 2,000 students and are on the verge of moving up to another classification. Creekview was off last Friday and has had an extra week to prepare for the Panthers. Coach Peugh said he is confident and realizes how important a win over Creekview would be for the Panther program and the Union County community.

"A 2-0 start would be huge," Peugh said. " To do it, we're going to have to eliminate our mistakes. A 2-0 start would really get our community behind this team. We just need to have a good week of practice and come gametime, we need to have some breaks to go our way. It would be a huge advantage if we could go into the Oglethorpe County game with a 2-0 record." Not only is Oglethorpe County our first cross-over game (Region Opponent but not a Sub-Region opponent), it is homecoming. The last time the Panther football team started 2- 0 was in 2001 and that team went on to win 9 games.

Everyone is encouraged to come out to Mike Colwell Memorial Stadium and support our Union County Panther football team this Friday at 7:30 p.m.